IDLE THOUGHTS ON A TRIP FROM HARTFORD-BRADLEY TO RALEIGH-DURHAM

When I was an undergraduate at Harvard, more than sixty years ago, one of the members of the Class of '54 whom I knew casually was Paul Matisse, grandson of the great Henri Matisse.  Paul's father, Pierre, was, I think, a quite successful art dealer in New York, and Paul is himself an artist sufficiently well-known to make it into Wikipedia.  Paul's grandfather was apparently notoriously reluctant to give away any of his creations, even to members of his own family, but he had given Paul a pen and ink drawing of a young woman's head, on paper, that hung on the wall of Paul's Eliot House room [in a suite of rooms occupied also by Stephen Joyce, James Joyce's grandson, and Sadri (Sadrudin) Khan, son or grandson of the Aga Khan.]

The drawing was scarcely more than a few lines, and must have taken Matisse only a few moments to do, but it was absolutely mesmerizing, capturing in some magical fashion the young woman's beauty.  I remember staring at it and wondering how Matisse could accomplish so much with no more than a few pen strokes and dots of ink.

 
I thought of that  painting yesterday as I was sitting on the plane coming back from Massachusetts.  I was reading J. K. Rowling's new detective novel, concealed for a brief moment under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.  [If there is anyone in the blogosphere who does not know the name "J. K. Rowling," she is the author of the Harry Potter books.]  The novel, which I am enjoying enormously, tells a story about a down on his luck private detective Cameron Strike, who is hired to look into the supposed suicide of a supermodel.  It is pretty clear that Rowling has created this character with the intention of launching a series of Robert Galbraith novels, in the long and distinguished tradition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Marjorie Allingham, and Josephine Tey.

Early in the novel, Strike hires a young woman, Robin, from a Temp agency, to handle what little office work his almost non-existent case load generates.  Rowling devotes very few words to Robin, concentrating most of her narrative on Strike's doings, and yet by the time I was one hundred pages into the novel, I was totally enraptured with her, rooting as hard as I could for a romance between her and Strike.  [I am only halfway through the novel, so hope is still alive.]

I found myself wondering, "How did Rowling do that?  Robin is no more than a few words on a page.  Unlike Strike, to whom Rowling has given an elaborate back story extending over many pages, we are told almost nothing about her, and yet the possibility of a romance between her and Strike is one of the things driving me through the novel."

It occurred to me that it would be a fascinating exercise to go back with a colored highlighting pen, mark every single passage in which Robin appears, and then read them seriatimin an effort to understand better just exactly what Rowling has done.  Since I am naturally lazy, I probably shan't do that, but it would be illuminating.  This is one of the many reasons why I am convinced that despite my facility as an expository writer, I could never write fiction.

John Green talks TFIOS movie with EW

John recently talked to EW about TFIOS, the movie, talking to Obama and his future projects. Check out the interview below.

Including John Green in our New Hollywood issue was a no-brainer. Although a movie adaptation of his first novel Looking For Alaska never got off the ground, the upcoming big-screen version of his latest best-seller The Fault in Our Stars, starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, has millions of Green’s fans in anticipation. Green talked to EW about his hopes for the film and his life sinces the publication of TFIOS.

You’ve had a tough road with your books being turned into movies. Are you more optimistic about The Fault in Our Stars?

Well, I’m still really hesitant to believe that it’s really going to happen, even though at this point it’s definitely going to happen. It’s still really hard to believe. I’m totally, unambiguously excited about The Fault in Our Stars being a movie. It’s not something I could have ever said before, about my other books, and the reason I’m so excited is that Shailene and Ansel are so great and Josh Boone is such a great director. They’ve included me in every facet of the process, and I’m just so excited. So in the past where I felt nervous and I felt like Hollywood would sort of twist or lessen my books, now I’m just really, really excited.

Is it being handled better because the filmmakers realize how much people love this book?

Yeah, that’s a big difference. The people who are making the movie are aware of how passionately the readers of the book feel, and they respect that, and they want to honor that. Like me, they are terrified of failing to live up to readers’ expectations, and I think that’s really healthy. That is something I never expected to happen in my life because I don’t write the kinds of books that make big Hollywood movies, but I’m so so grateful and excited.

Not to toot my own horn, but I predicted Shailene Woodley as Hazel back in early 2012. I like to give myself credit for making it happen.

Yes! Like, seven people had read the book at that point. You were like, “Shailene Woodley, Hazel Grace Lancaster, watch for it.” And I was like, “Oh Stephan, you’re ridiculous,” but you were totally right. You can put that in your story. “Nailed it!”

You had a strong following before The Fault in Our Stars, but how has it changed since?

