Nicholas Sparks has revealed his favourite film from the adaptations several of his novels have gone through.
The author, 58, who has had 11 of his novels turned into films, told People magazine A Walk to Remember is the one that he has seen the most.
“When I had my kids growing up, they hadn’t yet read a novel [of mine], and they’d say, ‘Oh, can we see what you do?’ I’d say, ‘I’ve got the movie for you.’”
“And I had five kids so I had to sit through multiple viewings of that because I would show that to them again. That movie was great. It just works.”
The 2002 coming-of-age romance film, starring Mandy Moore and Shane West, went on to make $47.5m worldwide on an $11.8m budget. The film follows two North Carolina teens, Landon Carter (West) and Jamie Sullivan (Mandy Moore), who are thrown together after Landon gets into trouble and is sentenced to perform community service.
Sparks also disclosed that his son played a small role in the film.
“He actually ended up in the final cut of the movie in the little church scene early on in the film. He’s one who looks absolutely miserable, and I’m like, ‘You did perfect for singing in church, son. That is exactly how kids look,’” he said.
The Last Song author added that The Notebook, in his opinion, was another “iconic” adaptation and would likely “stand the test of time”.
The Notebook, which was released in 2004, starred Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling as Allie and Noah, two young adults from very different socioeconomic backgrounds who fall in love in 1940s South Carolina. After Noah is drafted to serve in World War II, Allie begins a romance with another man. However, when Noah returns home, it becomes clear that his romance with Allie remains.
Sparks recently raised quite a few eyebrows when he shared his recipe for chicken salad, which includes 16 individual packets of Splenda, a zero-calorie alternative for sugar.
“You can use real sugar, but why throw sugar in if you can use Splenda?” he told The New York Times.
Sixteen packets of Splenda is equivalent to two-third of a cup of the sweetener alternative.
The Lucky One author’s method of making the popular lunch dish quickly led to reactions on X where many users questioned why his chicken salad had to be so sweet or why he was using packets of Splenda instead of buying a box.
“Wait - is putting sweetener in a chicken salad a thing? Even sugar? I have never…” one user questioned.
