Love Story is a well known romance movie made by Paramount Pictures in 1970. It Starred Ali MacGraw as Jenny Cavalleri, Ryan O’Neil as Oliver Barrett IV,  John Marley as Phil Cavalleri, and Ray Milland as Oliver Barrett III. It was written by Eric Segal (who simultaneously wrote a book version) and directed by Arthur Hiller. It surpassed all box office expectations and was Paramount’s most successful movie ever (to that date), and continues to be very popular. The opening line of the movie is “What can I say about a 25-year old girl who died? That she loved Mozart, and Bach, and Beatles, and Me?” As you can tell this one doesn’t have a happy ending. The story chronicles the two lead characters as they meet in college (he’s attending Harvard and she’s attending nearby Vassar — these are the days when both schools were single sex) through several years of marriage. The story shows sacrificial love as Jenny gives up her own educational plans to support Oliver in his. When the couple has problems conceiving a child they get medical exams that uncover that Jenny is very sick. Her illness is never named but it appears to be Leukemia or some other form of cancer. Jenny dies of the disease but not until after she has a profound effect on Oliver and the others in her life. The movie is probably most well known for the line “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

How are “Love Story” and AWTR similar?

	Both stories are tragic romances where the female character dies.
	Both movies have the female character have a profound effect on the others in her life before she dies.
	Both movies have the characters get married

How are “Love Story” and AWTR different? AWTR takes place c. 1996; “Love Story” takes place c.1970 AWTR is a story about faith; “Love Story” is about love and the absence of religion. “Love Story” has pre-marital sex, AWTR does not AWTR was based upon a book; “Love Story” was released as a book and movie (by the same author) simultaneously. The characters are several years older in “Love Story” The two stories are very similar. The only real difference other than age (Jenny was 25, Jamie was 18) was the issue of faith. Jamie had faith in God: “It’s like the wind, I can’t seeit, but I can feel it.” Jenny had faith in other people: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Oh, and there is pre-maratal sex in Love Story. There wasn’t in AWTR. Other than that the stories are very similar. Both stories had a young couple who fell in love and got married. Both stories had the female character die. Both stories had the male character astranged from his father who eventually came through. It’s interesting that you bring this up. An early draft of the script for AWTR read a lot like Love Story; Love Story: “What can I say about a 25 year old girl who died? That she loved Mozart, and Bach, and Beatles . . . and me.” AWTR Early Script: “You’d think that all the people here [Beaufort] were friendly, welcoming, open-minded . . . and that money or family background or education or luck didn’t matter. But they did matter. They mattered to everyone except Jamie Sullivan . . . Astronomer. Actress. Believer in God. . . Believer in Me.” Eery isn’t it.

This is an unofficial site and is not endorsed by or in any way affiliated with anybody having to do with AWTR, including Mandy Moore.

This site is not in any way affiliates with Shane West or anybody else related to AWTR. So, no, we can’t.

How many times do we have to say this? This is an UNOFFICIAL SITE and in NO WAY affiliated with anyone associated with AWTR!

For the last frigging time, we have no association and NO CONTACT with ANYONE AFFILIATED with the book or movie A Walk To Remember! If you want to get in touch with them, write them a letter, or try one of the following official sites: http://www.mandymoorefan.com/ orhttp://www.nicholassparks.com/

Anything is possible. But, to our knowledge Mandy Moore does not read this site. If you want her to see something, you can try posting to the “Ask Mandy” section of the BBS on her site, or write her a letter.

No, Mandy and Shane are not dating.

Wrong. Mandy and Shane have never dated.

Nope. Sorry. They are just friends.

It’s called ACTING, people.

Listen to me very carefully. For the last frigging time: Mandy Moore and Shane West are not now, nor have they ever dated. The award winning chemistry that they shared on screen was just ACTING! By your logic, Shane would be dating half of the girls in Hollywood since he had just as much chemistry in “Whatever It Takes” “Get Over It” and most of the other movies and TV work he has done. Really good actors can make you believe you really love the person they are acting with.

For the last bloody time — Shane and Mandy NEVER DATED.

Mandy was 17 when they made the movie; Shane was 24. It would have been a CRIME.

Yes, she read and loved the book before even auditioning for the movie.

They began filming on Mandy’s 17th birthday, April 10, 2001 (d.o.b. 4/10/84). Shane was almost 23 (d.o.b 6/10/78). [ACK! Talk about robbing the cradle! No wonder they never actually dated!]

Nope. Sorry, the award-winning on-screen chemistry was only acting.

According to her website: “I am Catholic, but don’t necessarily believe everything that Catholics believe. But I do pray before each and every performance. I find that it calms me” [ http://www.mandymoorefan.com/ ]

Mandy does not consider Jamie to be a “religious” character. She was merely a character for whom her religious faith was important to her. She was not, as Eric referred to her, a “Bible-hugging, Crucifix-wearing, honk-if-you-love-Jesus” girl.

To answer the question, she enjoyed playing Jamie and is proud that it came off so well.

“Only Hope”, “It’s Gonna Be Love”, and “Someday We’ll Know” (duet with Jonathan Foreman from Switchfoot) were recorded specifically for the movie.

“Cry”, on the other hand, was recorded for Mandy’s album “Mandy Moore.” She gave a preview copy to Adam Shankmen and he decided to include it in the movie.

