John and Ansel tweet about TFIOS movie

"The fox studio lot. Great meetings today about #tfiosmovie! Big things coming soon..."

"Been hearing amazing things about #tfiosmovie. Really amazing things. Just got off the phone w @joshboonemovies"

Ansel livestream celebrates 100,000 Twitter followers

On Tuesday evening Ansel conducted a livestream in honor of his 100,000 Twitter followers. He talked about his music and Ansolo, Divergent, living in New York City and The Fault in our Stars. Here are some highlights:

Filming in Amsterdam: Ansel stated that filming TFIOS in Amsterdam was great and beautiful. They had one hard scene but the rest was strolls around the city and its famous canals.

Upcoming Projects: Ansel reveal that he has two new films he has signed onto, but he can't reveal too much. One will start filming in December/January, just right before promo for Divergent starts. Insurgent will begin filming right after Divergent premieres. The second unknown project will start filming late 2014.

Working on TFIOS: He said that TFIOS has been the best project he has worked on so far in his career. TFIOS is his favorite book. He said that being able to work with Shailene in another project was awesome because she is a great actress. Working with Nat Wolff was another highlight of TFIOS for Ansel. He said working with Nat was a lot of fun. He also was amazed that he got to work with Willem Dafoe, who was cool.  

Cool fact: Josh Boone, director who in the editing process, told Ansel that he is very happy with what he has seen so far of the movie.

TFIOS in Gus POV: Although there is no plans to write TFIOS from Gus' point of view, Ansel said that it would be awesome if John Green ever decided to write it. John apparently learned a lot about Augustus Waters when he saw Ansel as Gus because John had never had to think about Gus' backstory and POV.

Ansel ended the live stream by thanking his 100,000 Twitter followers. He said that he never though 100,000 people would care about Ansel Elgort.

Check out the video below! Thanks to @JordanSheedy. via @LadyofErudite 

Ansel Elgort at the CFDA and Vogue Fashion Fund

Ansel Elgort attended the CFDA and Vogue Fashion Fund event with his sister Sophie Elgort. The event, which took place in NYC, supports young designers and gives them a head-start in their career. Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and major fashion designers like Diane Von Furstenberg and Valentino also were in attendence.

Check out the pics below!

 

New vlogbrothers video: Ansel and Mike Birbiglia are interviewed

This week on John's vlogbrother vlog (which had been delayed due to the U.S government shutdown), he interviewed Ansel and talked about his favorite scene so far in the movie (he can't spoil it but HINT: gas station). They also discussed their ship name, Johnsel, which they both ship. Ansel also told the best story of how he found out he got the part of Augustus Waters. Points go out to Shailene for giving him a Dutch cheese sandwich and for Josh telling him he's going to Amsterdam.

John also talked to Mike Birbiglia, who will play testicle-less Patrick in TFIOS. They told the story on how he got interested in the movie and how he got the part. Who knew sending a scroll to John could land you a great role in a movie.

Set report: John Green talks about filming, fans & more!

Photo: Post-Gazette

The Pittshurgh Post Gazette wrote an article about fans on the set and talked to John. He apparently revealed he will be joining them in Amsterdam. Check out the article below!

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They came carrying hardcover books, freshly ripped pieces of notebook paper and the occasional pocket-size U.S. Constitution.

If a student has the copy of the historical document signed by someone famous, she or he gets bonus points. And, as confirmed by the knot of teens outside the Church, writer John Green more than qualifies, as do actors Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort and Nat Wolff.

Word that "The Fault in Our Stars" had landed at the church spread through Instagram, Twitter, texts and talk among middle and high schoolers walking along the road.

Students who skipped or postponed dinner and homework and waited into the darkness met the author, a publishing and vlogging rock star. One declared, "This is, like, the best day of my life."

Mr. Green, 36, signed everything politely pressed into his hands, begged off photos due to a quickie lunch break around 8 p.m. but later returned for selfies with his fans. 

Clad in jeans and Harry Potter Alliance T-shirt, he efficiently volunteered to hold each phone at arm's length, smiled for every picture and thanked everyone for their support before turning back into the church.

Yes, he has clearly done this before (earlier that afternoon, in fact) and will be doing it for a long time to come, based on the popularity of the novel and, now, anticipation for the 2014 movie.

"This is totally consuming and has been since it came out, which is the best problem I've ever had in my life," he told the Post-Gazette.

