1. A Walk to Remember was the first movie that Mandy Moore, who plays Jamie Sullivan, had a main part in. Previously, her only acting experience was as a supporting character in The Princess Diaries.
2. Because she was so new to acting, Shane West, who plays Landon Carter, sat her down and offered her some advice about breaking into the industry. He advised her to say no to some opportunities to avoid overworking herself.
3. Moore said that the thing she struggled with the most on set was standing in the right place for the camera. West spent a lot of time teaching her about blocking.
4. And in return, West said that if he ever went on tour with his band, Moore would be the first person he would call for advice.
5. Moore and West still keep in touch via email.
6. Moore had to dye her hair from blonde to brunette before filming started.
7. At the time of filming, Moore was 17 years old and West was 23. Moore said that West was the oldest guy she had ever kissed.
8. And he was her first onscreen kiss.
9. Moore and West were made to practice one of their kissing scenes on their first day on set.
10. The scene where Landon and his friends dare the boy to jump into the lake was the first to be filmed.
11. Moore's mother bought her the book of A Walk to Remember way before anyone considered turning it into a film.
12. And Moore said that she loved the story from the moment she started reading it.
13. Like her character, Moore describes herself as religious.
14. But she said that filming A Walk to Remember strengthened her relationship with religion and encouraged her to think more about her spirituality.
15. Nicholas Sparks, the book's author, is Catholic.
16. And Hunt Lowry, the movie's producer, converted to Catholicism a year before he got involved with the film. He was raised in a Methodist family.
17. Moore could only film for 10 hours a day because she was a minor.
18. She was legally required to complete 15 hours of tutoring per week. So she had an on-set tutor who taught her every time she got a break from filming.
19. West only had two auditions. The second one was with Moore.
20. Before filming the scene where Landon goes to visit Jamie's dad at the end of the movie, West listened to The Cure on repeat on his Walkman to get into the mood.
21. Switchfoot, a relatively unknown Christian band, were chosen to record the movie's soundtrack because Moore was such a big fan of theirs.
22. West appeared in the music video for "Cry", Moore's single that was released on the movie soundtrack.
23. Having seen Not Another Teen Movie, Adam Shankman, the movie's director, vowed not to put glasses on Jamie. He didn't want to conform to the stereotype of having a geeky girl undergo a makeover and lose her glasses.
24. The whole movie was shot in two months.
25. After filming finished, Moore wrote her own list of things she'd like to achieve before she dies. It included: go to college to study journalism, travel more, and learn how to speak French fluently.
26. West bought his character's car, a 67 Camaro, as a souvenir. He paid $5,000 for it but has since repainted it.
27. A Walk to Remember was Nicholas Sparks' third novel.
28. Whilst the book was set in the '50s, the movie was set in the '90s.
29. In the movie Jamie gives Landon her mother's book and says, "Don't worry, it's not a Bible." In the book, it is a Bible.
30. The story is based on Sparks' sister, who was diagnosed with cancer and whose boyfriend proposed to her because she wanted to get married before she died.
31. Moore was especially nervous of meeting Sparks, because his sister had passed away a year before filming started.
32. However, the book was published while she was still alive. Sparks sent her a copy and called to find out whether she had read it. She answered, "No, because I don't want to know how it ends."