Pretty Much Me

(Source: wishmemonsters, via foreverandalways-14)

fishingboatproceeds:

hermionejg:

fishingboatproceeds:

1. Shailene Woodley is a brilliant actress and Golden Globe nominee. I cannot think of any 18-year-old actress who has received the kind of critical acclaim that she has (she also won an Independent Spirit Award).

She auditioned for The Fault in Our Stars not because she needs the part (I mean, she’s in the new Spider Man movie, for God’s sakes) but because she loves the book. Her depth of understanding were immediately obvious in the audition and for me there could be no one else to play Hazel. (There were a bunch of really good auditions, but Shailene just understood Hazel as I imagined her.)

I am not particularly concerned with physical looks; Hollywood can fix that stuff. (Remember when Nicole Kidman became Virginia Woolf?) I’m concerned with whether she can embody the voice and experience and life of Hazel. She can.

2. Ansel Elgort is also a huge fan of TFiOS (it is, in fact, his favorite book). He was a high school basketball player who also happens to be a very intellectual guy. Most importantly, when he auditioned, he became Augustus. Watching him audition with Shailene, he was just Gus and she was just Hazel. He understood Gus, and clearly had a very deep and thoughtful relationship with the book. Honestly, I’m a bit confused as to how you can dislike an actor whose work you have definitionally never seen, since his first movie isn’t out yet.

3. Novelists do not cast movies, so these were not my decisions (although I did have a lot of input). But I’m defending them because I think they’re both perfect for their parts (and I’d tell you if I felt otherwise).

4. There seems to be some concern that Ansel and Shailene are playing siblings in a different movie. I guess I can understand that, but they’re actors. They can play different roles. They’ll look different and act different and be different. I mean, no one watched Silver Linings Playbook and thought, “When did Katniss move to the suburbs of Philadelphia?”

If the movie works, you’ll sit down in the theater and you won’t say, “Oh look it’s Shailene Woodley,” or, “Oh, look, it’s Tris from Divergent.” You’ll say, “Holy wow Hazel Grace.”

It’s also not super cool to tell people you’re going to kill them, cut them etc. because of their casting choices/who they were cast as. It’s scary and it’s not okay and there really is no need to say that shit. I know sometimes we all feel things really intensely and we want to express that, but those things come off as threatening, as they should, because it’s violent language. I guess I just think we’re all like 10,000x better than that, I honestly do. Just something to bear in mind.

Okay now I’ll return to my regularly scheduled holy-shit-tfios-is-actually-going-to-be-a-film-quick-get-me-a-lauren-conrad-gif.

As you can see, Rosianna has access to my email. (She is my assistant.)

I am grateful for the intense feelings about the book. It means a lot to me that so many people care so much about the story and its integrity. I also care, I promise, and will always try to do right by The Fault in Our Stars.

I know that you’re speaking figuratively when you say, for instance, “I’m going to kill you” or “I hate you” or “I’m going to cut out your intestines” (which someone wrote to me this morning). But it’s worth remembering that all the people involved here are real people, in the same way that you are a real person. And it’s scary to hear that someone wants to cut out your intestines, and it does not predispose you to like or listen to that person; it just makes you feel worried and defensive because you like your intestines and want to keep them.