The Notebook (2004)
25 Jun 2004 ● English ● 2 hrs 3 mins
This epic romance depicts an old man reading a story to an old woman in a nursing home. The story he reads follows two young lovers named Allie Hamilton and Noah Calhoun, who meet one evening at a carnival.
However, rigid social structures become obstacles; they are separated by Allie's parents who disapprove of Noah's unwealthy family, and move Allie away. After waiting for Noah to write her for several years, Allie meets and gets engaged to a handsome young soldier named Lon.
Allie, then, with her love for Noah still alive, stops by Noah's 200-year-old home that he restored for her, "to see if he's okay". It is evident that they still have feelings for each other, and Allie has to choose between her fiancé and her first love.
Cast: Gena Rowlands, Ryan Gosling, Starletta DuPois
Crew: Nick Cassavetes (Director), Robert Fraisse (Director of Photography), Aaron Zigman (Music Director)
Release Dates: 25 Jun 2004 (India), 25 Jun 2004 (Canada), 08 Sep 2004 (France), 27 Aug 2004 (Mexico), 05 Aug 2004 (Singapore), 22 Oct 2004 (Spain), 05 Aug 2004 (Thailand), 25 Jun 2004 (United Kingdom), 25 Jun 2004 (United States)
Tagline: Behind every great love is a great story.
Did you know? Rachel McAdams auditioned for the role during another movie's premiere. She was given the script just a day in advance. She beat nine other actresses for the role. The scenes used during her audition included the one of Allie's and Noah's argument at the end after Allie and her mother return from their morning drive. Read More
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as Allie Calhoun
as Noah
as Nurse Esther
as John Hamilton
as Harry
as Sara Tuffington
as Pastor
as Duke
as Lon Hammond
as Aaron
as Martha Shaw
as Nurse Selma
as Anne Hamilton
as Fin
as Willa
as Heather Lynn
as Maggie
as Mary Allen
as Band Leader
as Allie
as Elgin
as Frank Calhoun
as Aunt Jeanette
as Rosemary
as Veronica
Direction
Director
First Assistant Director
Second Assistant Director
Production
Producer
Production Company
Executive Producer
Writers
Screenplay Writer
Camera and Electrical
Director of Photography
Music
Music Director
Sound
Foley Artist
Sound Effects Editor
Boom Operator
Casting
Casting Director
Costume and Wardrobe
Costume Designer
Editorial
Editor
Special Effects
Special Effects Coordinator
Stunts
Stunt Coordinator
Visual Effects
Visual Effects Supervisor
Visual Effects Producer
Digital Compositor
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
English
Colour Info:
Color
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital, DTS, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound
Camera:
Moviecam Compact
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1
Stereoscopy:
No
Taglines:
Behind every great love is a great story.
Filming Locations:
Los Angeles, California
Montréal, Québec
Cypress Gardens - 3030 Cypress Gardens Road, Moncks Corner, South Carolina
The Battery, Charleston, South Carolina
Boone Hall Plantation - 1235 Long Point Road, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
College of Charleston - 66 George Street, Charleston, South Carolina
Edisto Island, South Carolina
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Montréal, Québec
Cypress Gardens - 3030 Cypress Gardens Road, Moncks Corner, South Carolina
The Battery, Charleston, South Carolina
Boone Hall Plantation - 1235 Long Point Road, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
College of Charleston - 66 George Street, Charleston, South Carolina
Edisto Island, South Carolina
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Goofs:
Factual Mistake
Noah has brown eyes (contacts to match Ryan Gosling's eyes with James Garner's) but when Noah is trying to stop Allie from leaving by standing in front of her car his eyes are shining blue in the sunlight.
Miscellaneous
In many of the scenes that take place in June and July, the grass is brown. It should be green during the summer in South Carolina.
Miscellaneous
During the first love scene at the plantation house when Noah begins to get up, if you look quickly, you can see that he is actually wearing boxers.
Miscellaneous
When Noah goes to mail his final letter to Allie, we can see sunlight shining through the envelope right before he puts it in the mailbox and there is obviously no letter in it.
