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James Marsden

Also referred to as Marsden, James Marzen

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Can't Hardly Wait The Rewatchables
Can't Hardly Wait

Recasting Couch

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:45Read transcript
Can't Hardly Wait The Rewatchables
Can't Hardly Wait

Casting What-Ifs

Reported alternatives include Meyer as Kenny, Embry as William, Marsden as Mike and Witt/Witherspoon/Ricci as Denise.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:31Read transcript
  • Kenny was reportedly written for Breckin Meyer, unavailable due to54; he took the band role. Embry was wanted for William but insisted on Preston. — Joanna Robinson
  • James Marsden was reportedly closely considered for Mike; Facinelli’s danger won the role. Marsden is endorsed. — Joanna Robinson
  • Alicia Witt was wanted for Denise, a choice praised as similar to her Sybil persona. — Bill Simmons
  • William was initially cast with the Little Man Tate actor transcribed Adam Handbird; the speakers say he looked too young and was replaced. Exact name remains unresolved. — Bill Simmons
  • Reese Witherspoon and Christina Ricci are also reported Denise alternatives; one participant doubts Witherspoon’s plausibility because of her existing profile. — Bill Simmons
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood The Rewatchables
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Casting What-Ifs

Bert Reynolds in the Bruce Dern role; James Marsden as Bert Reynolds; Tim Roth's cut role; Jennifer Lawrence as Sharon Tate

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:52:18Read transcript
  • Bruce Dern was not the first choice; the hosts say the first choice was Bert Reynolds, who died during rehearsals. Reactions to Dern are mixed; one view is that Reynolds would have been a better touch because he was almost a Rick Dalton, while Dern was always the bad guy in westerns. — Bill Simmons
  • Tim Roth and James Marsden were cut from the film; Marsden played Bert Reynolds in a deleted scene and is said not to look or sound like him.
  • Tarantino is said to have approached Jennifer Lawrence for Sharon Tate; the crowd reacts and the hosts doubt it would have worked. — Bill Simmons
  • The Marvin role was written specifically for its actor, consistent with Tarantino's process as he described it on earlier episodes. — Bill Simmons
  • Reports that Samuel L. Jackson had a major role and that Tom Cruise was considered for Cliff are treated as unconfirmed gossip; Tarantino is thought to want to work with Cruise. — Bill Simmons
The Notebook The Rewatchables
The Notebook

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:32Read transcript
  • Nominees are Joan Allen, Gina Rollins (as transcribed) and James Garner, with honorable mention to Sam Shepard, who is barely in the movie but charming and a clear link to Gosling's Noah, and James Marsden added.
  • Asked to make a case, it is Joan Allen, throwing heaters as an extremely Southern mom, especially her reading of 'Sarah Lawrence is in New York'. — Andrew Gruttadaro
  • The Sarah Lawrence exchange is played; she is hilarious as a Southern lady and brings the evil-parent vibe that spices up the movie, an evil parent who then tries to redeem herself by sharing her own story.
  • Asked to make a case, it is James Garner, because he pretty much carries the old-people plot, which is hard, and is very charming; Jeanette Rollins (as transcribed) does good work but her part is not fun. — Amanda Dobbins
  • Rowlands's character is supposed to be confused the whole time, while Garner carries the narrative and emotional thrust and plays it straight enough that you do not know who he is.
  • A case is made for James Marsden: delightful and likable, beginning the James Marsden good-guy saga in a role where likability is hard; Lon Hammond Jr. of the Cotton Hammonds gets a bad rap and is not evil just because he has money; his hotel room line is saved for best quote, he is a charmer showing up at her school, and his bravado works even in a full body cast; the speaker also confesses a weakness for Marsden as Cyclops.
  • No pick is made; there are just a lot of great Dion Waiters performances in this movie.
  • Later, during the overacting award, Joan Allen is argued to be a bit of a heat check, and the hosts debate the award's definition: a Dion Waiters heat check is not necessarily good but is 'wow, she's really going for it'; nobody has ever understood whether it is doing the most with the least, and the standing rule from Bill is that it is doing the most with the least, which is why one voice gives it to James Garner, interpreted positively, even though that differs from the hot-hand sense.
The Notebook The Rewatchables
The Notebook

What’s Aged the Best?

