Juicy Details From The Set Of ‘A Walk To Remember’ That Longtime Fans Are Eating Up

During the sequences set in the Sullivans’ home, you may have noticed some photographs sitting on top of the fireplace. But they weren’t just snapped especially for the movie. Rather, the production team used real-life photos from Mandy Moore’s childhood, adding an intriguing layer to her character’s background. Pretty cool, right?

When Moore bagged the role of Jamie Sullivan in A Walk to Remember, it came very early in her career. So, her co-star Shane West looked to give her a few important pointers. West, who played Landon Carter in the film, told the actress that taking on a heavy workload would hinder her chances of future success. With that in mind, he suggested that she shouldn’t accept every offer thrown her way.

Okay, this cool detail may well leave you astonished. North Carolina was the location for the shoot of A Walk to Remember, and its timing coincided with the production of a hugely popular TV series: Dawson’s Creek. Anyway, instead of constructing new sets for the film, the team were given permission to use some of the program’s. That’s why Landon’s house and the school look so familiar.

On the subject of Jamie’s appearance due to her illness, Moore had this to say to magazine Entertainment Weekly. She revealed, “I remember the first makeup test when they cut my bangs. They made me so ghostly white that it was just a little uncalled for. I’m not dead yet! So they had to recalibrate and figure out how to make me not look the picture of health, but also not like I was… [at] death’s door.”

Do you remember the scene where Landon is handed a book that belonged to Jamie’s mom? She tells him, “Don’t worry, it’s not a Bible.” Well, that isn’t how it plays out in Nicholas Sparks’ original story, from which the movie was adapted. It really was a Bible in that instance.

We love it when directors make cameos in their films. It’s a nice little Easter egg to look out for! Speaking of which, Adam Shankman briefly stepped out from behind the camera for a tiny role in A Walk to Remember. As E! Online noted, he played the staff member at the hospital who wheeled Jamie from her room.

While speaking to website TheWrap in June 2015, West dropped this interesting tidbit about A Walk to Remember’s filming. He said, “The first scene that we shot on that film was pretty much the opening sequence of the film – daring that kid to jump into the lake. It was a great idea because it helped me and the other actors bond, [as] we were meant to be lifelong friends.”

What’s your favorite sequence from A Walk to Remember? Moore shared hers when she spoke to Entertainment Weekly. The actress revealed, “The most memorable scene for me is the school play and singing [‘Only Hope’]. I remember putting on that beautiful ice-blue, silk dress and everyone fawning over it. It was the first time that I wasn’t in a ratty sweater and oversized house dress.”

During an interview with the website SPLICEDwire back in 2002, Moore spoke about her relationship with religion, comparing it to Jamie’s in the story. She said, “I relate [to her], but I can’t comprehend it completely because I didn’t grow up in that environment. Jamie’s been around it since day one. I’m religious, and I think if anything this movie made me contemplate where I am in that part of my life.”

How about this for a cool memento? Moore took to Instagram in April 2016 to share a surprising snap with her followers. It was a shot of Jamie’s wedding photograph from A Walk to Remember. She didn’t know who gave it to her, though! Anyway, that blast from the past proved to be a big hit, earning close to 75,000 likes.

Acting isn’t just about reading your lines and hitting the correct marks. You’ve also got to imbue all your dialog and movement with a poise that suits the character and situation. To get there, though, you may need a bit of help. In West’s case, he relied on music by The Cure to find the right headspace for a big sequence with Jamie’s father.

As it turns out, Moore was already quite familiar with A Walk to Remember prior to shooting the movie. Yes, the BuzzFeed website reported that her mom had previously purchased Sparks’ novel, handing it over to the young star. Apparently, she absolutely adored it. Maybe that influenced her excellent performance as Jamie?

During an appearance on Australian TV show Rove Live, Moore made a confession about her early days on the film’s set. She said, “I wasn’t very good at hitting my mark. I’d always find myself looking down to make sure that I was on my mark. You know, the little piece of paper you’re supposed to stand in front of. I found myself looking at it, which you’re not supposed to [do]!”

