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A Walk to Remember Turns 17 This Year: A Look at the Cast Then and Now
Mandy Moore and the gang are grown
January 25 marks the movie anniversary of novel-turned-big-screen-hit A Walk to Remember. For anyone who watched the romance unfold between trouble-making cool kid Landon Carter and daughter of the local minister Jamie Sullivan, it’s difficult to imagine that a whole 17 years have come and gone since the movie premiered to warm even the coldest of hearts and have people swap sides to the “true love endures” camp.
It’s the Nicholas Sparks magic coupled with the distinct melodrama and rom-com flavor of the early 2000’s that, in our opinion, Hollywood just doesn’t make anymore; and today, we’re in the mood to get a little nostalgic over it.
Not only is A Walk to Remember the second novel by Sparks to get a movie treatment met with box office success, it marked a milestone for some others involved in its production. It’s the film that paved the way for West’s brooding heartthrob status as Beaufort High School’s resident rebel-without-a-cause Landon Carter. This was also the debut lead acting role of singer Mandy Moore, who only previously appeared in video shorts and made her movie debut as Lana in The Princess Diaries albeit as a minor character.
So how has life been since for West, Moore and the other notable actors who brought A Walk to Remember to life? Scroll through to find out: Down below, the cast of A Walk to Remember 17 years later.
Shane West as Landon Carter
“Jamie saved my life. She taught me everything. About life, hope and the long journey ahead. I’ll always miss her. But our love is like the wind. I can’t see it, but I can feel it.”
It’s the movie line that had us rooting for the conformed bad boy and restored our faith in young love. West, as the director of the movie Adam Shankman felt, was the perfect fit for Landon Carter and really was responsible for making the storyline fly the way it did. With certainty about this casting match made in heaven, West would only go on to audition twice: once for his solo run and the second straight to screen test with Mandy Moore.
West has expanded his repertoire since. You’re looking at one of Batman’s greatest foes: Gotham season five’s newest addition as Bane.
Then
Photo Everett Collection
Now
Mandy Moore as Jamie Sullivan
At just 17 years old at the time of filming, Mandy Moore had a lot on her plate when she took on the character of Jamie Sullivan. For one, it was her first major film project. Another is that she had to do the role justice not only as someone who has read the book prior to finding out it would be made into a movie but as someone who got to play a role inspired by Nicholas’ Spark’s sister Danielle, whose real-life love story the book is based on.
Since then, Moore has kept busy with Disney on kid-friendly projects like Tangled (and all other Rapunzel spin-offs that followed) and Ralph Breaks the Internet. Moore is also known for her part in the critically acclaimed TV drama This Is Us as Rebecca Pearson.
Then
via cbs8.com
Now
Peter Coyote as Reverend Sullivan
Patch Adams, Erin Brockovich and Bitter Moon actor Peter Coyote took on the role of Reverend Sullivan, Jamie’s intimidating, god-fearing father who, to the best of his ability, would try to protect his ill-stricken daughter till the end. Won over by the change in Landon’s character, he later would approve and go on to walk Jamie down the aisle on her wedding day.
Coyote, as his name suggests, is currently an advocate for coyote and wildlife preservation who, at 78 years old, is still active in film circles. His upcoming movie The Mustard Seed (where he stars alongside Mira Sorvino and Austyn Johnson) premieres later this year.
Then
Photo Warner Bros. Pictures
Now
Photo Alvin Jornada
Daryl Hannah as Cynthia Carter
For Hannah, this was life before becoming a bad-ass assassin named Elle Driver on Kill Bill, too. Following her portrayal of Cynthia Carter, Landon’s mother, in the movie, Hannah went on to appear in a number of TV movies and the cult favorite series Sense8. She also appeared in the indie film Papa in 2018.
Then
Photo Warner Bros. Pictures
Now
Photo Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images North America
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Who else is down to revisit this movie on its anniversary? (Ready the tissue!)