The sex scene

In the discussion (17)
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:38Read transcript
  • The obvious one is the chemistry between Gosling and McAdams, astonishing and all-time, and partly luck since the casting had to be right; it makes the hosts sad they are no longer together, and Gosling told GQ after the breakup that women yelled at him on the street for breaking up with her because of this movie.
  • Movies like this raise the question of whether acting is real or whether magic moments are just captured on camera; the half-assed research spills early: the two did not like each other on set and fought a lot, a big blowout reportedly made things better, and he seemed to arrive ready to be a serious actor throwing fastballs that she threw right back.
  • The Nick Cassavetes part is a weird movie for him to make and the best he has made; his credits include She's So Lovely, a much darker love triangle, John Q, Alpha Dog and The Other Woman with a Kate Upton performance called a historical moment.
  • Gina Rollins (as transcribed) is his mom, as the son of Gina Rollins and John Cassavetes, and an anecdote has James Garner breaking up when the director called 'okay, mom, action'; he is the star of the DVD extras and the source of the trivia cited later, and he gets immense credit for casting McAdams and Gosling after a long search for her.
  • Rachel McAdams in general: so good, looks amazing, an incredible performance; asked to choose between Allie and Regina George, one host picks Regina George as the historical, impactful one while loving this performance and her wavy hair.
  • Asked which role is preferred, the performance caught this viewer a little off guard on rewatch; Regina George is the more iconic character but it is hard to say, and Allie might be liked more. — Andrew Gruttadaro
  • Allie seems like a better hang and really fun, loves to swim, with so much of the opening montage spent jumping into water, though she is a little fungible, whereas Regina is strong in her convictions even when they are suspect.
  • Incorporating Charleston is nominated because Charleston in 2019 is really having a moment. — Juliet Litman
  • The counter puts Charleston under what aged worst: there is too much plantation stuff, everyone in a service role, nurse or household staff, is black, which is glaring and uncomfortable now, a bizarre choice especially at the retirement home, where the one white person is a male doctor.
  • The movie is a period piece: set in the 40s, so the costumes and references never age, which works fifteen years later; there are almost no references beyond the war, Walt Whitman and the cotton trade.
  • The structure is really good: whatever one thinks of the dementia plot or the writing in the notebook itself, which seems terrible with respect to Ali Hamilton, the pacing keeps you in young Noah and Ali's world so that you forget James Garner and Gina Rollins (as transcribed) until halfway, and by the time you learn who they are you are invested enough to buy a ridiculous device; one host could not even work out what the notebook was.
  • Asked about the old-people side, the device is appreciated, but by the time it is revealed that they are them it loses its power. — Andrew Gruttadaro
  • You realise it is her when she plays the piano and him much later; nobody remembers first finding out, possibly spoiled, yet it still makes one host cry at the end; producer Craig is cited as loving the old people, the framing gives gravitas to the younger story, and nobody can imagine reading the Nicholas Sparks novel, so it is an achievement.
  • Asked what else has aged well, the offer is maybe James Marsden's inclusion. — Andrew Gruttadaro
  • Marsden is a really good hit, not really famous when the movie came out, who went on to be a rom-com guy and now a guy who dies in sci-fi movies.
  • It starts his career as the other guy, the passed-over guy, but the movie makes you root for Lon and feel bad for him, putting him with Dempsey in Sweet Home Alabama, Karen on The Office and just below Keanu in Something's Gotta Give, where Diane Keaton should have chosen Keanu Reeves.
  • Deciding, the hosts first propose the old-people device, then remember the chemistry, and settle on giving it to the sex scene described at length earlier, so the chemistry wins in the form of that scene; other nominees were McAdams's performance, Charleston, the period setting, the old-people structure and Marsden's inclusion; a joke proposes a video bonus breaking down the choreography on a telestrator.
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