Now, readers of A Walk to Remember will know that Jamie sported blonde hair. Yet in the movie, it was decided that her locks would be brown instead. That meant Moore had to change her own hair color, which originally matched the character’s shade in the book.

Depending on the scale of the project, certain films can take months of production before the director wraps them up. That wasn’t the case with A Walk to Remember, though. Incredibly, the CinemaBlend website reported that Shankman got everything he needed in just 39 days. Wow! That’s some going.

Once the shoot concluded for A Walk to Remember, Moore opted to mirror her character’s decision to compile a bucket list. So, the actress got to work. Want to hear what was on it? Okay then – here’s a selection. Among other things, she wanted to become a journalism student at university, master the French language, and see more of the world.

Looking back at Eric and Landon’s memorable handshake in the movie, West revealed its origins to Entertainment Weekly. He said, “Al Thompson, who played Eric, he created it on his own. He wanted something that could help us stand apart. We were trying to have it be as edgy as possible.”

Alongside his acting talents, West was a budding musician when he made A Walk to Remember, too. He led a group named Jonny Was, playing punk rock. But the band appeared on the film’s soundtrack with a different moniker – West, Gould, and Fitzgerald. In case you’re curious, their track was “So What Does It All Mean?”

For those of you who haven’t read A Walk to Remember, this detail may well come as a surprise. The events of the novel took place in the 1950s, as opposed to a more modern setting. That wasn’t the case with the film, though. Instead, the creative team threw the story forward into the 1990s.

Unsurprisingly, time is of the essence when shooting a movie. Yet Shankman’s job was made much harder by an unavoidable obstacle – Moore’s age. You see, when A Walk to Remember was in production, she was still legally a child. So, the young actress couldn’t work longer than ten hours each day.

While talking about his audition, West informed Entertainment Weekly, “Adam, the director, had a lot of control, and he really liked the idea of Mandy. So, he was seeing if I could cut it with her. He brought us together, and we read a few scenes and chatted, and then all of a sudden it was happening. I remember being very thankful for that casting process because it was very rare for it to be that laid-back.”

The butterfly tattoo scene is definitely one of the most memorable parts of A Walk to Remember, but shooting it proved tricky. West told the Vulture website, “I couldn’t get that tattoo right. I was screwing it up constantly. There should be outtakes where I peel it off and it’s like a third or half a butterfly, or it didn’t work at all. Then [Moore] starts laughing, and then it’s all worthless.”

From a purely professional standpoint, A Walk to Remember was hugely significant for Moore’s acting career. After all, it marked her first lead role in a film. But she experienced another big moment across the shoot, too. As the actress revealed on Instagram in April 2015, she turned 17 at that time.

We don’t know about you, but we can’t imagine anyone other than Moore playing Jamie Sullivan. It nearly happened differently, though. Shankman told Elle magazine, “The studio had me looking at Jessica Simpson. But [as] I was driving up Laurel Canyon, I heard Mandy’s song ‘I Wanna Be With You.’ I went to the Virgin record store, saw her face, and flipped out. I said, ‘That’s my girl.’”

As it turns out, Moore couldn’t just focus on her job as an actress during the movie’s shoot. Due to her age, she needed to have a certain amount of tutoring for each week she was on set; BuzzFeed put that figure at 15 hours. So the star was taking her school lessons between scenes.

When Moore sat down to talk with SPLICEDwire back in 2002, the age gap between herself and West was brought up. He was 23 during the production of A Walk to Remember, which prompted this statement. She said, “He’s definitely the oldest guy I’ve ever kissed… and surprisingly, the worst kisser, too! No, I’m just joshin’!”

To say that A Walk to Remember had a small budget would be underselling it. In the end, Shankman managed to put it all together for a ballpark sum of just under $12 million. But despite that low figure, the film did incredibly well at the box office. Yes, it earned over $47.4 million across the world.