In the DVD commentary she reveals that her favorite scene in the film was the one where, after having been snubbed by Landon in front of his friends, he came over to make up with her and she kept slamming the door in his face.

Mandy does not specifically answer this anywhere that I can find, but the hardest ones for her were the ones when she had to pretend to not be friends with actors she had made friends with off camera (pretend to be an outsider). She also stated in the DVD commentary that she was very uncomfortable doing the scenes in the bus to and from the school where they did tutoring because of the heat and because she was distracted by the neighborhood kids that were constantly visible outside the window. This is one of the scenes where they had to re-loop the dialog because the original was unusable. Also, the scenes where she had to drive were difficult because of the condition of the car she had to use.

Jamie looks quite different from Mandy in real life. Mandy is a natural blonde. She was that way on both of her early albums (“So Real” and “I Wanna Be With You”) as well as her screen debut in “The Princess Diaries” (where she played Lanna the bitch cheerleader) and dyed her brown for AWTR. She later dyed her hair a darker color for “How To Deal” and cut her hair for the film (for about 15 minutes she has long hair and then cut it as a plot point). Since then she’s changed it a number of times going from blonde (“All I Want” “Bubble Boy”) to black in several films. She seems to like the darker color, but as far as I know she’s really a natural blonde.

If you listen closely to the scene where Landon and Eric have a fight because “you don’t have time for your friends anymore” Landon tells him that the CD he is playing was leant to him by Jamie. The song we hear is one of JoC’s biggies, “Flood.” [The song describes life being overwhelming at times using the allegory of the biblical “flood.”]

Mandy was asked if she had ever listened to JoC on her website and she answered that the only JoC song that she had heard was the one used in the movie. [It’s somewhere in the “Ask Mandy” archive. I don’t have an exact link.]

To Mandy and anyone else who may be reading this, I recommend you check out:

	“Flood” (from “Jars of Clay”)
	“Love Song For A Savior” (from “Jars of Clay”)
	“Like a Child” (from “Jars of Clay”)
	“Overjoyed” (from “Much Afraid”)
	“Fly” (from “The Eleventh Hour”)

“Fly” would have made a good song for the AWTR soundtrack. The song is about the author’s pain and hope at loosing his wife to Cancer. CLICK HERE for the lyrics.

I would assume this question refers to Mandy’s style of acting. I have never seen she or anyone else describe what kind of actress she is, but based upon some things that she said in the DVD commentary, I would have to guess that she is what is called a “method actress.”

When she had the really emotional scenes, she had the director give her something to think about and she would go off in a corner to concentrate on it to get her in the mood (she did not elaborate on what this was). This resulted in some realistic and POWERFUL scenes.

“I do not need a reason to be angry with God!”

Shankmen revealed that after these scenes where they did this he needed to release her for the day because she needed time to get it through her system and get back to normal.

The title is a leftover from the book. In the book, when they got married, Jamie was much sicker than she appeared in the movie (in fact an earlier cut of the film had her practically at death’s door when she got married).

In that version, she was wheelchair ridden and they did not know if she would be able to walk down the isle or not. She did and Landon thought “It was the most difficult walk that anyone had ever had to make. In every way, a walk to remember.”

The film-makers tried to explain this — with mixed success– by adding the bit of narration from Landon about “the visions of Jamie walking toward me will stay with me forever.”

** This passage has some errors in it. Watch this spot for a revised/corrected version of this in the near future or check out the WEBMDwebsite for more information. ***

Leukemia is cancer of the bone morrow. Bone morrow is a special type of tissue located in the center of your bones that creates red blood cells. (Have you ever looked at a broken chicken bone and saw the red center of the bone? That is bone morrow.) Red blood cells move oxygen to, and waste (carbon-dioxide) away from your body’s cells  for the process of cellular respiration (among other things). Red Blood Cells have a limited life expectancy. Without bone morrow to create the red blood cells, the body’s cells do not get the oxygen that they need and die. That is why Jamie feinted that first time at home and had oxygen tubes hooked up in the hospital.

There is no cure for Leukemia and it is fatal. Research continues into this and so far the most promising treatment is a bone morrow transplant from a close relative. The specific treatment that Jamie underwent is not specified in the movie. While Jamie also had Leukemia in the book, there was a great deal if discussion during the writing of the screenplay as to what she should have. They discussed cancer and a brain tumor, but went back to Leukemia because they needed an illness that would allow Jamie to keep her hair. [Both radiation and chemo-therapy, the treatments used in treat those other ailments, result in hair loss.]

Yes. Here are the ones I have found:

