“I’d seen so many girls and I was just really moved”: Shailene Woodley Made Director Cry For the First Time Before Her Role in $307 Million Movie

Shailene Woodley gained recognition for her role as Amy Juergens in The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Thereafter, Woodley continued to achieve success, portraying high-school characters. But again, it was her teenage cancer patient role in the Josh Boone-directed movie, that skyrocketed her career. Before she was cast as Hazel, Woodley left the director in tears.

Director Felt That Shailene Woodley Couldn’t Do Justice To Hazel’s Role

Shailene Woodley played Hazel, a teenage cancer patient in The Fault in Our Stars, based on John Green’s novel of the same name. The movie gained a cult status as the audience continue to recall Woodley and Ansel Elgort’s chemistry as Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters.

The movie’s director, Josh Boone, wasn’t initially convinced that Woodley would do justice to the role. But then, the Big Little Lies actress came in as Hazel and literally left the director in tears, changing his mind completely.

Also Read: The New Mutants: Everything You Need To Know From the SDCC Trailer!

Boone famously said:

“I had met her and had dinner with her and she was the nicest, most outgoing, coolest person, but I was like, ‘She doesn’t really seem like Hazel.

But then she came in and she was Hazel. She was a completely different person, with the physicality and everything. It was pretty amazing to see.”

The Fault in Our Stars Was About Love, Not Cancer

Shailene Woodley felt a special connection with the novel even before she was cast as Hazel in Josh Booney’s 2014 film. During a previous interview, Woodley explained that she didn’t want to be remembered as the teenage girl with terminal thyroid cancer. She said:

“It was important to us we didn’t play that. I don’t consider this a movie about cancer; I do consider it a movie about love.

And in that regard, it was really exciting for me as an adult to get back in touch with what those feelings feel like when you do fall in love with another human being for the first time.”

Also Read: To Catch A Killer Review – Skip This Surface-Level Police Procedural

The star revealed that she had to strike a “balance between telling a love story” with the “fears of cancer underlying the romance”. The actress did own the character completely and drew inspiration from real-life people who she had known to be sick.