It’s just vastly different. Everything is different. So many more people have read the book and read all of my other books up until now and I get stopped every day, every time I go to Target. You know, it’s surreal. It’s impossible to get my head around, impossible to understand what that means. I can’t think of what a million people looks like, you know? So I kind of just try to keep my head down and keep working and making stuff and not thinking too much about it.

Tell me about talking to President Obama.

I was so nervous in the days leading up to talking to the president. I knew I was only going to ask him a couple of questions. I knew it wasn’t going to be a big deal in his day, but you know, I also knew it was a great privilege to be able to ask the questions of your choosing to the leader of the free world. My wife, who usually does not appear in front of a camera, was also extremely nervous. So we basically stayed up all night the night before being really nervous, talking to each other about how nervous we were. But the actual conversation itself, it was really natural and really fun. Of course I don’t think you get to be president unless you’re quite charismatic and you’re good at making people feel at ease, which he certainly was, and so we got to ask him what we should name our daughter and he refused to answer. But in the end we chose the name that meant the most to us.

What’s going on with your next novel?

It’s a funny thing the way that a book can take over your life. They usually go away a week after they come out. That’s sad, profoundly sad, to a writer, and I’ve experienced that sadness a few times, but Fault in Our Stars is very, very different and it’s very much still in my life and it’s hard to write the next one with the previous one still in your life. But I am starting to write, although, as is usually the case with me, I’ll probably abandon six or seven novels before the next one.

Ansel Elgort in "Seventeen" Magazine

No TFIOS mention but the picture looks so good, we couldn't pass it up!!

He talks about his latest movie "Carrie", about how he was bullied at school, about how he's a "relationship guy" and being an artist.

HUGE thanks to Gossipgyal and LadyofErudite on twitter for the scan

Ansel plays Words with Friends with Seventeen

Josh Boone talks Shailene +Shailene mentions TFIOS with Roger Moore

  

Ledger-Enquirer: 

"After 'The Descendants,'" says filmmaker James Ponsoldt ("The Spectacular Now"), "about the best thing a director could hope to hear is that 'Shailene Woodley is interested in your movie,' or loves the book it was based on."

The 21-year-old actress is a lot more than "Hollywood's next big thing," adds director ("Stuck in Love") Josh Boone. "She can project this vulnerable sort of self-confidence, which is magical. Off screen, she's self-assured, sweet and quite kind. That shows up in her performances, too."

Read Shailene talking about TFIOS under the cut

Woodley, star of TV's "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," is just now dropping into the eye of the showbiz hurricane, a serious young woman "who makes your movie serious, the moment she shows up," says Ponsoldt, who directed Woodley and Miles Teller in "The Spectacular Now," the most critically acclaimed coming-of-age tale in a summer packed with such movies.

Woodley plays Aimee, the smart, makeup-shunning, working-class plain Jane who falls under the spell of the popular, charismatic and often-tipsy Sutter (Teller) in this serious and seriously offbeat teen romance.

"I've always been the extroverted girl, very outgoing, you know?" Woodley - "Shai" to her friends - says. "That's my nature - sitting at the front of the class, right in front of the teacher. And Aimee isn't that way and seemed like a new acting challenge. Shy, not confident. None of the characters I've played have been like her."

Woodley was interested in the script based on Tim Tharp's novel, and in the previous work of director Ponsoldt, who has made alcoholism his specialty through such films as "Off the Black" and "Smashed." And she liked the story's take on teens and booze. "Spectacular Now" has teens drinking, living "in the now," and struggling with it. The life of the party falls for the smart girl and "they DON'T reform each other," laughs Ponsoldt. "It's like a hundred other teen partying movies, but kind of their opposite."

Woodley says "I don't struggle with those issues - alcohol, partying, - myself. It was something that, when I was in high school, it was easier for me to be the serious, studious one than being the girl who sort of ignored responsibility and went out and had fun all the time.

"At Aimee's age (the character is 18), I dated somebody who introduced fun into my life. In a way. And even though that relationship was fun, it turned quite toxic. But after that and through that I was able to go out and kind of find myself. I took stock and discovered my self-worth. That age is when I discovered who I am, and I guess that's true of a lot of kids at 17, 18."

In Woodley's hands, Aimee is "a tender, moving creation," raves Alan Scherstuhl in The Village Voice, and Woodley "radiates an eager uncertainty" in the part, a view echoed in many of the film's reviews.

She's making canny choices, too, taking her time moving from supporting roles to leads. Woodley says she stills gets advice from her "Descendants" pals, director Alexander Payne and co-star George Clooney. "They're the best. But I'm getting comfortable taking my own advice about which movies to make.

Boone is prepping to direct Woodley on "The Fault in Our Stars," which Woodley calls "my favorite book," whose "messages are too important to NOT be talked about - important on a giant level." The director sees "a spectacular career ahead of Shailene."

And Ponsoldt, a serious student of film who references classic movies and famous directors as the touchstones of his work, is more specific.