Miscellaneous
In scenes set in June-July 1940, cold breath is visible and grass is brown rather than green, indicating that the scenes were filmed in winter.
Miscellaneous
Allie in her youth has a black mole on her left cheek, but the older Allie doesn't have it. Moles can fall off or be removed.
Errors in Geography
The beach scenes are shot on a rocky beach, however South Carolina does not have a rocky coast.
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Allie and her mum are outside Noah's newly restored house, crew and equipment are reflected in the side mirror of her car.
Continuity
When Allie walks into Noah's barn and admires his carpentry, the right side of her blue scarf changes from behind her back to her front to her back again in continuous shots without the film ever showing her physically moving it herself.
Continuity
When Allie is trying on her wedding dress among the squealing women, she goes from wearing earrings, to wearing no earrings, back and forth throughout the scene.
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Noah is hanging on the Ferris wheel you can see his microphone clipped to his shirt in middle of his back.
Continuity
When Noah takes Allie to the plantation for the first time she is instructed to stay outside. When she looks at the river into the moonlight her silhouette reveals flowing curls, and when she turns around her hair is slightly curled at the ends, but not nearly as much as 2 seconds earlier.
Continuity
When returning to Allie's summer home, Allie and Noah walk through the front door which is clearly solid wood. Upon entering the home, the door now has decorative glass.
Continuity
When Lon proposes to Ali, we see that he has not slid the ring on her finger. It is just resting at the tip of her finger. But when he jumps up a second later to run up to the bandstand, the ring is completely on her finger with not enough time passing for Lon to do so.
Continuity
When Allie and Noah were lying in the street, they were in the center. A moment later, without getting up, they were in the right- hand lane. Then, again without getting to their feet, in the next shot, they were back in the center of the street.
Continuity
When Allie says "this is 'the' room?" and turns to look at the piano during reunion dinner at Noah's house she is holding a fork and in the next scene she has no fork.
Continuity
While Noah and Allie are out in the boat and it begins to storm, Allie's eye make-up is smudged and running down her cheeks. As they run into the house, and both during and after their love scene, her make-up is fine. Also, both Noah and Allie have soaking wet hair when they enter the house, but by the time they are undressed a minute or two later, their hair appears to be dry.
Continuity
After Noah and Allie get in the fight by her car at the end, he has his hands on his heart then walks towards the back of the car turns around and puts his hands on his head. About two seconds later she pulls away and he is in front of her car with his hands on his head.
Continuity
After their unofficial double date with Fin and Sarah when Noah and Allie are about to walk home, the same blue car passes them going the same direction within a 10 second interval.
Continuity
When Allie and Noah are breaking up and are having the fight outside, Noah closes the truck door, but in the next shot when Allie pushes him up against the truck, it is open.
Continuity
When Allie and Noah were making out at Noah's newly built house, Noah already dropped his pants on the stairs but when they entered the room, he still had it on his feet and dropped it near the door.
Continuity
In one scene when Allie is talking to Noah, her arm below the sleeve seems to be see through, then after that scene her arm comes back.
Continuity
When Allie is trying on her wedding dress, a lock of her hair on the left side of her face falls down and then returns to its place between angles.
Continuity
When Allie's mum brings Allie to see her ex love, Allie's mum's ring starts upside down then turns right side up again in the next shot.
Continuity
When Noah and Allie are sitting on his front porch talking, Noah stands up angrily and throws the chair he was sitting in down, with the flowers falling on the ground. In the next shot, the chair is back up and the flowers are on the arm of the chair.
Continuity
When Allie talks to her mother on the porch, the way the red blanket is wrapped around her changes a few times.
Continuity
When they are lying in the street, their position moves from dead center of the road (they are in line with the center line) to being over in the right-hand lane when the shot moves from tight to wide.
Continuity
The position of Allie's left earring changes from two pearls on top and on the bottom to one on the top and two on the bottom.
Continuity
When the older Allie and Duke are having the candlelit dinner for two, Allie is wearing a plaid shawl over her red jacket as she begins to sit down. In the next shot of her seated, the shawl is off, with no time for her to have removed it. In the next shot, it's back on again.
