George Clooney says he almost made 'The Notebook' with Paul Newman

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The beloved romance/drama "The Notebook" could have had a very different cast.

In a recent interview, Oscar winner George Clooney revealed he almost starred as young Noah Calhoun in the film alongside the late Paul Newman, who played the older version of the character. 

He told Deadline, “We were going to do 'The Notebook' together... Basically, I was going to play him as a young man, and it was funny. We met and said, ‘This is it. It’s going to be great.’”

But Clooney admitted when he thought about the part he realized he didn't look anything like the blue-eyed actor and backed out. 

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“He’s one of the handsomest guys you’ve ever seen. We met up [again] and I said, ‘I can’t play you. I don’t look anything like you. This is insane,’” Clooney joked. “We just wanted to do it because we wanted to work together, [but] it ended up being not the right thing for us to do.”

Newman died in 2008 at 83 years old after a long battle with cancer. 

George Clooney (L) and Paul Newman (R) almost starred as Noah Calhoun in 'The Notebook' together.  (Getty)

Ryan Gosling and James Garner ended up playing the younger and older versions of Noah in the 2004 movie with Rachel McAdams and Gena Rowlands as the younger/older versions of Allie Hamilton. 

Nicholas Sparks, who wrote the bestselling book on which the movie is based, said casting Noah was the hardest part of making the film.

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"The funny thing was, no one wanted to play Noah. It was incredibly hard to find an actor willing to play Noah. It was really interesting because a lot of the actors said, 'Well, what's Noah's arc?' It's a guy who falls in love and then he just kinda does nothing, and then waits for her to show up and then he's there and he's still in love and then at the end of the film, well, he's still in love,' they said. 'Where's the arc?' So Ryan Gosling came in and he really brought that story to life," Sparks said. 

Rachel McAdams (L) and Ryan Gosling (R) in a scene from 'The Notebook.'  (Warner Bros.)

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"The Notebook" went on to make over $115 million worldwide at the box office.