	The inspiration for Jamie Sullivan’s character and some of the events in the book/movie is from Nicholas Sparks’ deceased sister, Danielle Sparks Lewis (whom the book and movie are dedicated to).
	The pictures of “Jamie” on the mantle of the fireplace in the Sullivan house are real pictures of  Mandy Moore when she was a little girl (notice that she is blonde).
	The wedding, car crash from the beginning of the film, and the scenes of Landon driving after he found out about Jamie’s illness were all filmed the same day, back to back.
	The wedding vows were added to the scene on stage and did not appear in the script (Landon and Jamie’s middle names were made up by the actors and director)
	Mandy was sick the day she filmed her church solo (“Lighthouse”) so they had to re-record it later.
	Since Mandy was a minor (under 18) they were only allowed to have her on set 10 hours/day. The film makers were constantly asking her “are you a pumpkin yet?” or “how long until you turn into a pumpkin?” Because of this limitation filming was sometimes tight. For example, the scene where Landon helps her be in two places at once by straddling the Virginia/North Carolina state line was filmed in only 20 minutes, including all of the “coverage” (close ups). This is considered quite a feat.
	Mandy’s dress and cape in the play cost more than the cost of the entire play set (this may have been a joke, but if you look closely at what they used for the sets it is entirely possible)..
	The comet Hyakutake that Jamie wanted to see was a real comet that it was conceivable that she would want to see in the late 1990’s.. This was changed from Haley’s comet, which hasn’t been seen since the late 1980’s, to make it more believable. But Halley’s Comet was still mentioned by Jamie in the film when she was talking to the Stars and Planets kids.
	When Landon visited the church to ask the Rev. Sullivan permission to take his daughter out to dinner, Mandy Moore was sitting next to Adam Shankman in one of the pews watching.
	Weather almost stopped them from filming the scenes at the out-door restaurant, but at the last minute the wind stopped blowing.
	Early drafts of the script had LANDON running away after Jamie told him about her illness. This was changed to make it more believable at the director’s request.
	The original cut of the movie began with Landon returning to see Rev. Sullivan, but it was moved to the end in editing.
	The corny school play was written by the production team (not Karen Janzen) to add humor to the story.
	The character of Eric (the black guy) was extensively rewritten by the actor playing him and director to to add humor to the story.

 

No, it is his third published novel. Before this he wrote “The Notebook” and “Message In A Bottle” (also adapted to film staring Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, and Paul Newman). He wrote two books previously which are now and will forever be unpublished. He considers them an “internship” of sorts and they are collecting dust in his attic.

No, but he does live in NC not far away from Beaufort. Most of the movie was filmed in nearby Wilmington NC and that was only a few hours drive away from his home.

Yes, Nicholas Sparks was involved in every step of the creation of the movie, and agrees with the changes. He consulted with Karen Janzen during the script writing process, visited the set 3 times, and consulted with the director after it was filmed.

On his website, he said:

“I’ll go on record as saying that I love the movie. I think it’s a wonderful adaptation, and I hope that everyone who enjoys my work will head out to see it. I promise that you’ll enjoy it.”

They began filming on Mandy’s 17th birthday, April 10, 2001 (d.o.b. 4/10/84). Shane was almost 23 (d.o.b 6/10/78). [ACK! Talk about robbing the cradle! No wonder they never actually dated!]

Nope. Sorry, the award-winning on-screen chemistry was only acting.

Because the name “Average Joe” is used so extensively, they were running into legal problems and decided to change the name. At they time they still hadn’t come up with a permanent replacement so they went by their names. To my knowledge they still haven’t.

“A Walk to Remember” tells the story of Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan. Other key characters are Rev. Hegbert Sullivan (Jamie’s Father), Cynthia and Worth Carter (Landon’s parents), and Eric Hunter (Landon’s friend).

“A Walk To Remember” was written in the First Person Point Of View (uses the pronouns I, we, they, etc.). I have yet to find a place that explains why this is, but I assume that it is because it is such a personal story to the author. The plot is fiction, but the character of Jamie is heavily inspired by his sister who was dying of cancer when he wrote it.

“A Walk to Remember” is a love story that tells the story of Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan, two teenagers in a small southern town who eventually fall in love. Like all of Sparks’ books, it is a bittersweet romance.

No, it is his third published novel. Before this he wrote “The Notebook” and “Message In A Bottle” (also adapted to film staring Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, and Paul Newman). He wrote two books previously which are now and will forever be unpublished. He considers them an “internship” of sorts and they are collecting dust in his attic.

“A Walk to Remember” is approximately 45,000 words and 240 pages (paperback)

The setting of the novel is Beaufort, North Carolina. (Pronounced BOFURT, not BUFORT, which is a town in South Carolina. )

“A Walk to Remember” was written in the summer of 1998. Film rights were sold in December, 1998, and the novel was published in the fall of 1999. It spent nearly six months on the best-seller list in hardcover, and an additional four months on the paperback best-seller list.

The story in the novel is set during the 1958-59 school year

“The beauty, power and innocence of first love.” — Nicholas Sparks

“A Walk to Remember” was picked up by the Christian Book Club, Crossings, as well as Scholastic. It was also a NY times best seller. It is required reading in classes in hundreds of schools around the country.

It is appropriate for children twelve and up.

Dramatic Fiction/ Love Story

In the book, Rev. Sullivan is a Southern Baptist minister.

No, but he does live in NC not far away from Beaufort. Most of the movie was filmed in nearby Wilmington NC and that was only a few hours drive away from his home.

The character Jamie Sullivan was based upon Nicholas Spark’s late sister Daniel Sparks Lewis. Danielle died a few years ago (April, 2000) of a brain tumor which was in-operable. The Jamie in the book was a lot like her. All she had ever wanted out of life was to get married, and even though she was going to die, her boyfriend asked her to marry him anyway. [Daniel was about 15 years older than Jamie, however.]

Jamie is named for his editor at Warner Books, Jamie Raab.

On his website, Nicholas Sparks explains his inspiration for Jamie (from a speech given in Berlin, Germany for Heyne Verlag, 2000):

A Walk to Remember was inspired by my sister.

In many ways, Jamie Sullivan was my younger sister. Like Jamie, my sister was sweet. Like Jamie, my sister had tremendously strong faith. Like Jamie, my sister loved church. Like Jamie, my sister wasn’t popular at school. Like Jamie, my sister was always cheerful. Like Jamie, all my sister wanted in life was to get married.

