Like his other best known stories, most notably the poignantly romantic Message in a Bottle, that became a hit motion picture in 1999, A Walk to Remember was originally inspired by author Nicholas Sparks' own family. "It's a very personal story," says Sparks. "As writers do, I drew from events in my life to bring something original to the reader. The character Jamie Sullivan is modeled after my sister, who was a great. great person. It's my way of letting the world get to know who my sister was.
The story first came to producer Hunt Lowry's attention in the form of a screenplay by Karen Janszen, which faithfully conveyed the power and spirit of the Sparks novel and made an indelible impression on Lowry.
"When Courtenay Valenti [Senior Vice President, Theatrical Production, Warner Bros. Pictures] called me and said that this script had come in with Denise Di Novi -- whom I've known for a long time -- attached to produce, I agreed to read it. Courtenay didn't send it, she walked it from her office all the way across the lot to our office," Lowry says, recalling the production executive's enthusiasm for the story. "I read it all the way through and immediately called my partner, E.K. Gaylord II, and said 'we have our first movie.' On the way home, I stopped and bought the book to read that night.
"E.K. called the next day and wholeheartedly agreed, as did everyone else in our office who had read the script," Lowry continues. It was the first project we loved enough to produce under our newly formed Pandora division of Gaylord Films."
Producer Denise Di Novi's passion for the story began from the book itself "I was just bowled over by this book," she says. It is such a beautiful, powerful and meaningful story. By the end, I was so moved, I was crying my head off just like everybody else who has read it. When I developed the script with Karen Janszen, it brought that experience right back to me, vividly. I was thrilled when people felt the screenplay had captured the power of the book."
Executive producer Bill Johnson agrees. "'A Walk to Remember' taps into the emotions that we so often try to keep tucked deep inside ourselves," he offers. 'it speaks to the universal theme of joy through found love."
Di Novi took the script straight to director Adam Shankman, who recently made his directorial debut with the romantic comedy 'The Wedding Planner" and is one of the entertainment industry's leading dance and comedy choreographers with an extensive list of well- known comedies, dramas, thrillers and animated films to his credit.
"I had worked with Adam as a choreographer and had seen his film., The Wedding Planner,"' she says. "1 felt he had the right spirit. He has a really big heart and I knew that he could bring the emotion to the screen in a young, fresh way."
Before making his decision to take on the project, Shankman read both the script and the book. "Beyond not being able to put it down because the writing and the central story is so beautiful," he recalls. "I connected to the love, the faith and the theme of being non-judgmental. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by this story. I felt that I had something to say about those themes."
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