The Fault in Our Stars... It's a metaphor! Write up!

"Some infinities are bigger than other infinities."

My little infinity started a little over a year ago when Keira kept suggesting I read this book called The Fault in Our Stars. I had no idea what it was really about, only that a lot of people seemed to really love it. I had shortly before just finished reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, so I didn't want to get emotionally invested into another book that I knew I would. Fast forward to May of 2013 and my life changed. The moment I finished the book, in less than a day mind you, my view and heart had expanded. Having a cousin who was a cancer survivor really resonated with me but it wasn't that empathy or even the wistfulness of Hazel and Augustus falling in love that captivated me. John Green's beautiful use of words and storytelling showed me how different things could be in the world of reading. And as they say, the rest was history.

Last summer when the film started filming in Pittsburgh, I was all over any information I could get my hands on. Pictures popped up every other day and I saved them. Videos that John posted of him on set with the cast was replayed many times on youtube. Not since Twilight had I been so invested in a movie before its release. There were days where I would look up bus schedules to see if I could make it to Pittsburgh and back to New York without missing work. Unfortunately I didn't go. However, it was incredible to see something that only existed in my imagination come to life and soon be put together for the world to enjoy.

Fast forward to May 3, 2014 and the first fan screening of the movie in NYC. This wasn't even going to happen for me. I had tickets to go see Chris Hardwick live but because of some traveling issues, I got to camp out with my friends so we could be some of the first to actually see the book we have come to love adapted on the big screen. We waited through the blaring sun and even some rain, but we were part of the first 100 to get in and were able to hear the cast talk and answer our questions. But first we sat through the 126 minutes of what we were all there to see. The amount of sobbing in the theater was so loud, I wasn't even sure people could hear the dialogue. But it touched me deeply. When reading the book, it's a solo act. You read the words and it is a very individualized experience. To be in a theater where everyone is collectively experiencing something that we once did alone. Moving. Anyway, after the movie there was the Q&A with John, the cast, and Josh Boone the director.  I was the first person to ask a question from the audience! John called me amazing and I swear I almost died. 

The next day I ended up meeting both Nat Wolff and Sam Trammell at the press junket. It was really nice to see how nice the cast were being to fans. Even when they were filming, you would see pictures surfacing of them taking time to meet them. My friends and I ended up seeing the movie for a second time a couple of weeks later and the reactions were pretty much the same. I think I cried harder the second time rather than the first time seeing it.

The moment that Josh Boone said that the world premiere would be in NYC, I was going. I knew that it had to be fate that it happened to be in my city. As the day approached and things were being announced, I grew so nervous. The Sunday before the premiere, the cast was scheduled to do a talk at the Apple Store. I had to go and go I went. What I didn't really expect was the other hundreds of people to go as well. Having met most of the cast already (I met Ansel and Shailene when they did Divergent press) I really wanted to meet John Green. Unfortunately, it did not happen that day but I did get to meet Josh Boone! I ran basically a city block to get a picture with him before he left the store. 

Premiere day! But first, The Today Show! My friends and I got there super early. Like I was up from 3am early lol. That morning was a blur because we waited and there were moments we didn't think we would get to meet John because we didn't have a poster or were standing in the prime spot. We even got to meet Wyck Godfrey, the producer, which was amazing. Having been huge Twilight fans, we knew exactly who he was. The stars aligned for us though and this happened...

 Me and John Green!

Me and Ansel Elgort!

After this happened, we headed over to the premiere site and waited ALL day, but it was worth it. Hanging out with other fans and Nerdfighters was fun. I won't go into full recap of the premiere because most of the time it is us just standing there, but we were able to get on the 'blue' carpet!

We had gotten tickets to the movie but having seen it twice already, we opted out because we had tickets to The Night before Our Stars!

I might as well talk about the movie now, right? As far as adaptations go, this was one of the best I have seen, and I've seen a ton. What the screenwriters did was capture the essence that is TFIOS and translated it in a way non book fans could latch on. Both Shailene and Ansel held their own as Hazel and Gus. What I was pleasantly surprised with was Laura Dern and Sam Trammell as Hazel's parents. When reading the book they were very secondary to Hazel's story for me. But watching both actors really step into the roles as parents and especially parents of a terminally ill child was spectacular. 

The breakout star among many many stars in the film was Nat Wolff as Issac. Nat's comedic timing was so spot on. Issac, along with Gus, use humor as a coping mechanism to help with their diseases and hardships. Both Ansel and Nat captured that beautifully. The one scene (which I'm sure you've seen by now) where Hazel comes over after Issac and Monica break up and Gus lets Issac let all that frustration out, seeing Nat, Ansel and even Shailene work so well and feed off each other in the best possible way. 

The love story comes through so beautifully that by the time you're watching Hazel speak about her time with Augustus, you can't help but get a little misty eyed. Or if you're like me or the other movie goers, ugly crying your face off.  

So I leave you with this, I fell in love with this book, with this author and with this movie the way you fall asleep: Slowly, and then all at once. 

DFTBA!