Continuity
When Noah and Allie are talking in front of Allie's house (the last time they met before she goes to NY), she's wearing a necklace in some shots and not wearing it in others.
Continuity
When Allie and her mother are talking in front of Noah's house, their shadow goes from right to left in all shots except when her mother gets up, in which the shadow goes the opposite way.
Continuity
When Allie and Noah are in the boat (just before it starts to rain), Allie's fringe/bangs are curled up tightly. A few moments later (when it begins to rain), Allie's fringe/bangs are perfectly straight. This could not have happened so quickly.
Continuity
When Duke is having an exam by the doctor two chest x-rays are on the light box behind him. The films are both reversed left to right but in a later shot they are correct - right to left.
Continuity
When Duke and Allie are eating lunch after he's read to her some, he is wearing his reading glasses. In the next shot he is wearing his bifocals.
Continuity
When the family are playing music and dancing outside the front of the house, Allie appears to be sitting on the porch playing a Jew's Harp, when the camera changes angles it vanishes.
Continuity
When Lon gets out of the hospital waiting for Allie by the car to ask her about his date, his hair is clearly brown. In all subsequent shots his hair is black.
Character Error
Noah says the ducks are supposed to migrate to Guatemala Sound. The ducks in the film are of a domesticated breed and wouldn't migrate.
Character Error
When Noah and Allie are in the middle of the road, Noah states that he and his dad used to watch the light change "from green to red to yellow" when street lights go from green to yellow to red.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Noah jumps into the Ferris wheel seat that Allie and a boy are sitting in, we hear Allie's voice yell, "Get off me!", but Allie's lips do not move to say the words. While the words are said, Allie's mouth is simply open, as she is gasping.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When the band is playing on Noah's front porch and his father is playing the spoons with the band, as his father gets up to dance with Allie, he lays them down, but the sound of the spoons playing can still be heard in the music.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Noah and Martha are leaving the house after dinner, Martha says "thanks for dinner" and Allie replies and is clearly seen washing dishes through the window, but her mouth is not moving.
Miscellaneous
When Allie and Noah walking after the movie, parking meters are clearly visible. Parking meters in South Carolina were introduced in 1947.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Noah and Allie in the Windsor Plantation, after Noah explains about the significance of the stairs, we can hear Allie say, "This place is gigantic," but her mouth doesn't move until a few seconds after it was said.
Miscellaneous
When Allie and Lon are going out on a date and getting out from a car, a theatre is visible across the street with On the Town (1949) on the marquee.
Miscellaneous
Li'l Abner (1940) was not in theaters during the summer of 1940. RKO did not release the picture until 1 November of that year.
Miscellaneous
Noah and Allie listen to Billie Holiday's rendition of "I'll Be Seeing You" in 1940. This version was not recorded until 1944.
Miscellaneous
The movie Noah, Allie and their friends watch is in wide-screen format. Movies in the 1940s used the Academy format and wide-screen was not introduced until the 1950s.
Miscellaneous
On the movie marquee (which is very 50s for a 1940 S.C. neighborhood theater) announcing the picture Li'l Abner (1940) one of the stars is identified as Jeff York though he appeared in the film using his original stage name of Granville Owen. He wasn't credited as Jeff York until after WW2 in They Were Expendable (1945).
Miscellaneous
When Allie is driving to see Noah, there is a plastic lace wrapped steering wheel cover visible. These did not exist in the 1940s.
Miscellaneous
Some of the carnival rides were not available in the 1940s.
Miscellaneous
Vintage scene with modern wood: during the riverside rope swing scene (circa 1940) there is a momentary glimpse in the foreground of a "telephone pole" style dock piling. Such pilings existed then, but the wood's all-around light green coloration is distinctive of modern "treated" wood soaked in chromated copper arsenate (CCA). A 30's pole should have been brown or weathered-gray (or, if creosote-soaked, black). CCA-treated wood didn't become commercially available until at least 40 years after when the scene was meant to be. In the mid-late 2000's some municipalities began banning the green toxic wood preservative.
Noah has brown eyes (contacts to match Ryan Gosling's eyes with James Garner's) but when Noah is trying to stop Allie from leaving by standing in front of her car his eyes are shining blue in the sunlight.
