James Marsden convinced The Notebook would flop

James Marsden was shocked when his movie The Notebook became a big hit because he was convinced cinema-goers would "laugh" at the romantic drama.

The X-Men star has opened up about his career choices in a new interview with OUT magazine, revealing he has appeared in a number of films he thought would bomb at the box office.

Marsden singles out 2004's The Notebook, and admits he thought audiences would be turned off by the "schmaltzy" story, but the movie went on to make a respectable $116 million worldwide.

He says, "I never set out to make a bad movie. Some movies just turn out bad, and I want to scream, 'Why did you pick that take?' Then there are some movies that I've been in that I was sure people would laugh at, that have become huge. I thought The Notebook was going to be a schmaltzy 'Movie of the Week'-type thing, and here we are!"