The Fault In Our Stars: Q&A (Part 1) with screenwriters Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
Based on the John Green novel, the movie version of The Fault in Our Stars is creating quite a buzz in social media as it approaches its opening in theaters in North America this weekend. So I reached out to the film’s screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber to see if they would let me ask them 10 questions about the project. They agreed.
I was going to write up a nifty introduction, but a recent feature on the writing duo in the New York Times did a bang-up job, so here it is:
Mr. Neustadter, 37, and Mr. Weber, 36, got their start in 2006 by shopping an original script about a guy who gets his heart smashed after falling for an aloof girl — something that had really happened to Mr. Neustadter. The resulting movie, “(500) Days of Summer,” was Fox Searchlight’s biggest hit of 2009. Last year came “The Spectacular Now,” an indie about love and alcoholism in high school. Adapted from Tim Tharp’s novel of the same name, “The Spectacular Now” was a critical home run, sealing their standing as Hollywood’s go-to channelers of tender teenage angst.
Their fans now include none other than Cameron Crowe, the writer-director behind “Say Anything,” “Almost Famous” and “Jerry Maguire.” “They write characters that are completely free of stereotypes,” Mr. Crowe said in an email. “Their stuff emits a high-pitched signal that says: This is authentic. And funny, too.”
“The Fault in Our Stars,” one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year, arrives from 20th Century Fox on Friday. Adapted from John Green’s best-selling novel, the film is a bittersweet story about two wickedly witty teenagers and their runaway romance. The punch-to-the-gut twist: Hazel and Gus, played by Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, both have cancer.
Here are the first two questions I posed to Michael and Scott:
How did you get involved with The Fault in Our Stars? Was it something you sought out or were you approached by the producers to write it?
Scott: The very week the book was published, my Dad died of pancreatic cancer. We were super close and the whole thing was just tremendously awful and as much as I wanted to keep writing and working, there wasn’t much chance of that happening for a while.
At the same time, sensing the phenomenon it would later become, Temple Hill and Fox 2000 optioned the book and began looking for someone to adapt it. Weber and I had written a project for Fox 2000 (our upside down Romeo and Juliet comedy “Rosaline”) and they thought we might be a good fit for “Fault.” They didn’t know about my Dad situation or they might not have bothered.
In any case, a few weeks after the funeral, I remember our manager (Sean Perrone) calling to “pitch” me the book, doing his best high-wire act to gently reference the fact that, oh yeah, everyone in this thing has some form of cancer. But that was fine with me. For the past year all I did was think about cancer. And that’s all I was doing then too. This at least would feel like “working” again.
So, of course, we read it, we loved it, we lobbied hard to adapt it. We were up against a whole host of far more experienced and talented screenwriters but we knew, if given the chance, we could do a great job.
I still don’t know why they went with us. Probably because we promised them a script in two weeks. (Which they got in ten days.)
Did you have any conversations with the book’s author John Green and if so, were there any themes or narrative content you zeroed in on with him in terms of your adaptation? Did you do any additional or specific research to write this adaptation?
Weber: The truth is we had no contact with John until after we’d finished the adaptation. And we did no research before we started writing. Given the excellence of the book and what Scott and his family had just been through we didn’t need any extra preparation.
Our first draft, which turned out to be nearly identical to the shooting draft, was shown to John by the producers. He sent them an email that was forwarded back to us. The first paragraph said, “It’s the best adaptation of my work I’ve ever read.” Also, that our small modulations to the beginning and ending “are brilliant — genuinely better than the book.” His approval of our script meant the world to us.
Weeks later we finally met John. First Scott broke bread with him in LA and then I met John at Book Expo in NYC. Throughout this process he’s been nothing but warm and gracious to us. And now we’re all working together again on “Paper Towns”. Structurally, it’s a trickier adaptation than TFIOS, so we’ve been in frequent consultation with John over our choices. Hopefully it will be another movie we’re all really proud of.
Here is a clip from the movie The Fault in Our Stars:
Come back each day this week for two more questions and answers from Scott and Michael.
For Scott’s touching homage to his father and the healing process of writing The Fault in Our Stars, go here.
The Fault in Our Stars opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, June 9.
Comment Archive