Josh and Jake Braver talk Visual Effects with THR

The Hollywood Reporter chats with director, Josh Boone, and VFX supervisor, Jake Braver, on the texting/emailing effects, added cannulas, and more.

On Gus and Hazel's unique visual texting: 

Josh: We can't have them staring at phones the entire movie. So we looked at House of Cards and Sherlock, and said, 'We should do something like this, but make it more like a Twitter-Tumblr aesthetic.' That was the idea – to make it look like the fan art people had made for the movie, and feel like Tumblr.

Jake: ...We needed to find a way to see what Hazel and Gus were feeling as they read and typed the messages. This scene was a lot of fun, because it's a whole conversation between Hazel and Gus where there is no dialogue, aside from the messages that are displayed onscreen.

Jake on the film's VFX: 

There are almost 350 VFX shots in the movie, and on a movie like this, it's my job to make sure they are invisible. Hopefully, those moments feel organic enough that no one is thinking "How did they do that?"

Jake on the added cannula: 

While editing, Josh and his editor Robb Sullivan found this amazing close-up of Shailene from later in the scene when she had taken off her cannula, and she is looking at Gus, but they wanted to use it right at the beginning of the scene. So we added a computer-generated cannula -- it was a bit tricky to add, only because it was a close-up of Shai's face, and the cuts right before it and after it were of her with the real cannula, so it had match perfectly. Hopefully, it's seamless. 

Definitely seamless, Jake!

Please be sure to check out the rest of this great in-depth interview (there are some spoilers) at the source.

John Green talks to THR about Hollywood Success

John Green talked to The Hollywood Reporter about his reluctance to sell rights to his novel, how Shailene Woodley's performance won him over and why a hit won't make him go Hollywood.

Here are some highlights from the interview:

On his first viewing experience with his wife, Sarah:

"We were both crying, and I think I've seen my wife cry five times in the 10 years that we've been together," he says. "I knew that was a good sign." 

On Shai's portrayal of Hazel:

He acknowledges the fears of some fans that Woodley couldn't pull off the look of cancer-stricken Hazel, the beloved lead character, but says he knew she was the right choice on the first day of filming. "When I saw Shai walk out of Hazel's house with the cannula [breathing tube] trailing her oxygen tank, I immediately felt, 'She's got this,' " he says.

On Esther and her influence:

"I had to come to a philosophical place where I believed that short lives could also be rich lives," he says. In Earl, "I saw more of the complex story that happens outside of the hospital … the richness and the fullness in her life." 

On his frustrations with Hollywood's portrayals of teens:

"It looks more like a John Hughes movie than it is. There's a lot more fluidity [in real life]. I think a lot more of their social lives happen online or in sort of a cross space between off-space and online," he says. "Hollywood doesn't treat teenagers as intelligent as they are, and then when Hollywood does make a movie that kind of acknowledges the complexity and intelligence of teenagers, it does really well," he says, ticking off Easy A and Mean Girls as favorite examples.

Check out the rest of this great interview with John at The Hollywood Reporter.

Ansel talks TFIOS during Divergent Promo

Ansel talked with Hero Complex (the LA Times) about his latest projects, acting, and what draws him to roles.

Source: The LA Times / James Bridges / 20th Century Fox

HC: You say that the character was very different from you. Is there a character you’ve played that’s similar to you?

"... With Augustus Waters, I’m a little bit theatrical. Augustus is theatrical. He is also very loving, and I am a Pisces, and I easily fall in love, and that is the part for Augustus that I pulled from ... So yeah, I guess I can sort of relate to everyone I’ve played so far in different ways."

For more of Noelene Clark's profile on Ansel, be sure to read it in full here at the source.



Additionally, TFIOS is mentioned as an upcoming project of Ansel's in the following two profiles:

Rebecca Ford's The Hollywood Reporter 'Next Big Thing' article here.

JustJared's JJ Spotlight series here.