Mandy Moore ultimately played Jamie Sullivan in the 2002 romantic drama film.

*A Walk to Remember *director reveals studio wanted him to cast Jessica Simpson in Mandy Moore role

Mandy Moore ultimately played Jamie Sullivan in the 2002 romantic drama film.

By Sharareh Drury

June 11, 2026 3:35 p.m. ET

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Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore. Credit:

Johnny Nunez/Getty; JC Olivera/Sony Pictures via Getty

- *A Walk to Remember *director Adam Shankman revealed Jessica Simpson almost landed the role of Jamie Sullivan.

- Mandy Moore ultimately played the beloved character, who falls in love with Shane West's Landon Carter.

- Shankman said Moore's own youthful "sweetness" and "innocence" was similar to her fictional character.

Mandy Moore's memorable role as Jamie Sullivan in 2002's *A Walk to Remember** *could have looked very different, according to director Adam Shankman.

While appearing on the* **Las Culturistas* podcast, Shankman revealed that Warner Bros., the studio behind the coming-of-age romantic drama film, wanted Jessica Simpson to play the role of Sullivan, who is a soft-spoken, deeply religious daughter of the town minister.

When co-host Matt Rogers noted how well Moore showcased "all that vulnerability and all of that kindness and goodness" on screen, Shankman jumped in to explain how the *This is Us *star ended up with the role.

According to the director, the studio thought Simpson was better suited for the role due to her public expressions of her Christian faith. But the bigger reason Warner Bros. leaned toward the "Irresistible" singer was because Andrew Lloyd Webber had eyed her to play Christine Daaé in the forthcoming *Phantom of the Opera *film adaptation — which ultimately starred Emmy Rossum as Christine and Gerard Butler as The Phantom.

"Andrew Webber was interested in [Simpson] for Christine in *Phantom*, and they wanted to use *Walk to Remember* to kind of audition that," Shankman shared.

Moore and Shane West in 'A Walk to Remember'.

Warner Brothers/Getty

Following a meeting Shankman had with Simpson and her father Joe Simpson about the film, the director recalled "driving home, and on the radio, a little voice came over the radio singing a little song called, 'I Wanna Be With You.'"

Shankman said Moore's "breathiness" in the song was exactly how he had conceived the character Jamie singing. The clincher for him was seeing the cover of Moore's *So Real *album, of which he thought, "That's her. That's Jamie."

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"I went, oh my god. Please, God, let her be able to act," Shankman quipped.

The *Hairspray *helmer told co-hosts Rogers and Bowen Yang that in his first meeting with the then-teenage Moore he felt she was exactly who he had pictured playing the role of Jamie. To Shankman, the actress' personal "sweetness" and "innocence" were perfect for the fictional character she'd go on to play.

Watch Adam Shankman's full interview on *Las Culturistas *above.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Drama”