WAMG Talks THE BEST OF ME With Nicholas Sparks : Exclusive Interview

It’s fall, love is in the air, the leaves are changing color, and Relativity’s new love story THE BEST OF ME hits theaters this Friday. We know you love a good love story, so recently I attended a press day for the film in Los Angeles for the film where I sat down with writer / producer Nicholas Sparks for an exclusive interview. Check it out below!

Based on the bestselling novel by acclaimed author Nicholas Sparks, THE BEST OF ME tells the story of Dawson and Amanda, two former high school sweethearts who find themselves reunited after 20 years apart, when they return to their small town for the funeral of the beloved friend. Their bittersweet reunion reignites the love they’ve never forgotten, but soon they discover the forces that drove them apart twenty years ago live on, posing even more serious threats today. Spanning decades, this epic love story captures the enduring power of our first true love, and the wrenching choices we face when confronted with elusive second chances.

What do you think it is about you that makes you able to look beyond the tragedy and find the good in your writing, or even in life? 

NICHOLAS SPARKS : Well, I think it comes from a little bit of my world view… in that tragedy isn’t the end of the world. I started my career with the idea that all great love stories, by definition, have to end in tragedy because at one point or another one of them dies. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about the love of your life, or your parents, or your siblings, or your friends, or your pet. Great loves, by definition… it has to end in tragedy, so it’s inevitable. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find joy in life. Even if you know it’s going to end tragically, that doesn’t mean that you have to have a tragic life. You enjoy love, and the moments that it’s in your life because it provides you with everything you live for.

It seems like a prop in the background of all of your stories are letters, regardless of the timeframe. Are you hoping to preserve the art form, or is it strictly for the romanticism?

NICHOLAS SPARKS : Both. Yeah, you know, I still write letters. I still hand write letters, and I still receive hand written letters. So, it’s still out there, and I think it’s a wonderful… As far as a novel goes it’s a wonderful way to – perhaps if you’r writing a third person novel – to shift into first person for a little bit to provide additional depth and emotion for that particular character. I also admire the craft of writing a good letter. When people reach out to me because they are struggling, for whatever reason, my first instinct is ‘Ok. I shall write them a letter.’ as opposed to necessarily sending flowers, or something. I do that as well, but my first instinct is to write a letter because there is something beautiful in the written word if it’s done in a meaningful, authentic way. It’s sad to me that people don’t do it as much, but there are those that do, and those that do find great meaning in it whether they are writing them or receiving them.

Building off of that, we’re living in a time where social media is all over the place, and people are living through their phones. How do you balance bringing your films up to date with keeping the nostalgia?

NICHOLAS SPARKS : Well, I think technology changes. Technology obviously changes but the emotions don’t. For me, I don’t necessarily focus in on any sort of technology. I don’t think it’s necessarily intrinsic to the stories that I’m wanting to write. Emotion changes so incredibly slowly. If you were in love in 1950, or falling in love in 1950 it felt the same as falling in love today. You can go watch CASABLANCA, right? They write this film, and it’s this deep ache… You could see the depth of love they had for each other. That doesn’t change. It just doesn’t change. So, whether they have cell phones, or look up something on the computer rather than a novel… the emotional connection comes from one-on-one interaction.

The internet was buzzing last week about a statistic released by the U.S. government. According to their tracking, this is the first time that there are more single adults than married. I’m just curious if you think that this, or factors relating to it will, in any way, affect your writing in the future.

NICHOLAS SPARKS : Not necessarily. I don’t think it will. It’s certainly known that there are challenges for people who are single that may not have been married.

What do you think makes a love story that appeals to a broad audience?

NICHOLAS SPARKS : It’s something that I keep in mind as I’m writing. I have tried to vary everything in the novels with the exception that if they take place in North Carolina, there may be a love story, and it’s probably going to be in a small town. Everything else is different, from the theme, the ages of the characters, the dilemma… In my most recent novel they were Jewish, and they were ninety years old, and I did A WALK TO REMEMBER. They were teenagers. I did THE NOTEBOOK. Well, he way eighty! He was also 28, or something like that. I’ve done characters in their early fifties, or their late forties. I do try to vary it to bring in, I guess the concept that love is possible at any age, and that when it’s right it’s right. I think that’s timeless at twelve or timeless at eighty.

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THE BEST OF ME opens in theaters everywhere this Friday, October 17th