I Can Tell Gus Already Like Hazel Because He Asked â€å“may I See You Again ã¢â‚¬â

Image via Twentieth Century Fob

I was recently part of a group of culture and book bloggers who asked author John Green a few questions nearly the upcoming release of the moving-picture show accommodation of the he extremely popular immature adult novelÂThe Fault in Our Stars . His excitement for the motion picture was quite infectious, even over the phone, and there can't be anyone more excited about the release of the film…except the public. Since the official trailer was released by Twentieth Century Fox a  few short months ago, information technology has received over nineteen million views.

Here’s what I found out about his interest with the making of the film, his fear in getting it made in the first place and how he feels about being compared to Judy Blume.

You lot were nervous to give over the rights to the flick because the book was just so personal to you.  What was your biggest fright in doing and so?

John Green: Well, I think information technology's really hard to brand a movie that's serious or virtually serious topics without sentimentalizing it.  And and then, I guess my fear was that it would become a sentimental story, which is what I almost didn't want.  I was trying actually difficult to write as unsentimental and straightforward a story as I could. I was likewise worried that the characters would be defined by their disability, instead of having disability be office of their lives but non the defining feature of their lives. But, the people who ended up getting the rights at Fox 2000 and the producers, Wyck Godfrey and Isaac Klausner, they but promised me that they wouldn't do that.  That was the starting time thing they said to me when we met, and I believed them.  I took it seriously, and they kept every promise.  They really did.

Was there a point at which it but felt different and you really knew that information technology was going to all come up together? Â

JG: When they hired Josh (Boone) to direct it, people said to me, "They don't hire a director unless they're going to make the moving-picture show." Merely I yet–I didn't believe that, because people in Hollywood say a lot of things.  To be honest with you, I flew out to Pittsburgh thinking that they might pull the plug at the terminal 2d. I call up request the producer of the movie, "What is technically the kickoff of principal photography," considering that's when it gets very, very, very expensive not to make the movie. And he was like, "Nosotros're going to make the motion-picture show.  Information technology starts filming tomorrow."  And I was like, "But, this is not technically the get-go of main photography?"  And he was similar, "No, that's tomorrow."  And I was like, "Well, we'll meet." So, I hateful, I did not let myself believe that it was going to happen until I was on set that morning, that outset forenoon.  I saw Hazel and her parents walk out of their business firm together and the cameras were rolling, and so I knew.  And that was a great.  It was almost similar they designed that whole get-go twenty-four hours to be metaphorically resonant for me, to have them walking out of this house that looked so much like the Hazel'south house of my imagination and these people who looked so much like I'd dreamt of.  It was like having a hallucination simply that happens two or three years after you lot think the thing.

A lot of people have claimed you've done what Judy Blume never achieved. Â

JG: Right, which is ridiculous. Blume has achieved a lot that I haven't.

What do you think that you, with the notoriety that's coming from The Fault in Our Stars and then the YA community equally a whole, tin do to combat these misguided perceptions equally the popularity of The Mistake in Our Stars and like properties increases?Â

JG:  I tin only–every time I'm asked that question, like "Oh, this is such a departure from dystopias or vampires," I'm like, "Not really," considering really the world of gimmicky realistic immature adult fiction is very old and very well established.  And I am but one author and not the best, not even almost the all-time, I don't recollect, in that world. And also that I think part of what makes YA so strong is that there's a longstanding conversation between and within genres.  You lot have sci-fi books and fantasy books interacting with and responding to realistic fiction and mysteries, and one of the things I really beloved about YA is all that stuff sharing a shelf. I attempt really hard to talk about that in interviews, to talk near the mode that information technology looks very different to usa from within the world of YA, that it isn't about one book or one story, and that there'due south hundreds and hundreds of books every twelvemonth that are read by at least ten,000 teenagers.  And that, to me, is the existent story near YA, is its diversity and breadth, and finding way to preserve and abound that diversity rather than celebrating single titles.

We were wondering about some of the backlash that the trailer got from people who haven't read the book saying things similar Augustus is pretentious or that it's romanticizing illness.  What exercise you think virtually that?

JG:  Well, I hateful, Augustus is pretentious in the showtime of the book.  In fact, like, several characters–I mean, I think Hazel calls him pretentious at one point.  Isaac calls him a self-aggrandizing bastard.  The other characters are enlightened of Gus being sort of pretentious and performative. The journey that Gus has to make is a journeying from strength to weakness.  I think the heroic journey that we're accustomed to is from weakness to strength.  But, Gus has to become from being this sort of performed, over the top character to beingness authentically himself. And that means being vulnerable and that means being scared.  And that'south heroic, more heroic than his sort of swagger and pretentiousness toward the offset of the story.  I call back that you see that in the motion picture.  Past definition, it'south difficult to meet that in a trailer. The like to dislike ratio on the trailer on YouTube fabricated me very, very happy, and I continue to call up the people who made the trailer did a great job.  But, obviously yous tin't nautical chart the whole story in the trailer or there would be no reason to run into the movie.

