The untold truth of The Notebook

The Notebook, penned by the prolific writer Nicholas Sparks, took the world by storm in both novel form in 1996, and in the film that was released in 2004. The touching story, combined with the onscreen chemistry of IRL (at the time) lovebirds Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling, as well as James Garner and Gena Rowlands' performances, seeped into the most sentimental parts of all of us. In fact, whenever we need a good cry, we might reach for The Notebook before we reach for Steel Magnolias. But what don't we know about the story? Here are some facts you might not know about The Notebook.

When veteran film actor James Garner first read the script, he asked his agent if it was going to be a TV movie. He read it again and realized it had a universal appeal and signed on to do it, and had a great experience working on the film. He especially loved working with Gena Rowlands. When it came to his young costar Ryan Gosling, however, he wasn't as easy to get along with.

According to director Nick Cassavetes, Gosling tried repeatedly to spend some time with Garner to talk about the character they were both playing. When Gosling tried to rap with Garner about the accent they might use, Garner said he didn't do accents. When Gosling tried to talk about eye color, Garner said "Everyone knows Jim Garner's got brown eyes. Do what you want, kid." Garner was totally dismissive of Gosling. He probably wasn't trying to be mean, but come on, Jim.

Garner passed away in 2014, a few months after the 10th anniversary of the film. In the VH1 special, Cassavetes told the rest of the story, and said after the exchange with Garner, Gosling looked at him and said, "Shut up — don't even say a word." Hey Ryan, we'll talk to you about whatever you want.

Sparks sets his novels in North Carolina, his home state. The Notebook, his first novel, was set in New Bern, North Carolina, which just happens to be Sparks' home. So why did the movie take place in South Carolina? Apparently, when the film crew came down south to scout locations, they visited South Carolina and liked it. They even changed the movie's setting to an imaginary place called Seabrook, South Carolina rather than pretending the gorgeous South Carolina scenery was, in fact, North Carolinian.

The film commissioner with the South Carolina film office, at the time of the movie release, said the retirement home, in conjunction with the suppliers and crew available in South Carolina, gave New Line "the biggest creative bang for their dollar." Monk also said South Carolina wasn't above stealing from their neighboring state. Southern gentility, my Aunt Fannie's left foot, as they say.

While The Notebook was Nicholas Sparks' first published solo novel, he actually had two unpublished novels under his belt when he started writing Noah and Allie's story. He did co-write a book called Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding with his friend Billy Mills prior to The Notebook. But those first two novels, The Passing and The Royal Murders, were never published, and Sparks says they never will be. He says he considers those novels "an apprenticeship of sorts," and that they weren't good enough to be published. Apparently, he never tried to publish The Passing, and The Royal Murders was rejected by publishers and agents.

The Passing came to be because he suffered a sports injury that ended his track-and-field career. He was just sitting around that summer, feeling sorry for himself, and his mother told him to "go write a book or something." He didn't write what he knew, choosing instead to go what GQ calls "a Stephen King pastiche." Sparks says the few people who have read the novel were "very kind." We'd still like to read them, Nicholas. No judgement.