Based on the John Green novel, the movie version of The Fault in Our Stars is creating quite a buzz in social media as it approaches its opening in theaters in North America this weekend. So I reached out to the film’s screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber to see if they would let me ask them 10 questions about the project. They agreed.
I was going to write up a nifty introduction, but a recent feature on the writing duo in the New York Times did a bang-up job, so here it is:
Mr. Neustadter, 37, and Mr. Weber, 36, got their start in 2006 by shopping an original script about a guy who gets his heart smashed after falling for an aloof girl — something that had really happened to Mr. Neustadter. The resulting movie, “(500) Days of Summer,” was Fox Searchlight’s biggest hit of 2009. Last year came “The Spectacular Now,” an indie about love and alcoholism in high school. Adapted from Tim Tharp’s novel of the same name, “The Spectacular Now” was a critical home run, sealing their standing as Hollywood’s go-to channelers of tender teenage angst.
Their fans now include none other than Cameron Crowe, the writer-director behind “Say Anything,” “Almost Famous” and “Jerry Maguire.” “They write characters that are completely free of stereotypes,” Mr. Crowe said in an email. “Their stuff emits a high-pitched signal that says: This is authentic. And funny, too.”
“The Fault in Our Stars,” one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year, arrives from 20th Century Fox on Friday. Adapted from John Green’s best-selling novel, the film is a bittersweet story about two wickedly witty teenagers and their runaway romance. The punch-to-the-gut twist: Hazel and Gus, played by Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, both have cancer.
Here are two more questions I asked Michael and Scott:
The novel upon which the movie is based has a huge following of ardent fans, mostly young adults, but also older readers. How did you handle the pressure of knowing millions of them were out there hoping the filmmakers did a good job in translating the book into a movie?
WEBER: We didn’t have to. Fortunately for us we were able to adapt the book soon after it’s publication. By the time it became a worldwide phenomenon our work was done. This may worry the hardcore fans, as if we won’t understand their passion. But the thing to remember is we were fans first. We love the book as much as everyone else and approached the job from a place of respect and zealous affection.
In two of your previous movies, (500) Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now, you dealt with death in a more symbolic way: In (500) Days, there is the ‘death’ of Tom’s romance with Summer; in Spectacular Now there is the ‘death’ of Sutter’s belief he can always live in the present. However in The Fault in Our Stars, the story is about a looming and literal death of a primary character. Did writing a story with such a visceral sense of death differ from ones you’ve written with a more metaphorical exploration of death, and if so, how?
Scott: The undercurrent, if you ask me, is actually less about death than it is about loss - losing something/someone you’re not sure you can live without. Tom and Sutter are thinking wholly of themselves – if I lose this thing, what do I have? What will I be? Me Me Me. And that’s their problem. Hazel, on the other hand, is thinking ONLY of others. When I’M gone, when I’M the thing that’s been lost, how can I mitigate the misery of those around me? That was a very intriguing switch in perspective for us.
Here is a clip from the movie The Fault in Our Stars:
For Part 1 of the Q&A, go here.
Part 2, here.
Part 3, here.
Come back tomorrow for the last two questions and answers with Scott and Michael.
Go here to read John Green’s favorite scenes in the movie.
Go here to read a Reddit AMA by John Green.
