In an interview with 'Company' magazine, Ryan Gosling indicated he was only cast in 'The Notebook' because the director, Nick Cassavetes, thought he wasn't as attractive as some of the other actors he'd seen. Gosling said, "The director called me to meet him at his house. When I got there, he was standing in his back yard, and he looked at me and said, 'I want you to play this role because you're not like the other young actors out there in Hollywood. You're not handsome, you're not cool, you're just a regular guy who looks a bit nuts."