And like Jamie, my sister got cancer.

Like Jamie, my sister met someone. And like Landon, there was a long period of time when this fellow couldn’t imagine himself marrying a girl like her. And yet, in the end, he couldn’t help himself. Even when he knew she was sick, even when he knew that she might not make it, this man asked my sister to marry him.

It was just about the sweetest thing that’s ever been done for anyone, and I suppose I wrote this novel not only so that you could get to know my sister, but so that you would know what a wonderful thing it was that her husband once did for her.

Sadly, my sister died in June (2000). She was thirty-three years old. . .”

 

On his website, he says:

“As with The Notebook, the prologue was written last.

“A Walk to Remember” was also a novel in which the ending changed before my very eyes. As for the ending itself and what really happened, it’s probably the most frequently asked question I receive though the mail. “Did Jamie live or die?” “

If you want to know, the answer to that question, read on.

In his own words:

In writing this novel, there were a few challenges, though the actual work proceeded more smoothly than it had in previous novels. In some ways, the story seemed almost inspired, for lack of a better word, and I not only enjoyed the writing process, but there were times when I was surprised by the turns the story took.

The major challenge of the novel regarded the blending of spirituality into the text. Though faith is a powerful element of my own life, when I set out to write a novel, I am guided by the simple thought of writing a story that most people will enjoy. Since religion and faith vary greatly among my readers, it was difficult to write such a story with a balance that wouldn’t offend anyone. Nor did I want to preach to anyone. That’s not the purpose of a novel.

The reason I wanted to include a spiritual element in the book was simple: This was a story of the beauty, power and innocence of first love. The characters were young and on a personal level (one defined by my own morals and values), I wanted these two kids to be deeply in love, yet without the intimacy that normally accompanies such deep love. In other words, I didn’t want them to engage in pre-marital sex, and though my other novels have included that element (I do write love stories), had I done that with two young people, a great many readers would have been offended.

That was also the reason I set the novel in the 1950s. I always want my novels to be believable, and back then, things were different. I don’t suppose you need me to go into that, though.

I also wanted the novel to show the power of faith. Ironically, in setting out to write about first love (which I did), I created a strong redemptive element in the novel. I suppose that came from Jamie’s faith, and though it wasn’t intended, I think by the end, redemption was one of the more powerful elements of the novel.

Until reading Nicholas Sparks’ website it never even occurred to me that the question needed answering. Of course she died. She was going down hill fast and all of the characters had accepted the outcome.

But there appears to be a large reader base who believe that the final line in the book: “. . . there’s one thing I still haven’t told you. I now believe, by the way,  that miracles can happen.”  was meant to indicate otherwise.

Re-reading the book and noticing all of the times that Sparks refers to praying for a miracle, I understand where this comes from. I never saw it because I was slanted by seeing the movie first. The ‘miracle’ in the movie was Landon’s redemption and I assumed it was something similar in the book. But that may not have been the author’s intent.

Here is how Nicholas Sparks addresses it:

As I mentioned in the notes, this is the most frequently asked question I receive through the mail. As far as I can tell, about 70% of the people think Jamie passed away, another 30% believe she lived, and when asking the question, they offer “proof” for their reasoning.

Who once said that good books inspire debate?

There are a number of things that I have to explain before I get into the answer so you can understand my reasoning. Part of it goes back to Message in a Bottle. [Sparks killed a main character in the end]. In a nutshell, while many readers loved the ending of that novel, a great many were furious with me for it. Really furious. This was on my mind while writing [A Walk To Remember], and part of me thought that if I killed off another major character, my readers would never forgive me.

Nonetheless, when I started the novel, I knew that Jamie was going to die. Every page, every scene, every chapter was written with that idea and it continued to proceed that way right up until the end of the novel, when the time came to write those words.

And strangely, I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t do it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t.

Why? Because by that time, I’d grown to love Jamie Sullivan. I marveled at her strength and faith, and I was proud of everything for which she stood. And I didn’t want her to die.

So I found myself in a dilemma.

Also, keep in mind that the story was also inspired by my sister, who was very much alive as I neared the end of the novel. Since it was inspired by her, I began to think, and she was alive. . .

I remember leaning back in my chair and absently scratching my chin, wondering what to do. Because of the story, because of all that I had written with her death in mind, because she was growing weaker and weaker throughout the story, it would have been dishonest (and frankly, very manipulative), to have Jamie suddenly cured. I could imagine some readers reaching the end and thinking, If that was the case, why the big build-up with her sickness? Others might close the book and think the entire novel was believable up until that point. I didn’t want either of those impressions of the novel.

So what was I to do? I didn’t want her to die, and couldn’t write those words. Yet, I plainly couldn’t let her live, either. I opted for the only solution, the solution that best described the exact feeling I had with regard to my sister at that point: namely, that I hoped she would live.

That’s the ending, folks. I wanted readers to finish with the hope that Jamie lived.

As to whether she actually lived or died, it’s ambiguous and purposely meant to be that way. If you wanted Jamie to live, she lived. If you knew that Jamie would die, she died.

As for me, (and I’m not the final say — I wrote the characters, but reader’s know them just as well as I do), I thought there was a good chance that Jamie lived.

At least, I hoped so.

There it is. The final word on the subject.

