'The studio had me looking at Jessica Simpson,' he spilled to Elle. 'But I was driving up Laurel Canyon, I heard Mandy's song 'I Wanna Be With You,' and I thought, who the hell is that little angel voice? I went to the Virgin record store, saw her face, and flipped out. While West wouldn't divulge the other actress in contention, director Adam Shankman revealed she was another young singer. 'I remember I wasn't keen on that idea and thankfully it didn't happen.'ģ. There was someone else-who I'm not going to say right now-whose name was batted around for Mandy's role,' West coyly told Entertainment Weekly. But someone else almost landed the lead role over Moore, according to Shane West, whose character Landon romanced the terminally ill teenager. 'It was my first movie and I know people say it may be cliche and it's a tearjerker or it's cheesy, but for me, it's the thing I'm most proud of.'Ģ. 'I had such a visceral reaction to it that I remember not being able to read because I was almost hyperventilating while I was crying,' she told the Los Angeles Times in 2010. After beginning her career as a pop star and having just one acting credit-a supporting role in The Princess Diaries-on her resume, Mandy Moore fought for the role of Jamie after reading the Nicholas Sparks novel and falling in love with the character and the story.

'We hadn't had anything that had been a success like that, so that will probably be one of my favorite memories.'ġ. 'Mandy was phenomenal and my best friend when we were working on that,' West told E! News of the This Is Us star in 2019. Yeah, it would've been a crime against our emotions as the pair have maintained a close friendship since filming the movie almost twenty years ago. While West was already known for his work on the soap Once and Again, the beloved book adaptation was Moore's first lead acting role after beginning her career as a pop star.īut another blonde singer came this close to snagging the part of Jamie, meaning we were almost robbed of the special chemistry between West and Moore, who turns 37 on April 10. Yes, the movie is 20 years old and we just felt the cruel slap of time! The pair starred together in 2002's A Walk to Remember, with the coming-of-age based-on-a-Nicholas-Sparks-novel cryfest quickly becoming an essential text for any millennial. Remember when Shane West promised not to fall in love with Mandy Moore? LOL, as if that was ever possible.

A walk to remember nicholas sparks book