Markki Stroem gives The Notebook’s ‘other man’ a heart
For the actor, Lon is not the villain standing between Noah and Allie — he is a man who loves deeply enough to let go.
For the actor, Lon is not the villain standing between Noah and Allie — he is a man who loves deeply enough to let go.
For many who fell in love with The Notebook through the 2004 film, Lon Hammond Jr. is remembered as the man standing between Noah and Allie.
Played by James Marsden in the film, Lon is Allie’s wealthy, successful fiancé, the seemingly sensible choice against the passionate young man she once loved. In Nicholas Sparks’ 1996 novel, Lon is a successful lawyer from a prominent Southern family who genuinely loves Allie and gives her a sense of security. He is not simply a villain standing in the way of the central romance.
For Markki Stroem, who plays Lon in Theater Group Asia’s upcoming production of The Notebook The Musical, that distinction is essential.
“I just feel like the character was originally very comic relief,” Stroem told DAILY TRIBUNE in an exclusive interview during one of the cast rehearsals. “But I decided that, you know what? This character is the third party-ish or the third wheel or the third person. Therefore, she needs to have a reason to fight for either her fiancée or the love of her life, Noah. And to choose.”
Rather than play Lon as a stereotypical obstacle to Noah and Allie’s romance, Stroem wants to give him depth.
“I didn’t want to play him like a joke. I wanted to really give him the depth,” he said. “And not a character who is mean or a red flag.”
For Stroem, Lon has to be someone the audience can understand, even when they already know how his relationship with Allie will end.
“I wanted to make him genuinely someone that loved her very, very much. Someone that cared for her,” he said. “And someone that, just because of a circumstance, she chose the love of her life.”