The majority of the story was made-up, though some parts did have their basis in reality. Sparks has yet to describe specifically what they are.

Sparks says:

It came from the book. As soon as I wrote those words, I knew that was the title.

The words he is referring to are on page 237 of the paperback. During the wedding, London watches Jamie and Hegbert walk down the isle and thinks:

It was, I remember thinking, the most difficult walk anyone ever had to make.

In every day, a walk to remember.

What did the last sentence of the book (“I now believe, by the way, that miracles can happen”) mean?

Sparks says:

Either the miracle was that Jamie lived (if that was the ending you imagined) or that Landon had experienced the miracle of first love and it had redeemed him (if you imagined that Jamie died.)

I can’t answer this any better than Sparks:

A close reading of the story will answer that question, but the answer is largely two-fold. Hegbert had a problem with the way Landon’s grandfather had accumulated his wealth, and Landon himself is sort of aimless, except when he’s shouting at Hegbert from behind trees. Also realize that Hegbert is secretly fearful for his daughter, and doesn’t want anyone to hurt her.

The book never answered that directly. I always assumed so.

Sparks said: ” . . . I thought he did.”

This was never addressed in the final version of the film, but the book had Landon ask her the same question. The Bible that she carried belonged to her mother. (I had guessed as much, but the book confirmed it).

An interesting note about this. If you recall, when Jamie gives him the book of quotations that had belonged to her mother, she told him “don’t worry, it’s not a Bible.” In the book version she DID give him a Bible for Christmas, in fact, it was HER Bible!

One would assume about 4 years before the movie was released 😉

Seriously, though. The correct answer is the mid-1990’s. They had originally decided on the year 1996 but later deleted the references making it more vague.

“Flood” was released by Jars of Clay in late 1995 and “Twister” a popular movie from 1996 was supposed to be seen in the marquis of a movie theatre that Jamie and Landon walked by.

An early draft script had the story take place during the 1985-6 school year as indicated by the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger (Jan. 1986), the movie Ferris Buler’s Day Off, and numerous 80’s music references.

This was never addressed in the final version of the film, but the book had Landon ask her the same question. The Bible that she carried belonged to her mother. (I had guessed as much, but the book confirmed it).

An interesting note about this. If you recall, when Jamie gives him the book of quotations that had belonged to her mother, she told him “don’t worry, it’s not a Bible.” In the book version she DID give him a Bible for Christmas, in fact, it was HER Bible!

According to Adam Shankman, there were 36 deleted scenes from the movie. Most are unknown to the general public. The following are ones that have been mentioned in the DVD commentary or other sources:

	When Jamie was sick in the hospital, there was a short scene where Landon sang “Only Hope” to her. It was cut because it was felt that it made it too sad.
	When Jamie and her father were talking on the porch after London gave her the sweater, the scene was much longer with much more back and forth. Rev. Sullivan told her that she needed to give the sweater back or give it to charity. The scene was cut down because it made Rev. Sullivan come off too harsh.
	The scenes in the cemetery were a lot longer. A third scene — Jamie telling Landon that her mother is buried there and asking to never come back — was deleted.
	There were several more discussions about God and faith (Landon/Jamie, Jamie/Rev. Sullivan, Landon/Rev. Sullivan).
	The “Virgin Marry” scene was longer and dialog was cut to keep the movie a PG rated film.[ One deleted line was “Nice Funbags!”]
	The scene where Jamie’s dad was talking to her in the hospital was much longer in the script and as filmed. It revealed what has thus far only been hinted at, that Mrs. Sullivan had died shortly after giving birth to Jamie and some other background. It was cut for length and because it was too gloomy.

the bonus materials on the DVD INCLUDE?

	Theatrical Release Version of the film — Wide Screen (Aspect ratio  2.35 :1)
	Audio commentary by Shane West [“Landon Carter”], Mandy Moore [“Jamie Sullivan’]  and Adam Shankman [Director]
	Audio commentary by novelist Nicholas Sparks and screenwriter Karen Janszen
	Theatrical trailer
	Music video “Cry” by Mandy Moore

Yes, Nicholas Sparks was involved in every step of the creation of the movie, and agrees with the changes. He consulted with Karen Janzen during the script writing process, visited the set 3 times, and consulted with the director after it was filmed.

On his website, he said:

“I’ll go on record as saying that I love the movie. I think it’s a wonderful adaptation, and I hope that everyone who enjoys my work will head out to see it. I promise that you’ll enjoy it.”

According to movie scriptwriter Karen Janzen, “I certainly hope so! They were married!” and Nicholas Sparks agrees. [DVD Commentary]. One can assume his response goes for the book as well.

According to scriptwriter Karen Janzen, “I certainly hope so! They were married!” and Nicholas Sparks agrees. [DVD Commentary]

In the book, Rev. Sullivan is a Southern Baptist minister. In the movie he is only called a pastor and the denomination was left vague. Since the Baptist church is so prevalent down there, we can assume they were Baptist with some certainty.

You’ve either got sharp eyes or already knew the answer to this. The props used in the scene where Belinda and Landon’s other “friends” circulated a flier with Jamie’s face pasted on someone else’s body with the caption “Virgin Mary?” were indeed nudes. In post-production, a bikini was digitally drawn onto the one flier that we saw clearly to allow the movie to get a PG rating. If you watch closely, you can sort of see this on some of the other fliers, most notably the one that Eric (the black guy) has in his hand when he is laughing. [This is explained in the DVD audio commentary]

The red spot was supposed to be blood. The plot of the play had Landon’s character get shot in the arm prior to the scene for some unrevealed reason (we can assume that it has to do with his alcohol running). If you look closely you will see that he barely moves that arm the entire scene because it is supposed to be injured. There is not much blood because this is a PG rated movie.

