Hello and welcome to Hankgames without Hank. My name is John Green. I'm the manager of the AFC Wimbledon Wimbly Womblys, who today are taking on a team called Red Bull Salzburg in the Europa League. That's right, Red Bull Salzburg - a team named after a brand. It's modern football, ladies and gentlemen.

But we stand against modern football; we're a team owned by our fans, owned by the community of Wimbledon. Uh, we're out of South London, and you know what I just learned, Meredith? We hate Crystal Palace, the team that I uh, sang the song from. That did not please actual AFC Wimbledon supporters one little bit, including uh, people from the official AFC Wimbledon um, twitter and YouTube channel, who were not pleased. So I apologize (laughing) to Wimbledon supporters for briefly saying something nice about Crystal Palace, our hated enemy.

As you can see um, we're currently second in the Euro league, which means that we um, we actually have a chance (laughing) to get out of the group stage, because Porto got this red card and we came back from one-nil down... So I'm starting our best club in an attempt to do that.

Today I'm gonna talk a little bit about the Fault in our Stars movie - how we got to a point where we're able to... Several- people asked- or one person asked how I became friends with everybody on the movie set. And that's- I mean, it's kinda... I didn't become friends with everyone on the movie set. I did become friends with a lot of people. Um...

But I guess I wanted to just kind of like, share stories about that experience and- oh, gosh, we're in trouble here. Early on. There's been quite a bit of- I mean, these guys... They appear to have been given wings by uh, whatever they're drinking.

So um... I did become friends with a lot of people on the movie set. Not just people in the cast and the producer- producers and directors and stuff, but also members of the crew. There's a lot of people who work on a movie set. I don't think- I mean, I kind of understood that from looking at the credits on a movie, but I didn't really understand it until I was on the set of the Fault in our Stars movie and I- I realized that all of these people have very important jobs and that the movie really doesn't happen without everybody kind of getting together and working together.

That's a great ball! Ohhh. John Green gave it his all, but it wasn't enough. Um... So um... For example, I became good friends with Deb, the woman who does the slate. She appeared in a Vlogbrothers video actually, on this topic. That's the person who does the like "scene one, take two - and (bang)" - you know that noise that we've all heard on the movies, where the slate clicks down? It's actually a very important job. Um, and it's also a very detail-oriented, meticulous job because you have to be paying constant attention to um, everything that's going on with shooting. Um...

Making a movie- the only thing that I can compare it to- a lot of people compared it to this when I was talking to them, and I think it's a very apt comparison, is summer camp. Because it's a really intense experience, you spend a ton of time together with this group of people that you didn't really know very well previous to this experience, and then- oh how? What? What- what did I get a foul for?!

Let's- can I see a replay please? So that I can understand why Kennedy got a fo- what, oh, just for like, rubbing his pelvis up against the small of that young man's back? I don't under- you know what? The rules in soccer are just completely unfair. If you can't just... You know. It's not humping, exactly. It was more... I would say it was more innocuous than full-on hump. But anyway!

Um... I think it's like summer camp, and, you know... You're having this incredibly intense experience where you're working very hard. I mean, the people who worked on the movie often were working 60 or 70 hours a week. Um... Getting up very early, staying up very late... You're socializing together after the shoot, so, you know... Even though, I mean, I don't think- everybody on the movie except for me worked very hard. I did nothing.

But um, I- I honestly don't think, while we associate their work with glamour, I don't think anyone works harder than actors. Um, they just have to be on constantly, and there's so much pressure on them to um... To deliver uh, in the moment when the light is right, when um, you know, the- the- all the camera people are- are working and the- all the extras are moving at the right time and everything is happening at the right time. There's so much pressure in that moment to bring the right performance and to- you know, many times, like bring it over and over and over again.

And then like, it's not like you screwed up, but there's something wrong- there's so many moving parts, right? That there's something wrong with the light or there's something wrong with the camera or there's something- or we wanna shoot it a different way or whatever.

It's just- the day that I spent acting... Um, where I play the role of girl's father, I mean, I was brilliant but I was cut from the movie. It was a great injustice - just kidding, I was terrible. Um... The day that I spent acting, playing the role of girl's father was so exhausting and stressful! I can't even tell you. Like, I- I emerged from that one day of playing girl's father with a ton of admiration for, you know, Laura Dern and Sam Trammel and um, and Shai and Ansel and Nat and everybody. Because they just have- it's just incredibly difficult work.

So anyway. Um... I did get- ooooooooooh! The Gaulden child! Oh, he heel-clicks, just like his mentor, Other John Green! Oh, the Gaulden boy. Look at that - the future of our club. Seventeen years old, five feet two inches tall, beautiful blond hair... Ohhh, he's a Gaulden boy. We need a song for him Meredith. Do you have anything? No? (sings) Five Gaulden rings! (talks) Help us out, 'cause that's not very good. Um... Come up- yeah, it didn't make any sense. Please- please come up- please come up with a song for the Gaulden child, 'cause he's gonna be- (recording cuts out)

-(indistinguishable) Salzburg. So um... Anyway, the point I was getting to is that a lot of times, um... Even though they were really, really tired at the end of these very long days, um... We would go out for dinner. So there were a few restaurants in Pittsburgh that we went out to several times. Um, one raw food restaurant that Shailene and Laura recommended to us, um...

