1. After beginning her career as a pop star and having just one acting credit—a supporting role in The Princess Diaries—on her resume, Mandy Moore fought for the role of Jamie after reading the Nicholas Sparks novel and falling in love with the character and the story.
“I had such a visceral reaction to it that I remember not being able to read because I was almost hyperventilating while I was crying,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 2010. “It was my first movie and I know people say it may be cliché and it’s a tearjerker or it’s cheesy, but for me, it’s the thing I’m most proud of.”
2. But someone else almost landed the lead role over Moore, according to Shane West, whose character Landon romanced the terminally ill teenager.
“There was someone else—who I’m not going to say right now—whose name was batted around for Mandy’s role,” West coyly told Entertainment Weekly. “I remember I wasn’t keen on that idea and thankfully it didn’t happen.”
3. While West wouldn’t divulge the other actress in contention, director Adam Shankman revealed she was another young singer.
“The studio had me looking at Jessica Simpson,” he shared with Elle. “But I was driving up Laurel Canyon, I heard Mandy’s song ‘I Wanna Be With You,’ and I thought, who the hell is that little angel voice? I went to the Virgin record store, saw her face, and flipped out. I said, ‘That’s my girl.'”