In the script, Landon’s character was supposed to be mortally wounded and making a deathbed confession to God when Alicia (Jamie) walked in.

One would assume about 4 years before the movie was released 😉

Seriously, though. The correct answer is the mid-1990’s. They had originally decided on the year 1996 but later deleted the references making it more vague.

“Flood” was released by Jars of Clay in late 1995 and “Twister” a popular movie from 1996 was supposed to be seen in the marquis of a movie theatre that Jamie and Landon walked by.

An early draft script had the story take place during the 1985-6 school year as indicated by the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger (Jan. 1986), the movie Ferris Buler’s Day Off, and numerous 80’s music references.

Thirty-Four days. (which is fairly fast for a motion picture these days.) They were able to do this because of good weather on location shooting days and their extensive use of redressed sets.

Filming dates: April 10, 2001 – June 2001 (34 days)

Interiors: Screen Gems Studios, Wilmington, NC (old Dawson’s Creek sets)

On location in:
North Carolina, USA
Southport, North Carolina, USA
Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

SOURCE: The movie credits and the Internet Movie Database 

“Most of it was filmed around Wilmington.. The church where Jamie and Landon got married  [ . . .] is Orton Chapel located on Orton Plantation, which is near Wilmington.  It’s about 45 minutes away.  Several parts of the movie [were] filmed in Southport, near Oak Island. (1 hour away from Wilmington.)  The part where Jamie drove Landon home after play practice was shot there.”

SOURCE: Jessi Smith <jessilea1112@hotmail.com> a native of the area.

In Theaters:USA January 23, 2002 (premiere) USA January 25, 2002

On DVD and Video: July 9, 2002 [USA] Warner DVD #22420 0-85392-24202-3 ISBN: 0-7907-6759-7 Color – 102 minutes List Price: $26.98 [now $19.99] Warner Home Video # 22420 0-85392-24203-0 ISBN: 0-7907-6758-9 Color — 102 minutes List Price: $17.99 [now $9.99]

According to Director Adam Shankmen, there were 36 deleted scenes. Unfortunately none of them were included in the DVD. In addition to deleted scenes, there ware also a number of content cuts made to make the movie PG instead of PG-13.

Note: some fans have started a write-in campaign to get them to put out a “special edition” DVD with the deleted scenes included.

The first scenes filmed were those taking place at and in the Cemetery. The very first scene filmed was the one where Dean arrived as Landon was taking down Jamie’s telescope to bring it to her after she was bedridden and asked if he could help.

The next parts filmed were the scenes at the old cement factory which opens the film (other than the part where London crashes his car, which was filmed later to add action to the sequence).

Apparently the director and producers couldn’t make up their mind about how she was to look until the last minute. You will notice that during the cemetery scenes, Jamie’s “look” (her makeup and hairstyle) are slightly different from the rest of the movie. The same is true of all of the movie publicity photos made for the movie.

Jamie apparently went through three “looks”

1. Long hair, no bangs, light on makeup [publicity photos]
2. Long hair, curled bangs, heavy, pasty makeup [cemetery scenes]
3. Long hair, curled bangs, almost no makeup [the rest of the film]

There is a fourth “look” if you count her character in the play.

The very last scene filmed in the movie was the one where Landon finally visited Clay Gephardt in the rehabilitation center before performing in the play. This was the “cover set” which they never needed. A “cover set” is an internal scene (a scene filmed inside on a soundstage) that is set aside to be shot on short notice on days when weather does not allow scheduled location shooting. Adam Shankman, the director, revealed that they had the actor on hold through the entire rest of the production and it cost them a fortune because he wasn’t needed and was finally used when everything else was done.

Mandy Moore’s final scenes were as follows: she and Landon passed each other in a school hallway after a fight (at the end of the play practice montage). The scenes where she was in bed and talked to her father.

The first kiss they filmed was the one where they arrive at the cemetery and she kisses him on the cheek. The first mouth on mouth kiss was the one after he named a star for her. The next one was the one during the play.

The order of the other kissing scenes is unknown. I assume one of the ones in the hospital were the last since it seems that those scenes were among the last filmed from what was said in the DVD commentaries.

Yes. I found the following on teenhollywood.com:

Awkward Scenes For Moore And West

July 26, 2002

Mandy Moore felt awkward kissing her co-star Shane West for the first time – because their respective partners were watching. The actors played a couple in the hit movie “A Walk To Remember” and had to kiss early on in the shoot. Moore says, “The first day we met, both our exes were there and neither of us were in a good mood. But I gave her a big hug – I knew we had to do the scenes right away where our characters were really into each other, so I wanted us to get on.” “It was so awkward! I think directors do it to make actors feel as uncomfortable as possible! It’s insane. We had to kiss in front of everyone – including my ex!” http://teenhollywood.com/d.asp?r=12455

If you are a fan of Dawson’s Creek, then yes they should. They were all redresses of the same sets, with the following exceptions:

	Inside of Jamie’s house
	Inside of the church used for the wedding

[Yes, even the hospital was a redress. It just wasn’t a hospital on Dawson’s Creek.]

