Mean Girl Plays Nice
As Lindsay Lohan's high-school rival in Mean Girls, Rachel McAdams was truly a nasty beeyatch. Fortunately, the 27-year-old Canadian transplant is no Regina George offscreen. Actually, she's a total sweetheart, and her softer side definitely shows in The Notebook (due out in theaters Friday).
Based on the gooey bestseller by Nicholas Sparks, Notebook tells the tale of a couple (McAdams and Ryan Gosling) torn apart by World War II, then romantically reunited years later. "I'm a sucker in every way when it's all about love and soul mates," McAdams says. "I think you can fall in love with more than one person, but I don't know yet for sure. I'm not gonna not believe in soul mates."
Although he's a cutie, her onscreen amour with Gosling (The United States of Leland) wasn't always easy. "The thong was uncomfortable," McAdams laughs of one scene. "But Ryan's a real gentleman, and the guys on set were really classy about the fact that we were working. It was a dimly lit set as well, so that helps. A little darkness brings out [an actress's] confidence."
When McAdams wasn't sporting that thong, she wore a veil and white gloves, since her character is an old-fashioned Southern belle. "I did [training in] tennis, ballet, swing dancing, piano, art class and etiquette," she recalls. "I also did French dialect, but then it was mixing me up with my Southern dialect, so we stuck to Southern!"
