A Walk to Remember star Shane West reflects on the film on its 20th anniversary. A Walk to Remember, which was released in January 2002, was the second major motion picture to be adapted from a Nicholas Sparks romance novel after 1999's Message in a Bottle. The film was directed by Adam Shankman, and wasn't as sizable a hit as other Sparks adaptations like The Notebook or Dear John. However, it did make nearly quadruple its $12 million budget and was later voted one of the 30 most romantic movies of all time.
In the film, West plays Landon Carter, a juvenile delinquent who is given an opportunity to avoid expulsion by doing community service at his school. His punishment throws him together with Mandy Moore's character Jamie Sullivan, who is the daughter of the local Baptist minister. Although they have known each other casually, Jamie and Landon quickly develop a stronger bond and fall in love. Unfortunately, their young romance is cut short by Jamie's revelation that she has leukemia, and the pair get married so they can spend her last months together as husband and wife.
Screen Rant had the opportunity to sit down with West to discuss his new film Outsiders, which is currently out in theaters and on VOD. During the conversation, he reflected on the 20th anniversary of A Walk to Remember. He revealed that he is still close with his co-star Moore, because their shared success early in their careers "can genuinely connect you to one another." West explained that two fictional lovers became real-life friends because they "inherently cared about each other." Read his full quote below:
"Well, there was always a genuine connection there [..] and to have something do so well at an early stage of your career, I think can genuinely connect you to one another. The whole cast is really connected in that sense. But Mandy and I, obviously being the love story part of the love story, yeah, we inherently cared about each other and that's what keeps the connection going."
Although Moore and West haven't worked together since A Walk to Remember, both have had their own career successes. Moore went on to star as Rapunzel in the Disney animated musical Tangled, and is now continuing her drama/tearjerker project legacy by starring on the hit NBC drama This Is Us alongside Gilmore Girls' Milo Ventimiglia. West also made a name for himself on television, most recently appearing as Bane in Batman prequel series Gotham season 5.
While A Walk to Remember's tragic ending mean that it isn't built to have sequel or franchise potential, the idea of a reboot has been floated. With both Moore and West previously saying they would love to reunite in a future film or TV series, audiences can only hope that once This Is Us ends, one of Moore's next projects will bring the two back together again so they can celebrate their film's 20th anniversary in some way. Although Nicholas Sparks adaptations seem to have gone out of fashion (the most recent was The Choice in 2016), there are many other ways to reunite two of cinema's most iconic young lovers.