It’s interesting to note that the Dawson’s Creek school, which became the AWTR school started life as the police station on Matlock.

Yes, Daryl Hannah was making another movie at the same time as AWTR and had her hair dyed red for the part. For that reason, they had to put a wig on her.

Yes,

	Director Adam Shankman played the orderly/medical assistant who wheeled Jamie out of the hospital when they took her home.
	Also, the security guard in the opening scene at the Cement Factory was the film company’s real security guard.

 

It is Nicholas Sparks’ sister, upon whom the character of Jamie Sullivan is based.

NOTE: the DVD version also lists Jimmy Everest. Does anybody know who this is? Was this also in the theatrical version or added to the DVD version?  If anybody has any information, please contact me.

Click HERE for a full cast and crew list

The actors were required to read the scene after the play when Landon is talking to Jamie, trying to make up with her, when she is eating lunch and reading a book.

Shane reveals in the DVD commentary that this scene was hard for him to film because they had him take the character a different direction than he had when auditioning. It is interesting to note that the slurping in the scene was augmented in post-production because it wasn’t loud enough, even though Mandy swears that she tried to make it as loud as she could.

Click HERE for a complete movie soundtrack listing

AWTR was budgeted at $11 million. This is actually quite low by today’s standards and a lot of the cost was due to location shooting. Money was saved in other ways such as using redressed sets for all but the Sullivan’s house and the church where the wedding took place.

By contrast, the movie Love Story (Paramount, 1970) cost $2 million

Opening Weekend: $12.177m (USA) (27 January 2002) (2411 screens)

** In other words it made back the $11 million cost of the film the first weekend **

Gross Sales (cumulative):$41.227m (USA) (28 April 2002) $41.167m (USA) (21 April 2002) $41.09m (USA) (14 April 2002) $40.969m (USA) (7 April 2002) $40.729m (USA) (31 March 2002) $40.522m (USA) (24 March 2002) $40.348m (USA) (17 March 2002) $39.975m (USA) (10 March 2002) $39.331m (USA) (3 March 2002) $38.173m (USA) (24 February 2002) $35.96m (USA) (17 February 2002) $30.297m (USA) (10 February 2002) $23.325m (USA) (3 February 2002) $12.177m (USA) (27 January 2002)

Weekend Gross (non-cumulative):$40,816 (USA) (28 April 2002) (72 screens) $51,186 (USA) (21 April 2002) (73 screens) $76,139 (USA) (14 April 2002) (85 screens) $129,650 (USA) (7 April 2002) (180 screens) $156,745 (USA) (31 March 2002) (215 screens) $109,084 (USA) (24 March 2002) (145 screens) $196,388 (USA) (17 March 2002) (242 screens) $451,221 (USA) (10 March 2002) (514 screens) $843,429 (USA) (3 March 2002) (863 screens) $1.568m (USA) (24 February 2002) (1306 screens) $3.918m (USA) (17 February 2002) (1936 screens) $5.542m (USA) (10 February 2002) (2311 screens) $8.836m (USA) (3 February 2002) (2420 screens) $12.177m (USA) (27 January 2002) (2411 screens)

[Information provided is for the United States only. Information from other countries can be found on the Internet Movie Database. ]

Yes. The following errors have been identified by fans, as well as cast and crew:

Continuity: 

	Landon’s scar/bandage disappears and reappears throughout the film.
	Landon’s script is folded several times while it is in his pocket, however whenever he is rehearsing, there is no crease in the script where it should have been folded.
	The clasp on Jamie’s necklace moves around during the play’s music sequence.
	When Landon takes Jamie out to dinner by the water the sky alternates light/dark between shots.
	The day after the play, Landon goes through the library to go to the cafeteria, he has a white shirt and blue vest on. When he goes into the cafeteria, he is wearing a white tee shirt under a green shirt. Then when he is with Eric later, he is wearing the blue and white outfit again.
	In the scene in which Jamie receives the certificate about the star he had named for her from Landon, she is clearly holding the paper and drops it as she moves to sit down. As soon as she is seated, the paper is completely missing from the scene. (This is revealed by the director’s commentary on the DVD.).
	During one scene in the hallway, Landon is hooked arms with Tracie for no apparent reason. The actors (who are friends in real life) did this because they did not realize the take was still rolling.
	During play practice, Jamie/Mandy breaks up laughing when Sally pushes Landon. Again, this was not in the script.
	During the scene on the Sullivan’s porch (when Landon gave Jamie the sweater), red and blue lights are seen in the back ground. These lights are from police cars. A car-jacking had recently taken place nearby. All of the dialog was redone in ADL (“dialog looping”) because none of the original dialog was usable.
	During the first date the time of the day and clothing seem to change periodically. It is actually LIGHT again when Rev. Sullivan tells them that the evening is over. [This may have been meant to be a montage of different dates, but it isn’t made clear in the film.]

