Behind every great love is that guy who almost spoiled everything.
James Marsden revealed in a new interview that he’s been on the receiving end of some harsh commentary from avid supporters of Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling‘s romance in The Notebook. The D Train actor told Vulture on Thursday, May 7, that these same fans refused to let him be.
“It’s a very polarizing movie with regards to my character,” he said of his role as Lon Hammond in the 2004 movie based on Nicholas Sparks‘ bestselling novel. In the flick, Marsden’s hunky Southern persona was engaged to McAdams’ character, Allie Hamilton, until — spoiler alert! — she reconnected with her lifelong soulmate Noah Calhoun (Gosling).
Marsden, 41, whose character was not a bad person by any means, ultimately lost the girl in the end.
“I hear people say that [they would’ve stayed with me],” he told Vulture. “Then I also have people coming up and going like, ‘Ugh!’ They’re just disgusted by me. Like, ‘How dare you get involved with their love? You are the a–hole in that movie.’ I’m like, ‘How is he an a–hole?’ He was a great guy.”
The hunky star — who later had his own winning role in Sparks’ 2014 movie The Best of Me —credited Gosling and McAdams for making their viewers swoon. “You know, Ryan and Rachel were so tremendous in that movie, and that was such a rare chemistry that they had,” he said of his costars. “When you see that movie and you’re a young teenager, it’s real. Those people really are in love — in fact, they dated after the movie.”
Marsden very rationally noted: “So anything that’s going to get in their way is bad or evil, right? It’s just funny how people carry it with them, like in real life when they say, ‘Oh, you’re the jerk in The Notebook!'”
The actor said he can spot these folks a mile away. “Oh, yeah. Some people are like, ‘I can’t even look at you,'” he joked. “They’re mad at me, James Marsden!”