Sitting on a padded wooden pew near a side entrance to the church, under the green felt bulletin board announcing "Parish News", Mr. Green fielded questions in hushed tones as filming continued elsewhere in the building where the characters of Hazel and Gus meet at a support group.

In a (mild spoiler alert) tweak to the novel, they run into each other on the elevator, and she then goes into the restroom to compose herself. But readers need not fear that the book, about whip-smart lovestruck teens who happen to have cancer, is being mangled.

"When people really love a book, what they want to see is the book come to life. They want to see the book visually, and I'm sympathetic to that desire. I felt that desire about books that I loved, I felt that about 'Harry Potter,' I felt that about 'Revolutionary Road,' I felt that about a huge variety of books.

"But, you know, my hope is that it can be a good movie, not that it can be a good visualization of a book," he said, adding that some details on the page can seem hokey or ridiculous on screen.

"That said, the screenplay -- in my opinion at least -- is just phenomenally faithful to the book. Almost every line of dialogue in the movie is from the book. It's very, very faithful."

Josh Boone is directing the screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who adapted or wrote "The Spectacular Now" starring Ms. Woodley and "(500) Days of Summer."

With weekend breaks to return to Indianapolis, his wife, their 3-year-old son and 3-month-old daughter, Mr. Green has been in Pittsburgh for almost the entire shoot and will join the production when it heads to Amsterdam for a few days later this month.

"Usually book writers are on the set for one or two days. I'm lucky to have a really great relationship with Josh the director, and he's the kind of relaxed, laid-back, confident guy who doesn't need to worry about that stuff," he said.

"And hopefully I'm the kind of writer who doesn't butt in. I don't want it to be my movie. I don't know how to direct a movie."

After all, he didn't immediately appreciate the brilliance of Ms. Woodley when she sent him "a very, very long email, 30 pages long or something" about the book, her passion for it, how important it was to find a way to get the movie made and how much she longed to play Hazel.

His response? " 'That's very sweet, but I'm not a casting director.' I probably would have been a little bit nicer to her if I'd understood what an incredible genius she is," he said, then backtracked that maybe he was a little more polite.

After watching her audition tape for Hazel, a 16-year-old whose thyroid cancer damaged her lungs, he immediately contacted Mr. Boone and producer Wyck Godfrey.

"Is it going to be helpful if I get on the phone? Should I email her, can I text her, do you have her phone number? Can I fly out to L.A. and hang out with her? What do I need to do to make it happen? She was just amazing; she's so talented."

When he later saw Ms. Woodley paired with Mr. Elgort, he picked up the phone and again asked, "How can I help?"

Just as many readers now think of Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter or Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, they will picture the youthful stars as Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters, a handsome charmer who downplays his "little touch of osteosarcoma."

"The good thing from my perspective is they both take that responsibility very seriously. ... They both love the book and they want to honor it and honor the story," said Mr. Green, who shot a cameo for the movie.

The story is set in Indianapolis and will stay that way, with locations doubling for the city 300-plus miles away and even for a bit of Amsterdam.

The challenge, however, was finding flat terrain in hilly Western Pennsylvania, but Mr. Green bought the illusion.

"When I saw both Hazel and Gus' houses, I just felt like, wow, this is the house I imagined. It was surreal. Hazel's house looked like it could have been next door to my house, which is where I set Hazel's house in my book. That was really cool."

He had been familiar with Pittsburgh thanks to his wife, Sarah Urist Green, a contemporary art curator. She curated the show "Andy Warhol Enterprises" for the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2010, and that meant trips here to The Warhol Museum.

But it was the reputation, experience, professionalism and size of the crew in Pittsburgh, along with the tax incentive, that landed the project here.

Mr. Green sees the relationship between writer and reader as two halves of a whole.

"It takes two to make it work. It takes the writer putting the right words on the page, but it also takes a reader who's reading generously, reading thoughtfully, paying attention. We all know that there's different ways to read newspaper stories, there's different ways to read novels.

"They read them distractedly, they read them with a chip on their shoulder, they read them with a bias, they go into them angry. For whatever reason, my readers have been so generous to this book and have read it with such kindness, and that's made all the difference."

Ask the teens on the sidewalk what they love about the novel, and heartfelt sentiments tumble out like emotional endorsements for a book jacket: "So moving ... inspirational and written so well ... feel very connected with the book ... very relatable for teens ... a universal love story." A few confessed to sobbing in Spanish or literature class when they came to the end.

