George Clooney reveals that he almost starred in The Notebook with Paul Newman as his older self

He’s starred in some of the most acclaimed films of the past three decades but only a handful of romance films.

But George Clooney reveal Sunday during a virtual interview with Deadline that he almost starred in popular romance The Notebook.

The 59-year-old actor originally planned to play the lead that later went to Ryan Gosling, while his friend Paul Newman was set to play him as an older man.

‘We were going to do The Notebook together,’ Clooney explained. ‘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 his excitement faded away after he watched some of the Cool Hand Luke star’s greatest films and realized he wouldn’t be a believable younger version of Newman.

‘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,”‘ he continued.

‘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.’

Clooney didn’t specify when he and Newman considered starring in The Notebook, but the Nicholas Sparks novel was published in 1996, and the rights to it were purchased the same year.

The movie was released almost a decade later in 2004, with Ryan Gosling in the role Clooney eyed for himself opposite Rachel McAdams.

Newman’s role was taken up by James Garner, while McAdams’ character was played in old age by Gena Rowlands.

Newman, who had been a heavy smoker up until the mid-1980s, died in 2008 of lung cancer at age 83.

Clooney admired Newman’s body of work and the way he carried on his personal life, but the noted prankster also came to admire the veteran actor’s sense of humor.

‘We had a very funny relationship, late in life for him. I directed a movie that just completely bombed called Leatherheads. [Newman] was still racing at the time, and raced a car, and crashed it,’ Clooney said.

‘So, he took a photo of Leatherheads and superimposed it on the crashed car, and said, “I was driving your car in the race.”‘

On Thursday, Deadline reported that Clooney will be working with another veteran artist on the upcoming adaptation of John Grisham’s Calico Joe.

He’ll be producing the baseball film with legendary singer–songwriter Bob Dylan, and Clooney is also eyeing the project as his next directorial effort.