This Oscar Winner Was Top Contender For Mandy Moore's 'A Walk To Remember' Role

Before Mandy Moore made her leading role debut in "A Walk to Remember," another "Princess Diaries" alum was considered for the role of Jamie Sullivan.

Moore, her co-star Shane West and director Adam Shankman recently shared behind-the-scenes details about "A Walk to Remember" with People for the film's 20th anniversary.

According to the director, Anne Hathaway had vied for the role of Jamie, though the Oscar-winning actress had to remind him about it later.

"I don't remember this, but Anne Hathaway has told me that she was down to the wire on it. And I was like, 'Really?' And she was like, 'Oh, yeah. I was one of the finals,'" he recalled. "I was like, 'I don't remember that.' I don't really remember anybody in that game because I was pulling for Mandy. But Annie told me that she was there."

Shankman added of Hathaway, "She and I are very friendly. So I was just surprised because I just hadn't remembered that."

A year before "A Walk to Remember" hit theaters, Moore had a supporting role in the first "Princess Diaries" film opposite Hathaway as Lana Thomas, a cheerleader who antagonized Hathaway's Mia and her pals, Entertainment Weekly noted.

Aside from Hathaway, another pop star had wanted to play Moore's role — Jessica Simpson. However, the director was drawn to Moore after he heard one of her songs.

"The studio had me looking at Jessica Simpson," Shankman told Elle in 2006. "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.'"

Meanwhile, West, who played Moore's leading man Landon Carter, agreed that the "This Is Us" actress was the perfect Jamie.

In an interview with EW in 2017 to celebrate the film's 15th anniversary, West said his and Moore's contrasting personalities mirrored those of the characters in Nicholas Sparks' book.

"It was kind of perfect the way we came into the project because she was coming from this pop background at that time — she had her song 'Candy,' and a role in 'The Princess Diaries' — and for me, I was into punk rock and so it was like completely opposites attract, or opposites are forced together to work," he told EW. "It was great for the role because that's how the characters are put together in the movie."

Moore celebrated the 20th anniversary of "A Walk to Remember" by watching the film for the first time in a decade.

A video she shared on Instagram showed her singing "Only Hope" along with her character and saying at the end of the film, "Jamie and Landon forever."