More than 200 fans preview TFIOS in New York City

Sunday, May 4, 2014

More than 200 fans preview TFIOS in New York City

Photo by Ben Richardson

The line for the The Fault In Our Stars New York screening started at 1:30 a.m Saturday. Gradually, more and more fans arrived, creating a line so long that Fox had to do two screenings to accommodate everyone. By 7 p.m. the first screening started. Fans were encouraged to share their reaction after the movie. And share they did. Hundreds of tweets were immediately posted by fans praising the movie the minute it was over. Meg Urbani (@MegUrbani) tweeted "OMG omg OMG!!!!!!!!!! TFIOS is the most perfect movie of all time. I just bawled my eyes out it's beyond amazing #TFIOSnyc #TFIOSTOUR"

Just like hers, there were hundreds of others tweeted the same. Praise also came from film reporters who were in the audience. Steven Weintraub (@colliderfrosty) tweeted "Think every person in the theater cried during THE FAULT IN OUR STARS including me. Fans *loved* it. Going to be a big hit for Fox in June"

Fans were in for another surprise when Shailene, Ansel, Nat, Laura Dern Sam Trammel, John and director Josh Boone came on stage for a 20 minute Q&A, which was moderated by Entertainment Weekly's Sara Vilkomerson.

The Q&A started with John stating he loved the movie and he hoped everyone loved it too. The audience agreed with screams and "YEAH!" They followed that up with a little bit of casting talk. Josh stated that he knew he wanted Nat in this movie and that after Shailene's audition "slayed them."

Shailene praised John for his ability to write incredible stories and characters.

"There isn't any author who writes the way (John) writes," she said.

Nat talked about preparing himself to play blind Isaac.

"One day, when I was preparing for this role, I wore glasses and closed my eyes for about three hours. I spent like the entire day blind. I went to grab my toothpaste and grabbed tiger balm and almost killed myself," he said.

Shailene praised Nat for wearing glass eye contacts for scenes after the surgery.

Photo by TheFaultMovie

Sam Trammel, who coincidentally has a son named Gus, said it would've been impossible to play Hazel's father without being a parent himself. The cast also revealed that on days that were emotionally straining, they would drink wine, eat and grab burgers. Shailene said she made popcorn every night.

The biggest news of the night was there will be an extended edition DVD of the movie that will include a movie version 10 minutes longer that the theater cut. The extended cut will include John's cameo and scenes like the Craigslist swingset scene and poem scene, which were cut due to time. John was really happy that his cameo was cut from the movie.

When asked what items they took from set Shailene and Nat revealed they took some of Gus' shirts, Ansel got three packs of cigarettes.

John joked that he is currently writing the sequel to The Fault In Our Star where Hazel and Isaac hookup.

"I know you want Hazel to hook up with Isaac. I've read the fanfiction," John joked.

Shailene took the chance to talk about her reaction to the book.When she finished TFIOS she became depressed that Augustus Waters doesn't exist in real life. Shailene said that being in this film and playing Hazel Grace is one of the biggest honors of her life.

"After reading TFIOS a fictional character became one of my greatest role models, Hazel Grace," Shailene said.

Ansel talked about spending time with John in order to prepare for the role of Augustus, because "Augustus and John are very similar guys."

Everyone told their favorite scenes. Nat's favorite scene is the pre-funeral eulogy scene. Josh, Ansel, and Shailene's favorite scene was the Amsterdam love scene. Ansel said you can call the sex scene a love scene because it was about love not lust. John’s favorite scene is when Hazel confronts her parents about them not being parents when she dies.

The Q&A ended with John saying "Okay." How appropriate.

For a more detailed recap/transcript visit The Hollywood Reporter.

Thank you to Hypable, UpAndComers, PageToPremiere, and TheFaultMovie for live tweeting. Check out their twitter feeds for more about the screening.