Gena Rowlands’ passing at 94 is something that changes the lives of family members and friends, most especially Nick Cassavetes. The two had a strong friendship that was both personal and professional, especially when they jointly worked on the movie titled The Notebook in 2004. Rowlands portrayed Allie, an older character with Alzheimer’s disease, something Rowlands would be faced with later in her life.
In an interview to the Entertainment Weekly two months before the death of Lisa, Nick said that his mother was a victim of the Alzheimer’s disease that had been affecting her for the last five years. Looking back to their collaboration on The Notebook, he mentioned that they had invested a lot of time in research of the Alzheimer’s disease in order to make the events of the movie true to life. The experience of making the film turned into a painful drama when Rowlands began experiencing dementia herself.
He told Entertainment Weekly, “I got my mom to play older Allie, and we spent a lot of time talking about Alzheimer’s and wanting to be authentic with it, and now, for the last five years, she’s had Alzheimer’s.”
During the shooting, Cassavetes was able to capture the surreality of the shooting saying he never thought his mother was acting Alzheimer’s when she was truly diagnosed with it. However, The Notebook is a rather popular movie, and Cassavetes virtually stated that he is happy it was made and people appreciated it, “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”
Rowlands continues to make a difference today through the impact of her roles and through the stories of people who knew her. Her work as a producer and the story of her life is, without a doubt, tied to her exciting and cherished role of Allie.
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