James Marsden to Replace Paul Walker in THE BEST OF ME?

The Hollywood Reporter writes that James Marsden is in negotiations to take over the role originally set to be played by Paul Walker in the upcoming film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' romance novel THE BEST OF ME. Walker died in a car crash on November 30, 2013.

Read the original story here.

Marsden would star opposite Michelle Monaghan. Michael Hoffman will direct for Relativity, featuring a script by Will Fetters.

THE BEST OF ME, which follows two former High School sweethearts, is officially described as:

"In the spring of 1984, High School students Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole fell deeply, irrevocably in love. Though they were from opposite sides of the tracks, their love for one another seemed to defy the realities of life in the small town of Oriental, North Carolina. But as the summer of their senior year came to a close, unforeseen events would tear the young couple apart, setting them on radically divergent paths.

Now, twenty-five years later, Amanda and Dawson are summoned back to Oriental for the funeral of Tuck Hostetler, the mentor who once gave shelter to their High School romance. Neither has lived the life they imagined ...and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever changed their lives. As Amanda and Dawson carry out the instructions Tuck left behind for them, they realize that everything they thought they knew -- about Tuck, about themselves, and about the dreams they held dear -- was not as it seemed. Forced to confront painful memories, the two former lovers will discover undeniable truths about the choices they have made. And in the course of a single, searing weekend, they will ask of the living, and the dead: Can love truly rewrite the past?"

Marsden will next be seen in Nailed, Walk of Shame, The Loft, Endangered and Welcome to Me, and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues just hit the big screen. His past film credits include Lee Daniels' The Butler, 2 Guns, Bachelorette, Death at a Funeral, 27 Dresses, Enchanted, Hairspray, Superman Returns, The Notebook (also adapted from a Nicholas Sparks novel), the X-Men movies, and more.

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