Movie News for John Green Fans!

by Jenny Ramaley


Last night was spent crying through The Fault in Our Stars - again.  Now that the film is on HBO it's way too easy to keep revisiting that super John Green story. The literally-in-the-heart-of-Jesus scenes were filmed in the Episcopalian church at the top of my street so that's extra fun to see.

In case you haven't heard, July will bring another JG story to the big screen - Paper Towns.  Actor Nat Wolff, who played Isaac in Fault (lost his sight and his girlfriend to cancer) will play the young protagonist/John Green-type leading man. A young supermodel-in-real-life will play the mysterious object of his affection. The film's been getting good buzz - thankfully, it's said to be MUCH FUNNIER than Fault. Save the tears for the dark winter months - in the summer, bring on the popcorn and make us fall out of our seats!

From 20th Century Fox:
Adapted from the bestselling novel by author John Green, PAPER TOWNS is a coming-of-age story centering on Quentin and his enigmatic neighbor Margo, who loved mysteries so much she became one. After taking him on an all-night adventure through their hometown, Margo suddenly disappears - leaving behind cryptic clues for Quentin to decipher. The search leads Quentin and his quick-witted friends on an exhilarating adventure that is equal parts hilarious and moving. Ultimately, to track down Margo, Quentin must find a deeper understanding of true friendship - and true love. 

This is all fine and good. Bringing YA books to the screen can encourage readers young and old to check out the YA book that inspired the film, and hopefully other books.

But the news that many of us have been waiting for since 2005 is whether Paramount Pictures is getting anywhere on John Green's Looking for Alaska. Paramount has been sitting on  the rights since the book was published. Entertainment Weekly recently mentioned 'the movie' and supposedly the film is in production. John Green tweeted last year:

"So excited to announce that the brilliant filmmaker Sarah Polley will be writing and directing a film adaptation of Looking for Alaska."

No release date yet. Keep your fingers crossed!

Hollywood and a John Green Story Come to Town

by Jenny Ramaley

From Sisters of the Traveling Pants to Harry Potter to Twilight to Hunger Games, Hollywood loves kidlit fiction. Hollywood also loves Pittsburgh. Did you know that?

 

My out-of-state sister and brother-in-law were visiting the day I read in our local paper that film crews would soon start filming John Green’s book, The Fault in Our Stars, right here in our area. We were all in the living room when an older pickup truck stopped in front of my house and watched two lanky young guys lope up my sidewalk. Turns out they were scouting locations for the main character’s home, and thought my house looked homey – but more importantly – noticed our flat front yard, a rarity in the hilly Pittsburgh area. Could they take a look at the inside of my house?

Hmmm. Normally that answer would be “are you out of your mind, buddy”, but ‘Greg’ volunteered his driver’s license while my brother in law slipped out and photographed his license plate, so I let him come in. He went through every room taking pictures – he was a real nice guy. Since my sister was visiting, some rooms were picture perfect – while other rooms were piled with all the detritus from the neat rooms. Greg swore he could see past the mess and assured me he’d seen a whole lot worse. It was kind of . . . exciting. But having had some past brushes with Hollywood from my screenwriting days, I knew not to get my hopes up that Shailene Woodley would be roaming my hallways with an oxygen tank anytime soon.

Not to go on and on, but our house just wasn’t what they needed. We heard later that they found a house about a half hour away with flat terrain that better suggests the Indiana location where the story is set.  Cynthia, a Route 19 Writer who lives on my street, had her bathroom scouted – yep, they just needed a specific bathroom layout – but she didn’t meet the location needs either. She did, however, sell the services of her environmental company to the location scout, and a few days later was overseeing water sampling in a mucky pool that was being used for a different film project - a horror story where 'bodies' were floating in the water, and they needed to make sure the water was safe for cameramen to stand in. Ah, Hollywood.

 

Although our houses didn’t meet the bill, the church at the top of our street did get the nod for filming the scenes where the teens’ cancer support group meets. The crew is keeping things low-key, but I suspect they’re filming today – street parking is blocked off with orange cones, and guys were off-loading crates that look like camera equipment in the back corner of the parking lot.

Best of luck to the film project – John Green does such a great job capturing teen angst, and this story has the added challenge of intertwining cancer and the specter of early death into the characters’ lives. Shailene Woodley did a great job with George Clooney in The Descendants. I can’t wait to see how this story is brought to the big screen, and how hilly Pittsburgh is transformed into suburban Indiana.

 

An Evening of Stardust, Hope and Secrets

by Jenny Ramaley

Pittsburgh is a great city on so many different levels. Rock solid people, great food, hidden architectural gems tucked into neighborhoods, and an endless bounty of learning opportunities. Of these, my favorite is the Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures series featuring children's writers --  “Black, White & Read All Over.” In the past I’ve posted articles on seeing John Green and Gayle Forman. The lectures are great fun. Good writers are generally good speakers and the latest visitor was exceptionally entertaining -- the creatively versatile, inimitable Neil Gaiman. What made the night extra special was that Neil wasn’t on a speaking tour. He knows Dr. Drew Davidson, from Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center, who convinced him to come and talk about the 15^th anniversary and re-release of Neil’s book, “Stardust” -- for one night only. The Music Hall at the Carnegie Museum was packed. How cool is it to see authors treated like rock stars?

