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.
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