Miscellaneous
In many of the scenes that take place in June and July, the grass is brown. It should be green during the summer in South Carolina.
Miscellaneous
During the first love scene at the plantation house when Noah begins to get up, if you look quickly, you can see that he is actually wearing boxers.
Miscellaneous
When Noah goes to mail his final letter to Allie, we can see sunlight shining through the envelope right before he puts it in the mailbox and there is obviously no letter in it.
Miscellaneous
In scenes set in June-July 1940, cold breath is visible and grass is brown rather than green, indicating that the scenes were filmed in winter.
Miscellaneous
Allie in her youth has a black mole on her left cheek, but the older Allie doesn't have it. Moles can fall off or be removed.
Errors in Geography
The beach scenes are shot on a rocky beach, however South Carolina does not have a rocky coast.
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Allie and her mum are outside Noah's newly restored house, crew and equipment are reflected in the side mirror of her car.
Continuity
When Allie walks into Noah's barn and admires his carpentry, the right side of her blue scarf changes from behind her back to her front to her back again in continuous shots without the film ever showing her physically moving it herself.
Continuity
When Allie is trying on her wedding dress among the squealing women, she goes from wearing earrings, to wearing no earrings, back and forth throughout the scene.
Crew/Equipment Visible
When Noah is hanging on the Ferris wheel you can see his microphone clipped to his shirt in middle of his back.
Continuity
When Noah takes Allie to the plantation for the first time she is instructed to stay outside. When she looks at the river into the moonlight her silhouette reveals flowing curls, and when she turns around her hair is slightly curled at the ends, but not nearly as much as 2 seconds earlier.
Continuity
When returning to Allie's summer home, Allie and Noah walk through the front door which is clearly solid wood. Upon entering the home, the door now has decorative glass.
Continuity
When Lon proposes to Ali, we see that he has not slid the ring on her finger. It is just resting at the tip of her finger. But when he jumps up a second later to run up to the bandstand, the ring is completely on her finger with not enough time passing for Lon to do so.
Continuity
When Allie and Noah were lying in the street, they were in the center. A moment later, without getting up, they were in the right- hand lane. Then, again without getting to their feet, in the next shot, they were back in the center of the street.
Continuity
When Allie says "this is 'the' room?" and turns to look at the piano during reunion dinner at Noah's house she is holding a fork and in the next scene she has no fork.
Continuity
While Noah and Allie are out in the boat and it begins to storm, Allie's eye make-up is smudged and running down her cheeks. As they run into the house, and both during and after their love scene, her make-up is fine. Also, both Noah and Allie have soaking wet hair when they enter the house, but by the time they are undressed a minute or two later, their hair appears to be dry.
Continuity
After Noah and Allie get in the fight by her car at the end, he has his hands on his heart then walks towards the back of the car turns around and puts his hands on his head. About two seconds later she pulls away and he is in front of her car with his hands on his head.
Continuity
After their unofficial double date with Fin and Sarah when Noah and Allie are about to walk home, the same blue car passes them going the same direction within a 10 second interval.
Continuity
When Allie and Noah are breaking up and are having the fight outside, Noah closes the truck door, but in the next shot when Allie pushes him up against the truck, it is open.
Continuity
When Allie and Noah were making out at Noah's newly built house, Noah already dropped his pants on the stairs but when they entered the room, he still had it on his feet and dropped it near the door.
Continuity
In one scene when Allie is talking to Noah, her arm below the sleeve seems to be see through, then after that scene her arm comes back.
Continuity
When Allie is trying on her wedding dress, a lock of her hair on the left side of her face falls down and then returns to its place between angles.
Continuity
When Allie's mum brings Allie to see her ex love, Allie's mum's ring starts upside down then turns right side up again in the next shot.
Continuity
When Noah and Allie are sitting on his front porch talking, Noah stands up angrily and throws the chair he was sitting in down, with the flowers falling on the ground. In the next shot, the chair is back up and the flowers are on the arm of the chair.
Continuity
When Allie talks to her mother on the porch, the way the red blanket is wrapped around her changes a few times.