Neil talked about getting his initial inspiration for the book after accepting an award for his comic “Starman #19” at the 1991 World Fantasy Convention in Tuscon. If you’ve ever spent time in the desert away from city lights, you know what he’s talking about when he tells of seeing a lone shooting star against a “thick black vehement night’ filled with stars. He thought ‘what if it was a blazing diamond streaking across the sky . . . or a girl with a broken leg? (in case you haven’t read the book, I’ll stop here.)

Neil shared a bit about the writing process for the book. He told about buying a new old fashioned fountain pen and notebook, settling in to housesit at Tori Amos’s quirky bridge/house to write, and dictating into a cassette machine so his collaborator could illustrate the story as he wrote. To go from the handwritten word to typing it into the computer acts as an editing step for him, since he refuses to type any sections he feels aren't worthy of the time. After the book was printed and released, the model Claudia Schiffer fell in love with the story and nudged her director husband, Matthew Vaughn, into making a movie. (Robert DiNiro in drag is supposedly fabulous.) The film has done very well outside of the U.S. but Neil says he often ends up apologizing for all the extra ‘stuff’ the movie people added when they ‘mucked about’ with the story.

The audience was also treated to a reading from his new book due out in June (“The Ocean at the End of the Lane”). It started out as a short story, and deals with a few members of the Hemstock family – reoccurring characters sprinkled throughout several of his books, including “The Graveyard Book.” Then the story turned into a novella, then a very long novella, and surprised him by ending up as a novel. Be forewarned. Neil determined by the end of writing the story that although this book focuses on young people, the story is too dark for children. During the Q&A he clarified his thoughts on when a book is for children and when it is for adults. Using his book “Coraline” as an example, he explained that while parts of that story are dark, Coraline was a hopeful character and certainly not helpless (Okay for Kids); the new book gets quite dark and in it the child is truly helpless (Not Okay for Kids). Hope = children. Remember that. And if the youngsters are drawn to this new book, he assured us that the first two chapters are quite dull and will surely turn off any child who attempts to read it. We’ll see about that in June.

Truly an entertaining evening. But here’s the best part. Neil Gaiman told us a secret about an upcoming project. And he asked the hundreds of people to not post this tidbit on line and keep it to ourselves. And, since the packed auditorium was filled with Pittsburghers, I’m betting his secret is safe.

And hopefully he’ll come back.

Sarah Dessen is coming in January. I’ll report on her next month.

Calling All Judges!!!

As I was working on rewrites this evening, I took a quick break and came across a contest for charity on John Green's Nerdfighters' site. They are holding a contest for short stories between 1,000 - 3,500 words and are currently looking for judges. Here's the video link:

DFTBA Short Story Contest

It's for a great cause. Who else would like to help?

John Green and the Barometer of Truth

by Jenny Ramaley

New York Times bestselling YA author John Green came to Pittsburgh last Friday, Jan. 28, courtesy of the Black, White & Read All Over program.* In case you need a memory jog, John won a Printz award with his first novel Looking for Alaska. His other teen novels have also won a slew of awards and include An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns and his latest, Will Grayson, Will Grayson. His presentation was funny, interesting, self-deprecating, and covered a wide-range of topics from world history and current events.

          But the most fascinating aspect of the evening was the audience.

          Of the almost-sold-out 612 seat Carnegie Lecture Hall, I'd say 90% of the crowd was teens and young adults – equally mixed between male and female. The multi-cultural group sported color-streaked hair, skinny jeans, and even a few girls wearing headscarves. Ah, the positive energy of youth.

          After a clever musical opening act, a duo who wrote songs based on scenes from John's books, John Green hit the stage to the kind of thunderous applause usually reserved for rock stars.

          Why do teens love this guy? Partly because they love his BLOG!  Sure, they obviously enjoy his books, but the big draw stems from their devoted attachment to his website  www.nerdfighters.com , with its dedicated community of world-aware teens who he charges with "raising nerdy to the power of awesome." During the Q&A session, almost every question from the teens focused on the blog, while every question from the 10% remaining 'mature' audience members centered on his books and the YA publishing world.

          While some kidlit author websites and blogs are aimed at adults, John Green's is not. The Nerdfighter website welcomes teens' thoughts, videos, and drawings, and encourages respectful disagreements. John Green and his brother have built a site where intelligent, artistic kids can meet and chat with other smart kids who share similar, sometimes quirky interests. The site and John Green's video rants employ a 'Barometer of Truth' approach because John respects youth's ability to see through less-than-honest information.

          In addition to being a touchstone for young people, Nerdfighters is also a perfect example of how an appealing website can differentiate an author from zillions of other writers and wannabes. The fortunate byproduct is that John Green has built a receptive audience for every new book he publishes.

           

*Now celebrating its 10th Anniversary, Black, White & Read All Over brings families and young readers together to meet the award-winning authors they love and share their stories (although the only parents I saw the night of John's lecture were dropping their teens off at the door.) Black, White & Read All Over is presented by Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures in partnership with Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh with the generous support of UPMC Health Plan.