Ansel talks about TFIOS, Shailene and John Green with TwinCities

In Ansel's recent interview with TwinCities.Com, he also talked about TFIOS, playing along Shailene and John Green:

His other upcoming movie, "The Fault in Our Stars," was trickier. It's the story of Hazel and Augustus, two teenagers with cancer who fall in love. The book is told through the voice of Hazel, who idealizes Augustus.

"We see (Augustus) through Hazel's eyes, and she sees him as a superhero. How do you make that real?" Elgort asks.

It helped that he and Woodley already knew one another well. They met at the "Divergent" auditions, where Elgort says Woodley thought he didn't like her because she's a big hugger and he is not. And, although the shift from brother/sister to boyfriend/girlfriend might seem creepy from the outside, Elgort said their familiarity was a huge help.

"I went to the La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts, where you're in an ensemble of seven actors and you're always working with each other on a lot of different things," Elgort says. "And these characters are so different. When I was Caleb, I was Caleb and when I was Augustus, I was Augustus but the great thing was I was being Augustus with this really good friend I made in Chicago."

Millions of fans of "The Fault in Our Stars" have very specific ideas about Augustus, and Elgort said that put a lot of pressure on him to get it right, something he did with the help of the novel's author, John Green.

"Before shooting, I was hanging out with John Green. He uses all of these ridiculous words and has this formal way of talking and all of these quirky mannerisms," recalls Elgort. "And one day I suddenly thought, 'Oh, my god, Augustus is a younger John.' He has the same language, the same quirkiness."

Some parts of both heroic roles just come naturally, according to Elgort, whose father is fashion photographer Arthur Elgort.

"You do a crazy amount of research as an actor but, some of the time, I just have to be myself to be Augustus," says Elgort. "I'm a good-looking guy, I'm 6-4. I don't have to do anything to be a leading man, which might sound egotistical but, as an actor, that stuff is what I have to work with."

You can read the entire interview here.