Continuity
When they are lying in the street, their position moves from dead center of the road (they are in line with the center line) to being over in the right-hand lane when the shot moves from tight to wide.
Continuity
The position of Allie's left earring changes from two pearls on top and on the bottom to one on the top and two on the bottom.
Continuity
When the older Allie and Duke are having the candlelit dinner for two, Allie is wearing a plaid shawl over her red jacket as she begins to sit down. In the next shot of her seated, the shawl is off, with no time for her to have removed it. In the next shot, it's back on again.
Continuity
When Noah and Allie are talking in front of Allie's house (the last time they met before she goes to NY), she's wearing a necklace in some shots and not wearing it in others.
Continuity
When Allie and her mother are talking in front of Noah's house, their shadow goes from right to left in all shots except when her mother gets up, in which the shadow goes the opposite way.
Continuity
When Allie and Noah are in the boat (just before it starts to rain), Allie's fringe/bangs are curled up tightly. A few moments later (when it begins to rain), Allie's fringe/bangs are perfectly straight. This could not have happened so quickly.
Continuity
When Duke is having an exam by the doctor two chest x-rays are on the light box behind him. The films are both reversed left to right but in a later shot they are correct - right to left.
Continuity
When Duke and Allie are eating lunch after he's read to her some, he is wearing his reading glasses. In the next shot he is wearing his bifocals.
Continuity
When the family are playing music and dancing outside the front of the house, Allie appears to be sitting on the porch playing a Jew's Harp, when the camera changes angles it vanishes.
Continuity
When Lon gets out of the hospital waiting for Allie by the car to ask her about his date, his hair is clearly brown. In all subsequent shots his hair is black.
Character Error
Noah says the ducks are supposed to migrate to Guatemala Sound. The ducks in the film are of a domesticated breed and wouldn't migrate.
Character Error
When Noah and Allie are in the middle of the road, Noah states that he and his dad used to watch the light change "from green to red to yellow" when street lights go from green to yellow to red.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Noah jumps into the Ferris wheel seat that Allie and a boy are sitting in, we hear Allie's voice yell, "Get off me!", but Allie's lips do not move to say the words. While the words are said, Allie's mouth is simply open, as she is gasping.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When the band is playing on Noah's front porch and his father is playing the spoons with the band, as his father gets up to dance with Allie, he lays them down, but the sound of the spoons playing can still be heard in the music.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Noah and Martha are leaving the house after dinner, Martha says "thanks for dinner" and Allie replies and is clearly seen washing dishes through the window, but her mouth is not moving.
Miscellaneous
When Allie and Noah walking after the movie, parking meters are clearly visible. Parking meters in South Carolina were introduced in 1947.
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Noah and Allie in the Windsor Plantation, after Noah explains about the significance of the stairs, we can hear Allie say, "This place is gigantic," but her mouth doesn't move until a few seconds after it was said.
Miscellaneous
When Allie and Lon are going out on a date and getting out from a car, a theatre is visible across the street with On the Town (1949) on the marquee.
Miscellaneous
Li'l Abner (1940) was not in theaters during the summer of 1940. RKO did not release the picture until 1 November of that year.
Miscellaneous
Noah and Allie listen to Billie Holiday's rendition of "I'll Be Seeing You" in 1940. This version was not recorded until 1944.
Miscellaneous
The movie Noah, Allie and their friends watch is in wide-screen format. Movies in the 1940s used the Academy format and wide-screen was not introduced until the 1950s.
Miscellaneous
On the movie marquee (which is very 50s for a 1940 S.C. neighborhood theater) announcing the picture Li'l Abner (1940) one of the stars is identified as Jeff York though he appeared in the film using his original stage name of Granville Owen. He wasn't credited as Jeff York until after WW2 in They Were Expendable (1945).
Miscellaneous
When Allie is driving to see Noah, there is a plastic lace wrapped steering wheel cover visible. These did not exist in the 1940s.
Miscellaneous
Some of the carnival rides were not available in the 1940s.
