'Notebook' An Exciting Chapter In Marsden's Career
Source: ChannelOklahoma.com
By: Tim Lammers, Web Staff Editor

'X-Men' Star Has Burning Presence In Romantic Drama

Forget about making Cyclops wear his optic blast gear for the next "X-Men" movie: as film star James Marsden proves in the new romantic drama "The Notebook," those blazing baby blues have plenty of power to burn things on their own.

If you don't believe that, wait until you see him set co-star Rachel McAdams' heart afire.

"It's nice to actually be in front of the camera again where people can actually see your eyes -- you realize how much you rely on them as a tool." Marsden told me in a recent @ The Movies interview. "Being blindfolded through an entire film is a very interesting exercise otherwise. It makes you realize that you have to rely on your voice and other things to emote."

Based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks, "The Notebook" tells the sweeping love story of a wealthy teenage debutante, Allie (McAdams), and a blue-collar mill worker, Noah (Ryan Gosling), who fall passionately in love with each other during her summer break in 1940 in Seabrook, N.C.

But when their differences in class and World War II tears the couple apart, their love apparently seems lost forever. Even while Allie falls in love with a wealthy soldier, Lon (Marsden) and plans to marry him, Noah is never really gone from her heart. Her love for Lon is especially put to the test when Noah surfaces again in her life, seven years after they first parted.

"I think ultimately her decision to go with Noah or not is almost completely out of her hands because everything lines up when it comes to Lon," explained the 30-year-old actor, who also starred in such films as "Gossip" and television's "Ally McBeal." "Not only does he come from good Southern breeding and money and is charming, likable and handsome, in addition to that, he's a really great guy and forgiving."

What's interesting about Lon in "The Notebook" is that the audience is really given no opportunity to despise him in any way and therefore, gives no real good reason for Allie to run to Noah. It really presents an interesting quandary for audiences to sort out.

"He has the right in the world to be a pompous ass and just chooses not to be," Marsden enthused. "He's quite the opposite of that. So, that's that theme of the movie. When it comes down to love, it might just boil down to a molecular level of your connection with somebody. There's no logic that comes into play -- she's in love with both Lon and Noah in different ways."

Connecting the story from the past to the present in the film is a faded notebook, where Allie kept her journal about the loves of her life. In the present day, James Garner plays a man who reads from the notebook to a woman (Gena Rowlands) in a nursing home whose mind is fading from Alzheimer's disease. The more he reads the story to her, the more she becomes intrigued by the young lovers' days gone by.

Coincidentally, the release of "The Notebook" comes just after the death of former President Ronald Reagan after a 10-year struggle with Alzheimer's. And because of that event, Marsden said her can't help but look at the film with a different perspective.

"I was astonished at the coincidence -- it was pretty amazing," Marsden said. "It just reminded me how that element of the movie is so with us in reality. It made the movie even more real to me and less about a fictional project that I worked on. Hopefully what this movie can do, if anything, is raise awareness about Alzheimer's while it's fresh on everyone's minds. If it can help in any way that would be wonderful."

Nick Of Time

While Marsden didn't share any scenes with Rowlands in the film, he did get more than ample opportunity to work with Nick Cassavetes, the actress' son with late legendary filmmaker John Cassavetes. After his experience on "The Notebook," Marsden is quite confident that he's inherited both his mother and father's incredible screen talents.

"To me, to have a really good career in Hollywood, you want to work with the best directors in town and Nick's definitely one of them," Marsden said. "He's marvelous because he's represents what every actor wants to work with."

What impresses Marsden about Cassavetes is that the director is a good storyteller both visually and thematically. Sure, "The Notebook" is a beautiful film from a visual standpoint, but a strong story and the performances that emerge from it are the things that make that beauty glow.

"Nick is all about the performances and realizes that humanity and these relationships should be the backbone of the movie," Marsden explained to me. "That's really what every actor wants to work with. He creates a wonderful safety net for his actors and makes them believe that you could fall flat on your face and it won't matter because that's where you have to go to get the good stuff. He really creates a nice environment for you to take chances and try different things."

Career-wise, don't look for Marsden to fall on his face anytime soon. He recently completed the Merchant-Ivory produced drama "Heights" and will soon be featured in the independent thriller "The 24th Day" with Scott Speedman.

And, Marsden said he may very well be donning his Cyclops visor again in a third "X-Men" movie, given the blockbuster success of the sequel "X2: X-Men United."

"I've heard rumblings about summer of 2006 -- I think they're trying to figure out how much they can pay everyone," laughed Marsden. "I think everyone was on a two-picture deal."