Aside from The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks‘ gut-wrenching A Walk to Remember is one of our favorite romantic dramas of all time. Admittedly, the film adaptation hasn’t exactly held up perfectly since it’s debut in 2002. However, we can sill remember how we felt watching Mandy Moore and Shane West‘s characters fall in love on screen. Almost 15 years later, here are 10 things you never knew about A Walk To Remember.
1. A Walk To Remember was Mandy Moore’s first leading role in a film.
Before then, she’d only had a supporting role in The Princess Diaries as the bitchy Lana Thomas.
2. All of these years later, Shane West and Mandy Moore are still good friends.
They are email pen-pals.
3. Mandy Moore was only 17 when she filmed A Walk To Remember.
Shane West was 23.
4. Since Moore was still a minor, filming time was limited.
Per industry rules, Moore could only film for a maximum of 10 hours a day. She was also required to have 15 hours of tutoring per week, so a tutor had to be with her on set.
5. One the first day of filming, director Adam Shankman made the actors practice kissing one another.
It was the first time Moore had kissed anyone on screen, and West was also the oldest guy she’d ever smooched.
6. In order to get into character, Moore dyed her hair.
She said goodbye to her blonde locs in order to become the brunette, Jamie Sullivan.
7. Mandy Moore adores the band Switchfoot.
Which is why the then relatively unknown band was chosen to record the film’s soundtrack.
8. Once filming wrapped, Shane West brought his character’s ’67 Camero.
He paid $5,000 for it.
9. A Walk To Remember inspired Mandy Moore to write her own bucket list.
It includes going to college to study journalism and learning to speak French fluently.
10. Nicholas Sparks based A Walk To Remember on his sister who had been diagnosed with cancer.
Her boyfriend proposed to her because she wanted to get married before she died. She passed away one year before filming began.
