A Walk to Remember
A Walk to Remember is a 2002 American coming-of-age romantic drama film directed by Adam Shankman and written by Karen Janszen, based on Nicholas Sparks' 1999 novel. It stars Shane West, Mandy Moore, Peter Coyote and Daryl Hannah, and was produced by Denise Di Novi and Hunt Lowry for Warner Bros. Pictures.
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In Beaufort, North Carolina, popular and rebellious high-school senior Landon Carter and his friends leave evidence of underage drinking on school grounds and severely injure another student as the result of a prank. The principal gives him the choice of being expelled or helping the janitorial staff after school as well as tutoring fellow disadvantaged young students and finally participating in the school play. During these functions, Landon notices Jamie Sullivan, a girl he has known since kindergarten who is the local Reverend Sullivan's daughter. Since he is one of the in crowd, he has seldom paid attention to Jamie, who wears modest dresses and owns only one sweater. She makes no attempt to wear make-up or otherwise improve her looks or attract attention to herself. Landon has trouble learning his lines for the play. Jamie, who is also in the play, agrees to help him on one condition: she warns Landon not to fall in love with her, which he dismisses as impossible. Landon and Jamie begin practicing at her house after school, and a spark of affection arises between them. However, when he blows her off in front of his friends, she decides she wants nothing to do with him. Feeling guilty, he starts taking independent initiative to tutor and to rehearse.
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Development
The inspiration for the 1999 novel A Walk to Remember was Nicholas Sparks' sister, Danielle Sparks Lewis, who died of breast cancer in 2000. In a speech he gave after her death in Berlin, the author admits that "In many ways, Jamie Sullivan was my younger sister". The plot was inspired by her life; Danielle met a man who wanted to marry her, "even when he knew she was sick, even when he knew that she might not make it". Both the book and film are dedicated to Danielle Sparks Lewis. It was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina in the spring of 2001, at the same time that Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) and the television show Dawson's Creek were being filmed there. Many of the sets were from Dawson's Creek (1998)—particularly the school, hospital and Landon's home. The total shooting time was originally 50 days, despite Moore being able to only work 10 hours a day because she was a minor. Daryl Hannah, who wore a brown wig as her character, had received a collagen injection in her lips, which went awry and caused noticeable swelling. By the end of filming, however, the symptoms were less obvious.
Casting
Director Adam Shankman wanted the lead characters to be portrayed by young actors: "I wanted young actors with whom teenagers could connect", he said. Shankman arranged a meeting with Shane West after he saw him in a magazine. He was looking for someone who could transition from being very dark to very light. He described his choice as "an instinct" he had about West, who would appear in almost every scene and had "to be either incredibly angry and self-hating or madly in love and heroic." West said: "I don't generally read love stories, but after reading the screenplay, I knew I couldn't wait to read the book so I could truly understand Nicholas Sparks's story and how he envisioned the character of Landon. It's a beautiful story and the characters are very believable, which is what attracted me to the project.
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While there are many similarities to the novel by Nicholas Sparks, many changes were made. On his personal website, Sparks explains the decisions behind the differences. For example, he and the producer decided to update the setting from the 1950s to the 1990s, worrying that a film set in the 50s would fail to draw teenagers. "To interest them," he writes, "we had to make the story more contemporary." To make the update believable, Landon's pranks and behavior are worse than they are in the novel; as Sparks notes, "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.'" Sparks and the producer also changed the play in which Landon and Jamie appear. In the novel, Hegbert Sullivan wrote a Christmas play that illustrated how he once struggled as a father. Due to time constraints, the sub-plot showing how he overcame his struggles could not be included in the film. Sparks was concerned that "people who hadn't read the book would question whether Hegbert was a good father", adding that "because he is a good father and we didn't want that question to linger, we changed the play."
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The film's soundtrack was released by Moore's first label Epic Records and Sony Music Soundtrax on January 15, 2002. It features six songs by Moore and others by acts Switchfoot, Rachael Lampa and many more.
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Box office
A Walk to Remember grossed $41,281,092 in North America and $6,213,824 in other territories for a worldwide total of $47,494,916. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $12,177,488, finishing third at the box office behind Black Hawk Down ($17,012,268) and Snow Dogs ($13,079,373).
Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 30% based on reviews from 105 critics, with an average rating of 4.2/10. The site's critical consensus says: "Though wholesome, the Mandy Moore vehicle A Walk to Remember is also bland and oppressively syrupy." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100, based on 26 reviews, which indicates "generally unfavorable". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A on scale of A to F. Entertainment Weekly retitled the film "A Walk to Forget". Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post wrote: "If you can't see everything in this film coming from a mile away, then you really need to get out more." Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com wrote: "A vehicle for teen singing sensation Mandy Moore. As vehicles go, it's an Edsel." In 2010, Time named it one of the ten worst chick flicks ever made.
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A Walk to Remember was released by Warner Home Video on DVD on July 9, 2002. The DVD contains two commentaries, one featuring Shane West, Mandy Moore, and director Adam Shankman; the second featuring screenwriter Karen Janszen and author Nicholas Sparks. Also included is the music video for Moore's single "Cry", and the film's theatrical trailer. A "Family-Edited Version" was later released on December 24, 2002. Shout Factory released the film on Blu-ray on December 13, 2022.
In other media
In the HBO television series Entourage, the character of Vincent Chase (Adrien Grenier) was credited as having a small supporting role in the film. In the fictional Entourage universe, Chase had an on-set relationship with Moore during the filming of A Walk to Remember.[citation needed]
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In 2022, Moore said that she would love to see a new version of A Walk to Remember. On March 1, 2025, Monarch Media confirmed that a remake is officially in development.