Miscellaneous
Vintage scene with modern wood: during the riverside rope swing scene (circa 1940) there is a momentary glimpse in the foreground of a "telephone pole" style dock piling. Such pilings existed then, but the wood's all-around light green coloration is distinctive of modern "treated" wood soaked in chromated copper arsenate (CCA). A 30's pole should have been brown or weathered-gray (or, if creosote-soaked, black). CCA-treated wood didn't become commercially available until at least 40 years after when the scene was meant to be. In the mid-late 2000's some municipalities began banning the green toxic wood preservative.
Trivia:
Ryan Gosling was cast as Noah in this movie because the director wanted someone "not handsome."
The "after 7 years Allie and Noah" scenes were shot first and then the crew/cast went on a Christmas break. Ryan Gosling had to lose the beard and 20lbs he'd had as the older Noah and come back to play the young Noah. Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling were rather shy and unsure around each other in the "after 7 years" scenes but were more comfortable together in the young Allie and Noah scenes.
Gena Rowlands, who played older Allie in the movie, is the director's (Nick Cassavetes) mother.
Ryan Gosling prepared for his role by living in Charleston, South Carolina before filming began. For two months, he rowed the Ashley River in the morning and built furniture during the day.
Rachel McAdams auditioned for the role during another movie's premiere. She was given the script just a day in advance. She beat nine other actresses for the role. The scenes used during her audition included the one of Allie's and Noah's argument at the end after Allie and her mother return from their morning drive.
Ryan Gosling built the kitchen table featured in the movie in preparation for his role as Noah.
Ryan Gosling was the director's (Nick Cassavetes) first and only choice for the role of Noah. Before Cassavetes, Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise and Justin Timberlake were also once attached to the project but backed out.
Other actresses besides Rachel McAdams who are rumored to have been under consideration for the role of Allie included Ashley Judd , Britney Spears and Reese Witherspoon.
Background music for the original theatrical trailer for this film featured music from Rachel Portman's score for The Cider House Rules (1999) .
Jessica Biel auditioned for the role of Allie.
Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling were both born in London, Ontario, Canada. Walt Whitman, quoted in the classroom scene ("Do I contradict myself?") and other parts of the movie, had a long friendship with 19th century London, Ontario, psychiatrist Dr. Maurice Bucke, which was depicted in the film Beautiful Dreamer (2006) .
Ryan Gosling (Young Noah) wore brown eye contacts because James Garner (Old Noah) has brown eyes, and Gosling has blue.
The "after 7 years Allie and Noah" scenes were shot first and then the crew/cast went on a Christmas break. Ryan Gosling had to lose the beard and 20lbs he'd had as the older Noah and come back to play the young Noah. Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling were rather shy and unsure around each other in the "after 7 years" scenes but were more comfortable together in the young Allie and Noah scenes.
Gena Rowlands, who played older Allie in the movie, is the director's (Nick Cassavetes) mother.
Ryan Gosling prepared for his role by living in Charleston, South Carolina before filming began. For two months, he rowed the Ashley River in the morning and built furniture during the day.
Rachel McAdams auditioned for the role during another movie's premiere. She was given the script just a day in advance. She beat nine other actresses for the role. The scenes used during her audition included the one of Allie's and Noah's argument at the end after Allie and her mother return from their morning drive.
Ryan Gosling built the kitchen table featured in the movie in preparation for his role as Noah.
Ryan Gosling was the director's (Nick Cassavetes) first and only choice for the role of Noah. Before Cassavetes, Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise and Justin Timberlake were also once attached to the project but backed out.
Other actresses besides Rachel McAdams who are rumored to have been under consideration for the role of Allie included Ashley Judd , Britney Spears and Reese Witherspoon.
Background music for the original theatrical trailer for this film featured music from Rachel Portman's score for The Cider House Rules (1999) .
Jessica Biel auditioned for the role of Allie.
Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling were both born in London, Ontario, Canada. Walt Whitman, quoted in the classroom scene ("Do I contradict myself?") and other parts of the movie, had a long friendship with 19th century London, Ontario, psychiatrist Dr. Maurice Bucke, which was depicted in the film Beautiful Dreamer (2006) .
Ryan Gosling (Young Noah) wore brown eye contacts because James Garner (Old Noah) has brown eyes, and Gosling has blue.