Did you see the book equally a picture when yous were writing information technology?

JG: I did not meet it equally a flick.  I couldn't imagine a world in which this movie would become made.  I neverâ€"it's not something I retrieve near when I write, actually, to be honest with you.  I hateful, they never made a movie out of any of my other books, and so I certainly didn't think they've make a motion-picture show out of this one.

Where there any passages that you were adamant well-nigh staying in for the movie?

JG:  No.  I was and then lucky.  Mike Weber and Scott Neustadter, who wrote the script, have such a deep love for the book.  They were really passionate about it. They wanted to preserve not just the tone and themes of the book only equally much of the actual words of the volume every bit possible, and I think they did an amazing job. They saw what people were responding to, making art nigh, and it was important to them to keep it in.

Image via Twentieth Century Fox

Was at that place annihilation in the book, like a character or a scene that the picture show accommodation made yous see in a different light?Â

JG: It helped me to think differently and I judge more than broadly most Gus, the challenges that he'due south been through before the story begins, how that's given him confidence just how besides that confidence is real and information technology's earned because he has integrated this disability into his life.  But, it's also a way of protecting himself.  It'southward also a way of protecting himself against the things that are harder for him now, or the mode that his life has been changed, physically and emotionally past his inability.

Did you envision anyone playing these roles when you were writing the book at all?

JG: Almost immediately, even when she was auditioning, Shailene became Hazel for me.  Hazel just looked like Shailene and talked similar Shailene talks as Hazel.  In terms of casting, I had a voice.  Yous know, I'thousand not a casting manager.  I didn't direct the movie, so it wasn't my decision, certainly.

And so, seeing the movie, I idea very differently about Augustus and about Hazel's parents, and even about Van Houten.  Each of those actors brings to their performance a realness, a sense that they are the center of their ain story, just every bit anyone is.

What was your office during the filming and did you visit the set up?

JG : I was there for well-nigh every day.  I would say at least 80% of the time.  I usually went home on Thursday nighttime so that I could spend a few days with my family. I didn't take a role.  Simply, I think it's nice to accept somebody on a picture set who's not doing annihilation, because anybody else is so busy and they're working so hard and they're talking about, "Did we get this coverage or that coverage," and, "Did nosotros get it this way?  Did nosotros get it that way?  Did the light change?"  And I could just be similar, "Hey, everybody, concord on for a second.  This is awesome.  Let’due south take a pace back and realize how ridiculously awesome this is." What I found is that, when people come in and they're passionate and they actually intendance virtually the story, it can add together to it.  It can bring new things to it.  So, every day information technology merely felt wonderful on the set.  Information technology really did.  I hateful, I just felt like I was being given such a tremendous gift just to be able to be there and spotter them make this motion picture, arrive and then carefully and thoughtfully.

How much feel did y'all have with other amputees?  And were you lot concerned specifically well-nigh getting those details right, like the everyday life things that Gus went through? Â

JG:  Yeah, I was concerned about it, and I did speak to i other person.  Josh's amputation is much, much college upwardly considering he lost much of his hip.  And so he doesn't walk with a prosthetic.  He can, but he doesn't normally.  He well-nigh always uses crutches now. The prosthetics are actually good, as I'm sure you know. I wanted him to exist at a place physically where it's integrated into his life then that he can–you know. The thing that I was worried about is things like sitting all the manner downward on the grass in a big open up field, then figuring out how to become up. Merely, when we were filming the flick, we worked with this guy, Tanner, who had basically the exact aforementioned amputation as Gus, although from a hunting accident, not from osteosarcoma.  And he worked a lot with Ansel and also was our stunt double, I guess.

The Fault in Our Stars Giveaway

Guess what? I’m giving abroad a copy of The Fault in Our StarsÂ(FIOS) book, a FIOS  tote bag and a FIOS headphone splitter with telephone stand. Open up to U.Southward. mailing addresses only.

To win, only comment below and allow me know how yous feel when books are turned into films and if you are broken-hearted to encounter how FIOS turned out. Also, you must follow the Civilisation Tripper Facebook page (no need to tell me, I tin can bank check).

Winner will be selected randomly. Each winner will receive two tickets, which will be held at the box function day of show in your name. This giveaway will end on Friday, June 6th at 9am EST. Winner will exist posted here, on the Culture Tripper Facebook page and via email and will have 24 hours to accept their prize.

Disclosure: I was not compensated to write this post. Giveaway is courtesy of 20^th Century Pull a fast one on.

Final notation:  The writer's enthusiasm for the upcoming film was infectious, and I'm counting down the days until its release on June 6 ^th .Â

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Source: https://www.theculturemom.com/interviewing-the-fault-in-our-stars-author-john-green-giveaway/

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