David Happe, 14, lives "a five-minute run from here," he said, late Thursday in explaining how he had managed to score all the key autographs -- even when his dad appeared inquiring about homework and insisting he stop home for a bit. David had arrived by 4:30 p.m., when Ms. Woodley greeted a small band of early birds, and later got the writer plus Mr. Wolff and Mr. Elgort to sign their names.

For girls, the actor who plays Gus inscribed their books with "To Rachel [or Alyssa or Grace]" with a heart and then Ansel E., while Mr. Wolff, whose Isaac is losing his sight and fickle girlfriend, also sprinted over when summoned by the teens.

Some current or former cancer patients will turn up as fellow support group members, and fears that Mr. Green was co-opting their story proved unfounded. "The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and I'm so grateful for that."

In a world of teen superheroes and vampires who are invincible or immortal, "TFIOS" is remarkable. "I can't remember the last time we had a movie where pretty much all the central characters are living with serious disabilities," Mr. Green said.

But readers appreciate that the story allows sick people to have full, rich lives. "You are still a complicated person, you're still capable of the same love and joy and grief that anyone is."

Via @317lindquist | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Week 4 of filming: A cameo and a metaphor

Monday

John is still on set and keep showering us with amazing pictures!

John posted a picture of himself and his wife Sarah on set of the movie

He also shared an image of a few extras who also happen to be nerdfighters

 Nat and Ansel on set

Curtis (part of film crew) shared this picture of the camera and crane used today for filming.

Josh Horowitz from MTV also did his exclusive interviews with cast and crew on set.

Ansel and Nat are also having fun off set. They had a "pool" party.

Tuesday

Filming took place in an airport in Pittsburgh. They filmed the scene with Hazel, Gus and Frannie on their way to Amsterdam. John's cameo will take place in the airport.

John Green finds himself in the make-up trailer preparing for his cameo appearance

He also introduces us to cute, little Sophie.

And posts a picture of graffiti at the Pittsburgh airport.

Wednesday

John posted a picture of the set on instagram saying "Making the #tfiosmovie. It's a construction site, but a very beautiful one. Picture stolen from @abnicho."

#vscocam #tfios - @abnicho

Ansel shared an image of cinematographer Ben Richardson

Just watching Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern be brilliant. I wish I could show you that, but no spoilers! #tfiosmovie

The angelic Shailene Woodley brought a miraculous food truck to the set of the #tfiosmovie. Delicious tofu dog!!

Friday

Two fanpictures of Ansel and Shailene being adorable!

Cinematographer Ben Richardson posted a picture of himself on instagram!

Ansel Elgort part of Teen Vogue's Young Hollywood Photoshoot

Ansel is part of Teen Vogue's 2013 Young Hollywood Portfolio!


Ansel Elgort as The Hollywood Hero

Age: 19

Hometown: New York City

Hello, Hollywood: With three big-time films on his résumé (this month's Carrie remake, and next year'sDivergent and The Fault in Our Stars, both opposite Shailene Woodley) and hefty parts in them to boot, Ansel is the new It kid in town.

Heart for the Arts: Ansel, whose father is famed Vogue and Teen Vogue photographer Arthur Elgort, grew up immersed in the arts (even modeling for Teen Vogue for his dad). "I started doing musical theater and ballet," he says. "Then I spent seven years training to be an actor. It sort of all paid off."

Remix: Besides acting, his passion project is making house music and DJing in New York City under the name Ansolo. "I'm obsessed," he says. "At Comic-Con, two days before the Teen Vogue shoot, Asa Butterfield and I clicked and became total best friends ... over house music. He's a DJ too. — Dana Mathews

Bonus fact: Ansel was photographed inside Psycho's infamous Bates Motel. He was jamming to music on set, though, so he didn't seem too spooked.

Youtube

New Vlogbrothers video from TFIOS set

John's Vlogbrothers video for this week is from TFIOS set. It features a lot of cast and crew members, and movie making secrets.
Check it out.

Ansel and John host livestream, talk TFIOS filming

Thanks to Kylie K on youtube!

Today Ansel hosted a livestream video chat in honor of his 50,000 followers. Here is a recap of our tweets:

John and Ansel were talking about John peeing while livestream is going on.

They will be using the footage of another person's cool prosthetic and using CGI to morph it to Ansel's body in the film.

Cinematographer Ben is also the one doing the filming with the one camera.