Ryan Gosling built the kitchen table featured in the movie in preparation for his role as Noah. Ryan Gosling was the director's (Nick Cassavetes) first and only choice for the role of Noah. In the scene when Allie is in college, her professor says "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself". This is a quote of Walt Whitman, the poet that wrote the poems Noah was reading to his father on the porch when Allie gives him her painting. The professor wrote "Leaves ...[Read Story ]