Behold the Grand Tradition of Shirtlessness in a Nicholas Sparks Movie
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There are certain things you can always expect to see in a Nicholas Sparks adaptation, and aside from the all-consuming, torturous love, the thing we love most is the casting. The stars of any romantic drama adapted from a Sparks novel are reliably sexy, particularly the men. Continuing that tradition of hot romantic male leads is Benjamin Walker, who has already been seen steaming up the joint in The Choice, which comes out Feb. 5. To celebrate this most pleasing of grand cinematic traditions, we are looking back at all the times a Sparks movie star lost the shirt and melted our brains.
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Ryan Gosling, The Notebook
Noah Calhoun was the first leading man in a Nicholas Sparks adaptation to lose the shirt and win all our hearts. There are far racier shots of Gosling in the movie with his clothes off, but this is the most delightful example of shirtlessness.
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Channing Tatum, Dear John
Dear John? More like "dear God." Channing Tatum spends a lot of this movie with no shirt on, usually because he's at the beach. It's awesome.
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Channing Tatum, Dear John
Thank you, Nicholas Sparks, for making this character a surfer.
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Channing Tatum, Dear John
We are so grateful the beach is where most of these Sparks books take place.
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Liam Hemsworth, The Last Song
Liam Hemsworth: keeping the beach beautiful one ab at a time.
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Liam Hemsworth, The Last Song
He's so dirty that it's totally normal to imagine him in the shower next.
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Liam Hemsworth, The Last Song
Those are the luckiest cargo shorts in the world.
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Zac Efron, The Lucky One
Zac Efron's shirtless love scene also has this fun little butt touch.
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Josh Duhamel, Safe Haven
Josh Duhamel may play a single dad in this drama, but there is no dad bod here.
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Josh Duhamel, Safe Haven
Sand: an essential element in a Nicholas Sparks movie.
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James Marsden, The Best of Me
James Marsden is giving the best of himself here, for sure.
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Scott Eastwood, The Longest Ride
Thank you, Clint Eastwood, for making this GIF possible.
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Benjamin Walker, The Choice
Meet your new Sparks adaptation leading man, folks: Benjamin Walker. He's tall, he's sexy, and he looks great shirtless and walking on a beach.