Stephanie Webber
Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan forever.
Shane West is ready to reunite with his “A Walk to Remember” co-star Mandy Moore onscreen — but this time, for a television series.
“We want to make the next iteration to hopefully stand out so we don’t just do it for the sake of it. The joke is if it’s some sort of romantic drama that she lives and I don’t, and let’s reverse the roles. But we’ll see one day,” West, 45, told the Post.
“I think a series would be pretty cool because at least with the series, you’d have a lot you can work with from week to week. Well, maybe even animation.”
West and the “This Is Us” alum, 39, starred in the Adam Shankman-directed film in 2002, which was adapted by Nicolas Sparks’ novel of the same name. In the romantic drama, teens Landon (West) and Jamie (Moore) fall in love after he’s sentenced to perform community service. They get married and Landon takes care of her before she ultimately dies of leukemia.
“There were so many teen movies in that burst of 90s and the early 2000s. … It’s not a typecast character. It was just kind of the love in the relationship between two normal people. And so I never really thought of it that way. I did a little bit only because I was thinking career wise at the time,” he recalled. “When I did ‘A Walk to Remember’ I was 23. So I was like, ‘Okay, I just need one of these to be successful so I can stop wearing a backpack.’ It’s what I used to call it. I used to call it the backpack roles.”
“Not knowing that people would still talk about it to this day,” he went on. “But even in the moment, I was just so happy that people liked it and loved it, and it kind of helped me along.”
The “Dirty South” star and Moore have stayed close since filming, with the actor even attending her Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony in March 2019.
“We could not have been more opposite when we met,” he told her during his speech. “I was busy wearing ill-advised clothes and having dubious hair choices and eyeliner in my garage punk band — or whatever that was — and you were killing it on the pop star scene.”
“I was trying to get you to listen to the Clash and the Ramones. You were not interested, but you were very sweet about it. You stuck to your Fleetwood Mac, always Fleetwood Mac,” he continued. “Not only was this film a wonderful experience in every way, it also gave me the chance to fall for this fantastic woman.”
West and Moore filmed “A Walk to Remember” in Wilmington, North Carolina — and at a time when “there was no texting.”
“I don’t even remember what my cell phone looked like, but we had a cell phones. But we weren’t on it all the time. So you didn’t get hit with those brace yourself for dating type stuff,” he told the Post of possible romance rumors between the co-stars. “I liken it to the ‘Twilight’ stuff where that just comes out in a different generation where those poor guys and girls get hit with something where it is on this phone right now. And there are comment sections. We didn’t have comment sections back then where people could just ruin your day by saying something negative while also saying something positive. But you’re never going to see the positive. You’re going to see the negative.”
“I think my entire generation, her generation included, were very blessed. We were able to go to bars and things like that and not have a lot of embarrassing stuff happen because social media wasn’t right on you,” he went on. “We weren’t old, but we were like, in our early to mid-20s. So we really got kind of lucky.”
“A Walk to Remember” turned 20 years old in January 2022. With the popularity of reboots and reunions over the past few years, it’s no surprise that viewers want to see West and Moore reunite onscreen.
“For me, it would be any capacity because I love her. She’s great. She’s a wonderful human being and a great person. But I think the fans want some sort of romantic capacity. I mean, I think a good thing to do is if you do a series and you tease [it].”
“One of the good things that I loved on ‘ER’ was what happened with my character Ray and with Neela Rasgotra [Abby Lockhart]. [It] was a slow burn. It was not planned. It was not planned at all. And it just suddenly became a thing by making us roommates. And it kind of grew from there,” he continued. “So maybe something like that with Mandy, I think would be kind of cool. Then the audience could just be annoyed the whole time until it maybe happens.”
Until then, West is currently starring in the thriller “Walden” as Detective Bill Kane opposite Emile Hirsch. In the Mick David-directed film, a court stenographer (Hirsch) in a small southern town gets revenge on criminals who escaped their prosecution. The result: A lot of bloody executions.
West and Hirsch have been friends for years, but never worked together before.
“You go back and forth and wonder what that first project’s going to be, and I think this one was pretty great,” he said.
Luckily for West, he’s the kind of actor who doesn’t bring his work home. “I’m able to cut it off, because I have a very vivid imagination as it is. So to live with my imagination is a lot to begin with,” he said of being able to look past the brutal story line once off set.
“This is a very unique script and a very unique story. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this before. I’m pretty positive there hasn’t been a movie made based around a court stenographer and what he or she sees on a daily basis. So there’s a lot of darkness in this,” he added. “Yes, there’s a lot you can take home and there’s a lot that could make you harsh. … I think for me, inherently, there’s a lot of crazy movies that I’ve been a part of that I’m just able to kind of disconnect from it. I love the genre. I love murder mysteries, thrillers, horror, sci fi, fantasy, all that kind of stuff. So for me, it’s just like, let’s go to bed. It’s not real.”
“Walden” also stars Kelli Garner, Tania Raymonde, David Keith, Steve Coulter, Seth Michaels, Sunny Mabrey and Luke Davis. It’s now available on demand and on digital.
This post was originally posted by NYPost
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