Okay, fans, cast your minds back to the sequence where a supposedly naked photo of Jamie is circulating around her school. From the outset, this scene was going to give the film a PG-13 rating. Yet a slight bit of post-production tinkering changed that. So, in the image we see on camera, she’s somewhat covered up, earning it a downgrade to PG.

Given how assured A Walk to Remember is, you’d have thought that Adam Shankman had a few Hollywood features under his belt by then. That wasn’t the case, though. In fact, it was just his second major directorial job in the industry. Wow! Shankman hasn’t done too badly in the years since, either.

Right folks, we’re heading into proper spoiler territory here. During West’s chat with Vulture, he said, “My favorite is when I’ll hear about sequel possibilities, and, well, what is the sequel? She dies. I don’t know if she comes back. We could turn this into a genre piece, and she comes back from the dead, and it’s a zombie movie.”

In the years since A Walk to Remember’s release, Moore and West have maintained a tight bond together. And that couldn’t have been clearer than in 2019 when he spoke at the ceremony where the actress got her Hollywood Walk of Fame star. His lovely words at the time would’ve melted the coldest of hearts!

In an interview with Us Weekly magazine from January 2018, Moore made a surprising admission. She said, “It’s been like ten years or something [since I watched the movie]. I had no idea what I was doing. Every time I had seen it, which isn’t very often, I just thought, like, ‘Aw, that little girl had no idea what she was doing.’ I didn’t know anything.”

Something tells us that you might need a tissue for this next tidbit. Nicholas Sparks has stated that the story of A Walk to Remember was very much based on reality: his sister’s experiences had informed the character of Sullivan. She too was battling cancer and went on a journey quite similar to the fictional Jamie.

Before A Walk to Remember hit the big screen, there weren’t too many people in the mainstream who’d heard of Switchfoot. But Moore had – she loved the Christian group. Then, her manager got wind of their music and pushed to include them on the soundtrack. He eventually represented the band as well.

There’s always a bit of pressure on actors when they’re tasked with bringing literary characters to life in movies. For Moore, though, the situation was a little different. After all, she was aware of Jamie’s ties to Nicholas Sparks’ sister. So, BuzzFeed noted that the actress was very anxious ahead of encountering the author. We can’t blame her!

Not Another Teen Movie did a very good job of lampooning the clichés and conventions of the genre back in 2001. Mind you, it also hit a little close to home for Shankman. A Walk to Remember had to follow that parody! He subsequently decided to keep glasses away from Jamie’s face, so she didn’t mirror the path of characters in other films who ditch them during makeovers.

Once Sparks finished A Walk to Remember, he fired over a copy to his sister, hoping she’d read it. Yet she didn’t pick the book up prior to her passing in the summer of 2000. Why? Well, the author revealed that she wanted to avoid the story’s ending. Given how close the connection was between herself and Jamie, we can understand her decision.

Remember Landon’s wheels in the movie? Well, West took an immediate liking to it on the set. Speaking to TheWrap, he recalled, “They started pulling out the cars for each character and they pulled out that ’67 Camaro for me. I turned to the first A.D. and was like, ‘How much is it and I want it. Don’t let anyone else get it.’ And I used part of my paycheck to buy that car.”

Movie sequences that involve kissing can get pretty awkward for the actors at the time of shooting. Then again, we don’t think too many people in Hollywood can trump this cringey story. You see, as West and Moore arrived for their opening day on A Walk to Remember’s production, they were told to rehearse a smooch together. Yikes!

While Jamie and Landon stole each other’s hearts in the movie, Moore was battling similar feelings herself for West. As she told Entertainment Weekly, “Shane was so cool. Everything about him – the way he dressed, the little cigarettes that he smoked, and the music he listened to. He was the character to me and there was definitely a part of me that absolutely fell in love with him.” Aww.

