Josh Lucas' girlfriend surprisingly is 'Team Patrick Dempsey' in 'Sweet Home Alabama'

Josh Lucas may have won his girlfriend’s heart in real life, but his “Sweet Home Alabama” character did not.

Lucas famously starred in the 2002 rom-com opposite Reese Witherspoon as her character Melanie’s estranged husband Jake, while Patrick Dempsey portrayed her fiancé Andrew.

At a recent red carpet event, Lucas’ girlfriend Brianna Ruffalo admitted to E! News that she wasn’t rooting for Lucas’ character in the movie, telling the outlet, “I’m Team Patrick Dempsey.”

In the movie, Melanie gets engaged to Andrew but there’s just one problem — she’s not technically divorced from her first husband, Jake. Melanie returns home to Alabama in an attempt to finally get Jake to sign their divorce papers, but things don’t go according to plan and their old feelings come rushing back.

While Melanie makes it to her wedding day with Andrew, she ultimately calls things off when she realizes that she’s still in love with Jake.

“From day one, she was like, ‘Oh yeah, you were the other guy,’” Lucas explained. “She was like, ‘I always felt bad...I didn’t like you because you like, stole her from Patrick.’”

Ruffalo even joked that her opinion was an “ongoing problem” in their relationship.

Despite her character preference, Lucas and Ruffalo have tried to watch “Sweet Home Alabama” together once.

“We actually watched part of it once and she fell asleep, like, 10 minutes in and was still like, ‘I’m still Team Patrick,’” he said. “And that was it.”

While Lucas’ girlfriend may hold a controversial opinion for fans of the rom-com, his love for the project still remains, as well as his interest in pursuing a sequel.

The actor appeared on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna in April 2023 and when asked if he would reprise his role as Jake, he said it depended on Witherspoon.

“It’s what you guys were talking about before — that person is in the wings, right?” he said. “I mean, I think that’s the thing about that story is even though that relationship obviously — I think it haunts them in a wonderful way.”

Lucas continued, adding, “And I think that movie, at least for me, kind of has that as well. You want to find out what that person is like.”

When Witherspoon appeared on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna in October 2022, she discussed a possible sequel to the rom-com, adding that it would be a “great idea” to get everybody back to together.

When asked by Jenna Bush Hager if she would actually be in the movie, Witherspoon replied, “Maybe. I don’t know. That sounds fun. Do you guys want me to do that?”

After the TODAY crew cheered for the actor in response to her question, she added, “OK, I’ll make some calls.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com