Exclusive TFIOS Premiere Blue Carpet Interviews

We had the distinct pleasure in attending the TFIOS blue carpet premiere in NYC. With our amazing spot on the carpet (thank you FOX!) we managed to snag some great interviews on the carpet. Below we've included the YouTube of the interview as well as transcriptions for each interview. Enjoy!

Wyck Godfrey - Producer

Note: We apologize one answer is cut short around 2:05 because technology

Transcription:
Q: You have adapted a lot of YA adaptations, what do you look for in adapting books?
Honestly I look for things that move me emotionally and that feel transcendent. I look at the specificity of the story but then I also think, what's it making me feel about life. And this was one of those books where when I read it, I closed it and I thought, "I wanna live a better life. I wanna be a part of this. I have to be a part of this." And so I called up the studio and I said, "This is the most transcendent love story I have ever read. I was floored by this. We have to do this." I think the key is to find things that will make other people feel the way you did and you hope you're right. Sometimes you're not, sometimes you love something that ends up being this big but good news, this one turned out to be a big one.

Q: If you had somebody you idolized and you met them and they turned out to be like Van Houten, what would you do?
I would probably try to manage my expectations going into it in the first place, but mostly I would step back and go, "You know everybody's flawed, everybody's human, we all have our shit and you can't expect people to be perfect, cause none of us are perfect.

Q: How has Josh compared to other directors that you've worked with?
You know the extraordinary thing about Josh is that he creates this atmosphere of calm on his sets where all the actors feel so comfortable with each other which allows them to give their most raw performances. I think he just puts them in a wonderful space and he lets his skill technicians and productions designing and DP do the things they've discussed a lot but then just focuses on the actors and the words.

Q: How has it been working with the screenwriters?
They were awesome. They wrote the script in three weeks and it was damn near perfect. They loved the book. Scott had just gone through losing his dad to cancer and he felt like he needed to write this for his own catharsis. Mike is very funny and brought something special to the table.

Q: Anything you can tease us about Paper Towns?
Nat is already getting ready. Nat's going into training.

Q: Are you excited to be working with Nat for another movie?
I love him, he's so cool. He's the best.

Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber - Screenwriters

Transcription:
Q: Can you talk a little bit about your collaboration, how you work writing together?
Michael: We live on opposite coasts, so Scott lives in LA, I live here in New York. We never actually write in the same room. It seems like the farther apart we are, the better it turns out.

Q: You're part of a lot of adaptations, what do you look for in your adaptations? 
Scott: I think we love reading and when you read something that's amazing and someone might turn it into a movie, we jump at the chance to adapt it. For example with TFIOS, when we read it we were just fans, we loved it and said "how do we make the best movie version of this book?" and lucky for us, they trusted us and gave us the opportunity to do it.

Q: What has it been like working with Josh Boone?
Michael: Josh is great, so smart, hard working, he really brought to life the vision of the movie, so hopefully it lives up to the experience of reading the book.
Scott: A lot of pressure.

Q: Was there anything that surprised you when seeing the movie? Anything visually?
Scott: I think we had seen a lot of dallies and we had seen what the visual style was going to be. We really were excited about it and I actually have only seen cuts of it. Tonight will be my first time seeing the finished product.
Michael: Me too.

Q: If you had somebody you idolized and you met them and they turned out to be like Van Houten, what would you do?
Scott: Are you allowed to curse on Twitter? (laughs) I don't know. Hopefully I would be mature enough to say 'thank you for your time', walk out and leave, but I'm pretty sure that's not what would happen.
Michael: I don't know if I would want to meet my Van Houten in the first place, I think I would go in to that encounter assuming that it would not live up to my expectations so I probably rather think about what it could be than be disappointed.
Scott: They do always say not to meet your hero.
Michael: They do.

Q: How do you two balance with the projects you're working on? I feel like every few weeks we're seeing something else.
Scott: We love to work and we're so privileged to be in this sort of position where people like our stuff and want to read more of it and we're going to keep going and you know, pile it on. As much as we can do, we'll do!
Michael: A lot of times they just don't announce it till we're long done with it which is kind of funny. It's a crazy business and we're having a blast.

Q: What is it like to see the finished product with all these people? 
Michael: I think it's great. I mean reading a book is such a solitary experience and now here tonight it becomes a shared one, so it's a wonderful thing.

Q: Do you think that the soundtrack blended well with the work that you've done?
Scott: All the songs I have heard are fantastic. I haven't seen it in the film so I hope it does. Oh, I'm sure it does.

Josh Boone - Director

Transcription:

Q: How do you go about choosing your projects?

Nat Wolff gives them to me and I'm like 'alright, I'll do it.' No, I mean, you just look for stuff that feels like you. I mean that's really the only thing you can do because I don't think it's going to work if you don't feel like there's a part of you in it. I went through personal stuff with the death of a friend and that book helped me to get through a really crucial time of my life and to have the opportunity to try to bring what that book made me feel like to other people like as a movie is just... I mean John's book is so incredible, I was just trying to honor and be as truthful to it as possible.

