Shailene Woodley Reflects On The Importance Of ‘The Fault In Our Stars’

Shailene Woodley’s newest movie, The Fault in Our Stars, may be the number one movie right now, but Shailene says she’s just happy the film was made, with her or not.

“I didn’t say I needed to be Hazel,” Shailene says when she talks about her infamous email exchange with Fault author John Green. “I said I needed this movie to get made. Because I knew that it would change the lives of millions of people.”

“I mean, I don’t even necessarily feel a responsibility for the fans,” Shailene adds, even though Fault has been hailed as a faithful, close adaptation to the source material. “Instead I feel a responsibility for this book, because this book represents so much and it’s so chockfull of beautiful messages that I felt like it was our duty to be the caretakers of it.”

Ten 'The Fault in Our Stars' book quotes that made it into the movie – http://t.co/xv77iyBPmN pic.twitter.com/CA31Cnfnf3

— Hypable (@Hypable) June 8, 2014

Not only was Shailene grateful the film was made, but she was honored for the opportunity to rewrite what the Hollywood female lead could look like. “You’ve never seen a woman on the poster for a movie with a cannula in her nose,” Woodley says.

She also knew that there was something special about Fault’s leading man, Ansel Elgort, as soon as she met him. “I’d never heard anything about Ansel before meeting him on ‘Divergent,'” Woodley told MTV News. “But he was so quiet and so open and so pure. He was more observant. There was something very special about him, something that moved me.”

Working on Fault seemed to be an overall moving, deep experience for the 22-year-old actress, who talks openly about the way the book and the film changed her perspective on life. In an interview with People magazine, Shailene says:

“Doing that film taught me that there is no room for fear. Zero. There is just no way to justify life. Are we going to spend life wallowing, or are we going to be stoked and laugh? It is just about living life to the fullest.”

All of the importance and significance of The Fault in Our Stars certainly led to box office gold this weekend, as the film made $48 million domestically, beating the action-packed Edge of Tomorrow, which took home $29 million.

Congrats to OG YouTuber @realjohngreen for the film adaption of his book, "The Fault in our Stars," nabbing the #1 spot at the box office.

— Shaun Hutchinson (@z0mgItsHutch) June 8, 2014

Image via Wikimedia Commons