INTERVIEWS

"MY VALENTINE'S DAY HEARTBREAK" 
TWIST magazine

Ever felt lonely on Valentine's Day? "A Walk To Remember" Star...Shane West sure has. Sarene Leeds (of TWIST mag.) finds out why?... 

TWIST: You new movie's so romantic--perfect for Valentine's Day. I guess Feb. 14th must always be fun for a guy like you? 

SHANE: Actually, I once had a breakup on Valentine's Day. It was a while ago, so I try not to remember that one too much. We'd technically broke up before Valentine's Day, on good terms. We'd decided to be just friends because we were young and got along really well but,...well...it was one of those things where we wanted to allow ourselves to grow more. But what happened was, we decided to spend Valentine's Day together anyway and then we had a big, massive fight. It turned out to be the final time we saw each other for a long time...so the final breakup was actually on Valentine's Day. I thought that was very...um...well...interesting. 

TWIST: Oh no! That's so sad. Did you get to learn anything from it? 

SHANE: One of the main things I've learned now is that we were young. We fought about silly things and, when you're that young, (17 years old) , that's going to happen. time will go by and I'm friends with her now. Let time heal the wound...but don't hate this person forever, especially because you guys were good together,...because mistakes happen, and people grow up. 

TWIST: Hopefully you have some happier memories of Valentine's Day too? 

SHANE: Oh, yeah! The most memorable was a couple of years ago with my (now) ex-girlfriend. We just spent a normal night together, just hanging out, having dinner, and I gave her a bunch of roses. We made it an all-day thing--kind of the date that just keeps going. 

TWIST: What was Valentine's Day like for you in High School? 

SHANE: I remember one year, there were three girls I had a crush on, so I brought roses to school and gave them out to them all. I also brought roses (God! I forgot I did this!) for girls who were just friends. It was a cool moment and I got great reactions from that. 

TWIST: Your character...Landon Carter...in "A Walk to Remember" is really romantic. It sounds like you're just like him in real life! 

SHANE: Well, my nickname in high school was "Hopeless Romantic!" I was really aware of my emotions at that stage and, even now, if I'm involved with someone and I really care about her, I'm very romantic. 

TWIST: Really? In what way? 

SHANE: I like surprising girls. I do little things where I'll visit a girl, just to say 'hi' and surprise her. I'll bring her something she needed and I'll have that in one hand and a rose in the other. Little things like that. And I love seeing the look on her face. 

TWIST: Wow. So what do you look for in a girl? 

SHANE: I have to make her laugh. I'm not a class-clown type of guy...but I'm kind of sarcastic and have a sarcastic sense of humor so, if I can't get a girl to actually laugh, it's not worth pursuing. I'm also very into a girl's smile and her eyes. You can see everything through a person's eyes. 

TWIST: What would turn you off about a girl? 

SHANE: That's omething you just know immediately. A girl that's too pretentious, too involved in her own world, who can't just relax, who's too uptight. Those things drive me nuts because I'm a very relaxed person and I'm also very honest--the type that would tell them they drive me nuts!--so (laughs)...I might have to put a leash on myself. 

TWIST: Have you ever had a secret admirer? 

SHANE: I did have one in my senior year of high school. I started getting little notes that were like, "I like you, but you don't know who I am." And one was a piece of paper burned into the shape of a heart--it was kind of rad actually but I never found out who they were from. I don't think I have a secret admirer now though. 

TWIST: Oh, ...we bet they're out there!