Miscellaneous:

	The day that the flyer is made about Jamie, all of the characters are wearing exactly the same clothes as they were a few days before when Dean asked Landon if they were still cool. A few days later, when the flyers come out they all have the same clothes back on.
	When they made the flyers, the body on the flier that we see close up has a bikini on, but on the other flyers, she doesn’t have any clothes on (mentioned in DVD commentary)

Nitpicks:

	First ‘date’ night. The Virginia/North Carolina state line is about 300 miles from Beaufort, North Carolina, too far to drive to drive in an evening after dinner and be back in time for a strict curfew.
	When Jamie sings her solo “Only Hope” in the play, the only visible accompanist is a piano player, but we hear strings as well.
	Some fans have said that if you watch Landon’s final scene with Rev. Sullivan that he is not wearing his wedding ring anymore. This seems out of character for him since he says he still thinks of her often. Also the book makes it clear that after 40 years he has never had the desire to remove it. This may or may not be a costuming mistake. [NOTE: I have been unable to confirm this personally. Has anyone else seen this?]

Crew or equipment visible: 

When Landon shows Jamie the new telescope for the first time, Landon’s wireless mic. transmitter is visible as he walks towards the telescope to see the comet.

 

The book was written by novelist Nicholas Sparks. The screenplay was written by Karen Jansen with input from Sparks, but is only LOOSELY based upon the book.

In the audio commentary on the DVD, Janzen states that her philosophy for writing a script based upon a book is as follows:  read the book a couple times to get the “broad strokes” or “spirit” of the story. Write a detailed outline of the book. Throw the book away. Flesh out your outline making any changes you feel the need to, keeping in mind the “broad strokes” and “theme” of the original story.

Janzen went through 99 different drafts and made many changes (more were made after she turned in her final draft, on stage during filming, and in the editing room).

There are too many to mention, but here are a few of the biggies:

	The book took place in the 1950’s; the movie in the present (mid 1990’s-early 2000’s) day. [Originally they had picked the date 1996, but later decided to not be specific about it.]
	The book had a frame story where Landon tells us the story of how his life was changed back when he was 17. The first draft of the screenplay kept the frame and had Landon visit the Reverend Sullivan 35 years after Jamie’s death and return the wedding ring because he had met someone new. The first part was deleted and was changed to the coda in the movie where he returns only 4 years later, having achieved his goals (getting out of Beaufort, graduating college, getting into med school), and returns the book that Jamie gave him to her father. These changes were made to add sympathy to London’s character. It was felt — and rightly so — that the audience would react negatively to the movie starting out the original way. These changes were made after they began filming. The shooting draft still had the frame story.
	In the book Landon got the lead in the Sunday school Christmas play. In the movie it was the high school spring musical. [It’s interesting to note that while they completely replaced the play in the movie, the lead character Tom Thornton remained the same.]
	Landon’s friends were changed quite a bit in the script (and later on stage by the actors). The only noticeable similarity was that his best friend was still named Eric.
	In the book, Landon was the ring leader of his friends (sort of; that’s how Sparks describes it in the DVD commentary, but I got the impression that Eric was the real leader). In the movie this role was given to Dean to create an adversary for Landon.
	In the book Jamie was much sicker at the wedding than she was in the final version of the film. In fact, this was included in the early cut of the film, but these things were cut out by the director because he felt that the second half of the film was depressing enough.
	Hegbert [Rev. Sullivan]  was more developed, and much older in the book
	The circumstances of Jamie’s mother’s death were explained in the book (and in the script, but the scene was deleted). She is only mentioned once in the finished movie, where Hegbert and Jamie are talking in the hospital.

Nicholas Sparks explained some of the changes with the following on his website:

One thing that I’d like you to remember [when seeing the movie] is that the movie will be different from the book. It has to be, not only because films and novels are different mediums and do things different ways, but also because every single reader saw the movie in their own mind and it’s impossible to match everyone’s imagination. But please, see the film anyway. It stars Mandy Moore (Jamie), Shane West (Landon), Peter Coyote (Hegbert) and Darryl Hannah (Landon’s mother), and they all did a fabulous job.

As for specific differences between the novel and the film, I’d like to touch on those briefly.

	First, the film is set in the 1990s, not the 1950s. This was done because both the producer and I thought this was such a wonderful film for teenagers because of the message it provided (strong faith, kindness, forgiveness, charity, redemption, looking past the obvious to see the person within), especially compared with most movies geared for teens these days. A simple fact of Hollywood is that if we’d set the film in the 1950s, teens wouldn’t have gone to see it. To interest them, we had to make the story more contemporary.
	Secondly, the play was changed. I won’t go into details, but it’s not the Christmas Play. The reason for that was because the Christmas Play was Hegbert’s way of showing that he’d once struggled as a father and the struggle was difficult to overcome. Yet, due to time constraints in the movie, this involved a sub-plot that simply couldn’t be worked into the story. People who’d read the book would understand it, but people who hadn’t read the book would question whether Hegbert was a good father. Because he is a good father and we didn’t want that question to linger, we changed the play. Thus, the end result for Hegbert is the same, it was just handled differently.
	And finally, the things that teen boys did in the 1950s to be considered a little ‘rough’ are different than what teen boys in the 1990s do to be considered ‘rough.’ Landon’s a little rougher in the beginning of the film, but his redemption is that much greater by the end. In my mind, that was a fair trade.

 

 

“Only Hope”, “It’s Gonna Be Love”, and “Someday We’ll Know” (duet with Jonathan Foreman from Switchfoot) were recorded specifically for the movie.

“Cry”, on the other hand, was recorded for Mandy’s album “Mandy Moore.” She gave a preview copy to Adam Shankmen and he decided to include it in the movie.

Anything is possible. But, to our knowledge Mandy Moore does not read this site. If you want her to see something, you can try posting to the “Ask Mandy” section of the BBS on her site, or write her a letter.