With all due respect to A Walk To Remember, there might be one Nicholas Sparks adaptation that audiences love a little bit more. Based on the same-named novel, The Notebook is widely regarded as one of the greatest big-screen love stories of the 21st century. And while it is iconic, the film isn't free of mistakes — even if most fans didn't catch them.

During the carnival scene, in which Noah (played by Hollywood heartthrob Ryan Gosling) first sees Allie (Rachel McAdams), he's watching her ride bumper cars with her friend Sarah. In the scene, Sarah accidentally cries out "Rachel!" instead of "Allie."

When Noah eagerly jumps onto the Ferris wheel to talk Allie into going on a date with him, she is heard saying "get off of me." However, the actress's lips do not move when these words are spoken. She must be a puppeteer!

If you look closely at Ryan Gosling during the same scene, you will notice a strange line running down his back. This is where his microphone cord was supposed to be hidden for the scene. The key words here: supposed to be.

The Notebook is set in South Carolina in the year 1940. During this scene where Allie and Noah are walking down the street at night, you can clearly see a parking meter on the side of the road. Parking meters were not installed in South Carolina until 7 years later.

Later on in that same scene, Noah lays down in the middle of the road. After a brief exchange, Allie joins him. It looks, however, like they moved from one spot to another further to the right. The only problem? We never see them move.

And the THIRD mistake in that scene is a subtle error in one of Noah's lines. He mentions that he and his father used to watch the light change "from green to red to yellow" when street lights go from green to yellow to red.

This movie mistake is another case of the couple jumping from one spot to another. During this scene, when Allie and Noah are kissing by the house, they move dramatically closer to the window without ever taking a step.

At the beginning of this scene, Allie's hair is curled and neatly pinned to her head. By the end of the scene her hair is messy and straight. Her earrings are also clearly different. Her hair could have gotten messed up by the wind, but the earrings?

At first glance, there's nothing out of the ordinary in this shot of Allie standing beside her mother's car. However, if you look closely, you'll see the entire movie crew clearly visible in the reflection on the front of the car!

Just before Allie's wedding, she is pictured wearing pearl earrings. However, the earrings mysteriously disappear and reappear throughout the scene. What is up with these earrings?

During the famous kiss-in-the-rain scene, Billie Holliday is singing "I'll Be Seeing You." While the song is considered to be a classic standard today, it was not recorded and released until 1944 — that's four whole years after the movie's events were supposed to take place! Did the couple time travel?

Both Noah and Allie are completely drenched by the rain in this same scene. However, when Noah takes Allie inside of the house moments later, her hair and her makeup are magically restored to their earlier perfect (and dry) state. That was fast!

In the scene where young Allie plays the piano, Noah interrupts her with a kiss. Then tells him that she cannot play "Chopsticks" while he's doing that. However, the song that she was playing was "Chopin's Prelude." Study your music history, Allie!

Ryan Gosling had to wear brown contact lenses so that his eyes would match the actor playing him in old age. However, during the famous scene in which he fights with Allie, he forgot to put in his contact lenses — and his infamous blue eyes come out to play.

Apparently, Rachel McAdams had a hard time keeping not just her earrings, but all her jewelry in place during this shoot! During the scene where she is wearing the necklace pictured below, it kept appearing and disappearing as they cut to and away from her.

The infamous "if you're a bird, I'm a bird" scene is shot on a very rocky beach. But the movie is meant to take place in South Carolina, which has no beaches that look like this. Still, it's quite the setting for this emotional moment, so we'll let it slide.

When the couple sneaks inside the old and abandoned plantation house, you can clearly hear Allie saying "this place is huge." However, her lips do not move, revealing that the line was likely added later in post-production.

Spoilers!!! In the scenes that take place in 2004 when Allie and Noah are older, their children seem to be in their mid 30s, or early 40s at most. Allie and Noah met in 1940 as adults, so their children are way too young for an 80-year-old couple!

The entire premise of this tear-jerking romance is that the chemistry between its two stars is intense beyond words. While the two actors went on to date after the filming, during the shoot they reportedly hated each other.