John Green hosts TFIOS Hangout livestream

On Thursday evening, John partnered up with 20th Century Fox and hosted a livestream on YouTube. He answer questions fan sent in with the hashtag #TFIOSHangout. These were some of the highlights:

John’s cameo: Although many wanted to see John act in the TFIOS, his cameo got cut from the movie, probably due to timing issues. John said that he felt truly delighted and relieved his part got cut. “I don’t want to be an actor,” he said. However, he felt bad about that the little girl, who played his daughter on screen, would be cut out too.

TFIOS trailer: John said that he never expected the response the trailer has gotten. He thinks that it is bananas the trailer has more than 10 million views and almost 200,000 likes. “Only movies like Iron Man get a lot of (trailer) views,” he said. He also told viewers that he was really nervous the day the trailer was released. However, was so happy of the response of viewers and fans. The trailer reaction videos fans created and posted made him cry because it showed him how much people care about this story.

Hardest scene and favorite chapter: A fan asked John what was the hardest part of the book to write. He responded that there weren’t many easy parts to write. It got really hard toward the end. However, when he looked through the book, he said it was the scene when Gus was at a Speedway gas station late at night. He said it was amazing to see that scene being filmed. His favorite chapter in TFIOS is chapter 20 (SPOILER: It is the pre-funeral chapter).

No sequel or AIA: John sadly said there would be no TFIOS sequel, or from Gus’s point of view. Also he would never try to attempt to write An Imperial Affliction. I guess that’s why fan fiction exists?

TFIOS isn’t just a story about sick people: When a fan asked John how he would convince a non-TFIOS reader to read the book or watch the movie, John didn’t know what to answer. He said that even though TFIOS is a sad story, it is not just that. TFIOS is meant to show that people who are sick are very much alive and active. John said that disease is not something that should be minimized to other kinds of struggle and he wanted to write about that. The point of writing this book was to make three funny kids that are living a rich, full life, but who have disease as an obstacle.

Watch the entire 51 minute livestream below: