Ansel Elgort with his The Fault in Our Stars co-star Shailene Woodley

He’s featured in prominent roles in Carrie and Divergent, but 20-year-old Ansel Elgort’s breakthrough role is as the endearing Augustus “Gus” Waters, a cancer patient in The Fault in Our Stars, the film based on the John Green bestseller that’s playing in cinemas currently. A chat…

How did you get the role of Gus in The Fault in Our Stars?

 

I did an audition tape on my iPhone with the help of a friend. I did it in my stairwell. They sent it back and said: ‘Okay, do it a little differently now’. So I did another tape. And then months went by. Eventually, I heard that they wanted me to go to LA to audition with Shailene (Woodley, who plays Hazel). We did a bunch of scenes, including the one where I first meet her at the support group and the one when I tell Hazel we’re going to Amsterdam. I also did a very emotional scene. It was a tough audition, but I got the part.

How exciting was it when you learned that you had landed the role?

You know what? I was very excited! I was like: ‘Okay, now I have a big responsibility and I have to do a really good job’. I thought: ‘This is going to be a great experience, but it is going to be a tough one’. I knew I would have to focus on the role.

Who is Gus… what kind of a boy is he?

Gus is an idealist. He wants to leave his mark on the world and when he realises he can’t do that, it really brings him down. Then he realises that he can make a mark on Hazel and affect one person and that’s a beautiful discovery in the movie, which is very important for him. Gus is theatrical in the way he lives. He is into honour and justice and revenge, which he gets from the video games and the books he loves. But when you strip all that down, he is an emotional boy. He isn’t perfect, he is flawed, he’s a real human being… and I think that’s why people can relate to him.

It is interesting that you played Shailene’s brother in Divergent and now you are her boyfriend… her leading man.

I’m a big admirer of Shailene and it was nice working with her on Divergent, but my character was not big in that film. I only had three or four scenes with her. Working with her on The Fault in Our Stars was the real deal because I’m the leading man and she’s such a good actress. Also, it’s a totally different kind of movie. This film involved long, hard, emotional scenes. But it was fun to do Divergent first… it was great to be part of a big blockbuster like that. I’m glad I got to work with Shailene on both films, especially on this one.

How important is humour in the film? The Fault in Our Stars deals with a serious subject, but Gus and Hazel aren’t portrayed sentimentally… they are normal teenagers and are often very funny and sarcastic.

It is important because the teenagers in the story are human beings and when suffering hits them, they handle it well. Hazel and Augustus have cancer looming over them, but they also have a beautiful love story. They are young and they don’t have many worries… other than health… or responsibilities, so they can focus on their love for one another. John Green depicts them in the book as regular kids who are humorous and who constantly make a joke out of their disease. It is the same in the film. They have bad days and they’re not always happy and joking around, but they don’t want to be treated like patients. They’re just kids.

You and Shailene have fantastic chemistry. Was that natural?

We got along very well. I think chemistry is all about comfort and trust and friendship, and we had all those things. It was very important in playing a role like this that is dependent on trust. We became good friends and off set, we’d go out to nice dinners together.

What do you admire about John Green’s book, on which the film is based?

I think it empowers young people. It shows that sometimes young people are smarter than older people [give us credit for], because we’re still learning and our brains are sponges. We’re still at this stage in our lives when we actually think a lot about a lot of things. I think John Green acknowledges that and he doesn’t write dummy books for young people. He writes really smart books. The Fault in Our Stars is a great book and it isn’t just for young people, it is for everybody.

How did you prepare physically for the role?

There was a lot of preparation. Augustus has lost his leg, so I learned how to walk as if I had a prosthetic leg. I worked with a 17-year-old-kid called Tanner Boatwright who has a prosthetic leg. Tanner was great. That kid had so much pride and he was so confident and he is in amazing shape. He has so much pride in being a prosthetic user and he inspired me and my creation of Augustus Waters, who is also very confident.

I learned how you move the leg and how you control it. It is like a machine and you have to learn the commands, so I knew exactly what it looked and felt like to have a prosthetic leg. There is a certain way you go upstairs. Then they gave me a knee brace, which kept my foot flexed. It was somewhat uncomfortable and sometimes it wouldn’t fit into the pair of shoes the costume department gave me, so I would have to keep it tense all the time.

What were your favourite moments making the film?

I loved Amsterdam, it was like a foggy paradise. It just didn’t seem real and I think back to it all the time. I love it when you only spend a couple of days of your life in a place, but you can remember every moment. I can remember in detail everything I did there, whereas a day goes by in my normal life at home, and I can’t remember any of it. I spent a day or two with Shailene just walking around Amsterdam. It was great because we had just been filming in Pittsburgh. I like Pittsburgh, but we were working so much that we didn’t have time to hang out after filming, besides going to dinner. In Amsterdam we had three or four days to spend together, which was really nice. We explored that magical city together.

How would you sum up what audiences have to look forward to in The Fault in Our Stars?

This film is about doing what you have with the time allotted to you and appreciating the little moments in life. Augustus Waters is obsessed with the idea of leaving a mark on the whole world and when he realises that he can’t do that, he just does a little thing for Hazel, and it’s the most beautiful thing. It is a very moving story. Hopefully, it will make people think about the time that they have in their life and what they want do with it.

You are talented and good-looking! How are you coping with all the attention right now?

I don’t know (laughs). Hopefully I won’t believe my own hype. People will be obsessed and excited with the character in The Fault in Our Stars, not me. If I hadn’t played Augustus Waters or been in any movies, no one would care at all about me. No one would be screaming ‘Ansel!’ at the MTV Movie Awards if it weren’t for the characters that I’ve been lucky enough to play. So it’s not going to go to my head, because I know what is important. This is not happening because I am special. It is happening because of the book and the film.