Q: What was it like working with Ben Richardson?

Awesome! It's funny, the way that Ben and I met was...so when I went to Fox, I brought a bunch of photographs by Ryan McGinley who is a brilliant, brilliant photographer and I said that this is kind of the idea visually of what it's going to look like. And then I went to go meet Ben for the first time and he brought a book of Ryan McGinley photographs and I was like 'I guess we're making this movie'. It was just like fate. That's how everything felt on this movie. Everything came together with such simplicity, it all felt so charged and there was purpose to it. I just feel really happy to have been a part of the ride, it's an incredible experience.

Q: Where does your musical inspiration come from?
I'm just one of those sad rock guys, like dead indie rock. Like growing up it was always "Bright Eyes" and "The White Stripes" (...) you know just bands like that. The Decemberist I love. Just back in the day I was just into that kind of stuff. That's just the kind of stuff I like. Getting Mike from "Bright Eyes" to score both movies is just really awesome.

Q: If you had your own Van Houten and he turned out to be exactly like Van Houten, what would you do?
I'd probably kick him out of my car. But I would read the lette...Hmm, spoiler (laughs).

Shailene Woodley - Hazel Grace Lancaster

Transcription:

Q: Hazel has a fear of hurting her parents after she leaves and that holds her back from living life to the fullest to an extent, have you ever had anything like that in your life?

Yeah I mean I think we all have fears but it's how you approach your fears. Nobody is fearless but it's about how you approach your fears. 

Q: If you met your own Van Houten and he turned out to be as bitter as Van Houten is in the film, how would you react?

I'd probably give him a hug. Because he'd probably need one.

Q: How was it working with Josh?

Incredible. Josh is so collaborative and somehow he managed to capture the tone perfectly of John Green's book which seemed to me like an impossible feat but he did it.

Nat Wolff - Isaac

Transcription:

Q: We wanted to ask about that make-out scene with Emily Peachey. How was that having John there watching it?

Yeah, well I think John was jealous of me... no that's weird I think John was jealous of Emily... also weird. No it was great having John there in all the scenes because basically he'd just say at the end of the scene, "That's just how I imagined it", which is great. The make out scene is awkward, it's like the first time we've ever met but you know we did have a nice dinner where we created a fake history of our relationship and like got each other necklaces that said each other's names on it. We tried to be kind of romantic about it so then she could dump me and break my heart. And I could feel something.

Q: About your collaboration with Josh?

Yeah, Josh Boone and I are cinematic married for life. That's what Josh said a couple days ago. But yeah I'm lucky to have found sort of a partner at such a young age. We really wanna make movies with each other.

Mike Birbiglia - Patrick

Q: So I want to talk to you about the song you wrote. How did you come up with those lyrics?

That's a great question. I was on the phone with Josh, the director, and he was like, "The guy plays guitar, do you play guitar?" and I was like, "Sure I play guitar" and he goes, "You know you can write anything you want. We'll try to use it." I think the words go like, "Christ is your friend and he'll be there till the end" and they repeat over and over again. I don't know it's kind of... I wanted the song to be not insulting, if that makes sense? Because I was raised catholic and my family is very religious, my mom is very religious. I wanted to write the lines so it was a believable christian rock song, I didn't want it to be a spoof of one. That's sort of where "Christ is our friend" came from.

Q: What was it like working with Josh?

It was so easy and fun, it was not even like work. I felt that way about all the cast and the crew. Everyone was really just happy to be there. It's exciting when you have a script that everyone feels passionate about and everyone likes their part that they're playing. It's just very gratifying. And then to see this fan fare to it. It's too much. It's a little overwhelming to be honest with you. But it's great. That's exactly what you hope for a movie like that. It's a movie that takes on very serious themes in a way that is compassionate and humorous and true and not a lot of films like that go so wide and make it to be that popular. And whenever there is something like that happens it's a great human experience because we can all rally behind that.

Q: This must be a crazy experience compared to your comedy shows? What is the fan reaction?

I'm on a 100 city comedy tour right now. I just got back form Josh's home town. Those shows are great, I'm having a ball.

Emma Kenney from Shameless

Transcription:
Q: So can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I'm Emma Kenney, I'm fourteen. I'm an actor and I'm on shameless which is on Showtime. I'm really excited to see the movie.

Q: Are you a fan of the book?
It's literally my favorite book. John Green is my favorite author. I'm SO excited, I'm not even...

Q: Have you been following it since the casting and everything?
Yeah. I literally remember the day where they cast Ansel as Gus and I thought, "This is the exact Gus I wanted." I'm so excited.

Q: What part are you most looking forward to in the movie?
Probably when they're in Amsterdam? I love those scenes I love them all when they meet. It's so perfect.

Q: Have you listened to the soundtrack?
No, I've heard the Ed Sheeran song but I haven't heard the full soundtrack.

Q: What's next for you?
Well I go back out. In like 3 weeks we start filming the fifth season of Shameless so I'm so excited for that. And right now I'm in High School and finishing up the year and it's been really fun. I'm a freshman.