For the past few years, Alan Ritchson has successfully led a streaming adaptation of Lee Child’s beloved Jack Reacher books. Ahead of Reacher Season 3 seeing the actor back in action in the TV series, Ritchson is switching gears to star in another one of Hollywood’s upcoming book adaptations with a Nicholas Sparks romance. Amidst the news of the project, the actor shared a moving story about watching The Notebook for the first time.
Reacher’s Alan Ritchson Is Set To Star In A Nicholas Sparks Adaptation
Just last week, Nicholas Sparks released his latest novel, Counting Miracles, and it’s already among the New York Times bestseller list. Counting Miracles is about a former Army Ranger named Tanner Hughes who returns to his hometown in Asheboro, North Carolina to find the father he never knew. During his search, he meets a doctor and single mother named Kaitlyn Cooper, whom he finds an instant connection with.
Per Variety, Ritchson is set to play Tanner in a Counting Miracles movie along with producing the project. The film is part of a three-picture deal Alan Ritchson signed with Amazon MGM Studios. From how it sounds, once the movie has been made, those with an Amazon subscription will be able to see this in-the-works romance flick!
Ritchson Shares Sweet Story About Watching The Notebook
Counting Miracles sounds like a solid role for Alan Ritchson to tackle, and we have zero worries he’ll be a good lead in a romance. (It also doesn’t hurt that he puts so much work into his health that he apparently has 10 percent body fat). But the actor shared the personal reason why he wanted to star in a Nicholas Sparks adaptation on his Instagram as the news came out, and it’s a sweet story.
While the actor is very successful today, he started by saying when he first moved to Los Angeles and was pursuing acting, it wasn’t easy by any means. He said each job was “a lifeline”. Here’s what he said next in his own words:
As a way to help me stay the course, my fiancée at the time [Cat Ritchson] (now wife) would take a break from working on her degree at [University of Florida] every few weeks to pay a visit. It always did put a lot of wind in my sails. She believed in me way before I did.During one of her stays, she wanted to watch The Notebook. So we made a night of renting the DVD and grabbing some snacks. A night in for a chick flick. I thought I was doing her a favor. Brownie points galore.
While The Notebook is thought of as one of the best movies of the 2000s, when it came out, it certainly had a reputation of being simply a “chick flick.” Here’s how his viewing went:
Long story short, she fell asleep way before the end. I did not. I was crying so hard, for so long, at that perfect depiction of long, troubled, but unwavering love that even the DVD screen saver that bounced around the screen after the end credits to keep images from burning in the TV had finished.
While his fiancée actually dozed off while watching the romantic drama, Ritchson was completely locked up until the bittersweet ending where the two romantic leads literally die together as elderly people in a retirement community. Sufficed to say, the actor was moved, and he’s excited to be the star of a Sparks adaptation. He also said this:
The yearning I experienced for the first time that night for a Notebook kind of enduring love has been a compass I return to when I get distracted or lose my way (as we all do from time to time). It also cemented for me how truly valuable the medium of TV and Film can be when done right.
It’s a great addition to Ritchson’s upcoming projects which includes starring with Arnold Schwartzenegger in a Christmas movie and returning for the next Fast and the Furious. Well, now we cannot wait for Counting Miracles, too!
