Rachel McAdams reveals secret from 'The Notebook' boat scene
Rachel McAdams' name is lighting up a Broadway marquee for the first time in her career, after 25 years away from the stage.
The "Mary Jane" star told "Good Morning America" on Monday that her new role "is the part of a lifetime."
"'Mary Jane' is a play about a single mom who lives in Jackson Heights, New York, and she's raising her young boy Alex, who's [2 1/2 years old], and he has very special needs that need a lot of help," McAdams explained of the plot for the two-act drama, which is running at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. "It's about the village that she finds that helps her raise her son and keeps her going. She's a really incredible, resilient woman who finds joy in every aspect of her life, especially with her son."
The Academy Award nominee, who was nominated for her role in the acclaimed 2015 biographical drama "Spotlight," and whose resume boasts a wide range of roles from the hit teen comedy "Mean Girls" to the beloved 2004 romance "The Notebook," said she found a personal connection to her onstage character.
"My mom was a nurse, so I sort of got a small taste of what it is to be a health care worker and care deeply, and sort of be stuck in a system that maybe isn't always in support of the best care," she said. "It's really rewarding though. She's such an amazing character -- I love going out there every night and finding something new with my amazing castmates."
McAdams added, "What people have been finding surprising is that it is heavy material at times, but it's also a really funny play. All the women I work with are just hilarious comediennes, and they have incredible timing. So, I think you get a little bit of everything, which is super reflective of life."
Thinking back two decades ago to her role in "The Notebook" as Allie Hamilton, alongside fellow Canadian actor and Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling as Noah Calhoun, McAdams revealed what really happened while filming the famous row boat scene, during which the two characters get stuck in a rainstorm.
"It didn't rain when we needed it to. They had to pump rain from the bottom of the lake through fire hoses and then pelt us with it," she recalled.
She added, "The lovely cast of the musical ['The Notebook'] came to [the] opening night [of Mary Jane], and I saw [star] Joy Woods, and I said, 'I'm so sorry about that rain' -- but it makes for great theatre I guess, having all that rain actually onstage -- I'm very excited to see it."
2004 was a big year for McAdams, who also starred in "Mean Girls" that year as Regina George, the queen bee of North Shore High School. Reneé Rapp recently stepped into McAdams' shoes for Tina Fey's musical movie adaptation of the stage musical, itself an adaptation of the original movie.
"I love her," McAdams said, referring to Rapp. "I got to introduce her on 'SNL', which was amazing, and she's incredible. She's so young and so poised."
She also revealed the most-quoted lines from "Mean Girls" fans: "'Fetch' seems to come up in all sorts of incarnations, but someone just asked me to [autograph] a 'Mary Jane' Playbill the other day, [saying,] 'Can you write, 'Is butter a carb?'"