"She's got this grounded reality about her that the camera picks up on. I see her having this wonderful Barbara Hershey, Sissy Spacek sort of career. And what do they have in common? Very long careers." 

Shailene Woodley talks TFIOS with Backstage Magazine

Photo by Jared Ryder| Backstage

Our Hazel Grace, Shailene Woodley, covers Backstage Magazine this week. In the interview she talked about The Descendants, The Spectacular Now, Divergent,  being cut from Spider Man 2 and of course, The Fault In Our Stars.
She briefly talks about emailing John Green and auditioning for the role ("known" actresses aren't always asked to auditioned). Scott and Michael, screenwriters for The Spectacular Now and TFIOS, also praised her:

She soon goes to work on “The Fault in Our Stars,” another role she pursued—after reading the book—by emailing author John Green and auditioning for director Josh Boone. “I was more than happy to audition because the character is 16, and I’ll be 22 when we film, so I knew they might have concerns,” she says. “Fortunately, the stars aligned on this one.” She also had people in her corner: Neustadter and Weber adapted the screenplay and were thrilled to work with her again. “She’s our Diane Keaton,” Weber says. “And I hope it keeps going. It’s so exciting to put your words in the hands of someone that talented.”

 On a red carpet interview with The Script Lab, Shailene returned the praise to Scott and Michael saying she loves that she is working with them in The Fault In Our Stars:

“I want to be in all their movies so when you talk to them will you just say ‘Shay wants to be in all your movies?’

Check out more of the interviews Backstage | The Script Lab
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Screenwriters Michael H Weber and Scott Neustadter mention TFIOS in interviews

Photo: A24

VANITY FAIR

The Fault In Our Stars screenwriters, Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber, recently talked to Vanity Fair about their new film The Spectacular Now which they adapted and executive produced and which opens TODAY in NY and LA. During the interview they revealed a bit about the process of adapting a book for screen and staying true to the book:

How different is your writing process when it’s your own original material versus adapting a book like The Spectacular Now?

Weber: With the early drafts of an adaptation, first and foremost, we are trying to be true to the book. The movie has to stand on its own legs. You don’t want it to just go shot for shot of what’s in the book, but you also want to stay true to the spirit. There are some constraints. You can’t suddenly make huge changes.

 They also talked about their ultimate goal while writing a script and mentioned TFIOS:

Do you think that fans of the book will be happy with the outcome?

Neustadter: We hope so. We have done a lot of adaptations now to this point, and I think a lot of times there are books that you know you need to make a lot of changes to in order for it to become a movie. Some novels just don’t really translate that well. Then other times there have been books that have terrific ideas, and we run with those in our own way. In this particular case and with The Fault in Our Stars—which we’re going to make in August—the No. 1 objective was make sure that audiences don’t say, “Well, the book was so much better,” which I think happens 90 percent of the time.

READ MORE AFTER THE CUT 

 

How do you make sure that doesn’t happen?

Neustadter: We are avid readers and we are also avid movie watchers. Our goal is, “How do we figure out these books that we love to make sure everything translates in the right way?”

Check out the rest of the interesting interview at Vanity Fair Online

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They also talked to upandcomers and a few other sites about Shailene and about her reading the TFIOS script.

What did you think about Shailene and Miles?

(...)

MW: And we love Shailene. We’re about to start shooting, on August 26, “The Fault in Our Stars”, the adaptation of John Green’s book that we fell in love with. We wrote that before we even met Shailene and she read the script before she even read the book, and she would kind of joke around on set in Athens during Spectacular Now, “I’m only doing this movie so you put me in Fault in our Stars.” We would say every time, “We have no say over that, that’s not up to us.” But she was just joking with us last week, she said “Do actors ever have a first look deal with writers?” We’re like, “No, but we’ll just all keep working together.”

When you were adapting the book, arguably the end of the book is much darker, so how did you approach that decision to change the ending?

(....)

MW: But he was ultimately really supportive and we’ve been lucky to work with, I mean obviously John Green right now, on “Fault in Our Stars”, and some other really great authors who’ve been supportive, and I think we try to be very respectful. It’s their baby first. It’s a little different with the adaptations, we’re sort of the custodians of the project for a little bit but it started with their idea and their inspiration. We certainly want their blessing and for them to feel like they’re part of it ‘cause we’ve heard horror stories; the book is taken away and changed, or it just doesn’t feel like the thing that they did and put so much into. So we want them feeling good about it as well. It kind of belongs to all of us.



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With the thoughtfulness they handle each project, we are really glad that Scott and Michael have written the script for TFIOS. John Green has stated multiple time that the script is AMAZING. So we will just have to wait and see.

John Green says he'll probably vlog from TFIOS set

John Green revealed at a VidCon industry panel that he might vlog from the TFIOS movie set. We hope this happens. We can't wait.

Via agamos