I usually went to like a burger place with Nat and Ansel, and then Shailene and Laura and I would go to the raw food restaurant. I will say, the raw food restaurant, while I was dubious, was pretty darn good! I had some raw banana bread, raw food banana bread. You can't have actual bread because that involves heating. But anyway, it was great! I enjoyed it. It was like a whole different kind of eating.

Um, but then you know, also, like the producers and stuff and the cinematographer, uh, Ben Richardson - we'd all go out. Um, and you know, those dinners were really wonderful experiences because it's just- it's just getting to talk to people who, you know, share a lot of your... You know, they're really funny, smart- oh, that was a really, really bad free kick!

Um, they're really funny, smart people. And in the case of this movie, it was all people who were doing the movie - no one was doing the movie with the hopes of getting rich or whatever. No one was doing it to cash a paycheck, right? I mean, the people who were in the movie did it for very little money. The people who were making the movie were doing it for very little money. I mean, there wasn't an expectation of this being like, you know, the next uh- you know, Divergent or whatever. The- they were doing it because they cared about it. And um, I mean, I will say I think the people making Divergent cared about it too, for the record.

But I mean there was no sense of doing it for money, because there wasn't much money to be made. Um, and I think that's what made it so special, is that everybody on the set, um- and even, that was even the case, by the way, with the crew. Because the crew- most of the crew had the opportunity to work on a different show that was actually a longer job um, that you know, paid the same per week but more weeks, uh, that was a TV job and the people who ended up working on the Fault in our Stars, most of them turned down the TV show to do Fault in our Stars, because they liked the book or because um, you know, they had a friend who liked the book who thought it would be really cool, or because they were fans of Shailene, or various reasons.

And so I think everybody went into that um... It was just a real special experience, because everybody went into it um, wanting to make a movie that they could be really proud of, and feeling like this was a story they cared about. Um, this was something that was personal to them. Um, so from, you know, the teamsters working on the movie to the cast, I think they all were in it from that same perspective. And that made it really fun for me.

Um, and it also became- it was kind of easy to become friends with people because almost everybody had read the book, so we had kind of a built-in thing to talk about. Um. And then, you know, it's just like summer camp. You just make jokes based on- you've got a bunch of inside jokes based on whatever - you know, whatever's going on.

Like uh, the number one inside-joke was on my day of acting, my brilliant day of acting, cut from the movie, uh... Girl's father, one hell of a role! And I- you know how there's that line "there are no small actors, only small parts" or whatever? I am a small actor.

Um... The Gaulden child! Trying to score again. He loves this game. He loves playing Austrian teams. It's his dream. Maybe he's Austrian? I don't know. I haven't actually done much investigation into his life. Um, I just run him really hard in practice every day. Um...

Anyway. The day that I acted, Josh Boone, after one of my takes, said um "that was perfectly adequate" (laughs) and then after another of my takes, he said to me "yes, that was totally usable". Um, so those are his two reviews of my acting - the director of the movie. "Perfectly adequate and totally usable". Um, we got a lot of mileage out of that! Uh... He was nicer to the real actors, but to be fair, they were better at acting! (laughs)

Oh, Bald John Green! Ahhh, it's a good save from the keeper. Bald John Green, loves his club! Loves Wimbledon. Loves the fans who pay his bills. Oh, I love it. It's great to see. Good to see that strong- strong use of his foot. Alright, we've got a corner kick here. Let's see how it goes. Who's gonna take it? Francombstein? I like it. Oh, oh! Who's there? Who's there? Who's there?! Who's there?!

Ohhhh, it's Moura! Ohhh, and he does the Bald- he does the Other John Green moustache while Other John- Oth- Bald John Green moustache while Other John Green points at him. Ohhh. It's Moura! Moura the same! He loves to score. That's his- is that his first goal as a Wimbly Wombly? I think it is. He has beautiful hair, by the way. Handsome guy!

See if we can get one more look. Moura puts us up two-nil at home. Ohhh. Are we going to the knock-out rounds of the Europa league? That would be banana-pa- banana-pants. Oh, we scored once at the end of the first half, once at the end of the second half and look at us now! Here we are, professional skill level...

That's a nice pass! That's a nice pass! No. It didn't come- didn't work out, but I liked it! I liked it in principle, a lot. By the way, solid- solid stalwart defense today. We had one- oh gosh, just as I say that... One legit- ohhh! That was Moura again, with a fantastic, fantastic job! We had one uh, difficult moment that Seb Brown saved for us, because that's what he does for a living, literally. But uh, yeah.

Anyway, I mean it was really- I know that I- I worry sometimes that I sound like, almost like overly enthused about the movie and the whole experience of making it, and I think like, the experience of promoting it will be much more challenging... But the experience of making it really was just a dream come true and I'm so grateful to everybody um, for sharing their talents with- with that story, and for taking a story that, you know, isn't a built-in Hollywood movie and really making it into one.

This is us thanking you (claps) for your support on this amazing European night, making our opponents squat in shame. I mean, isn't this something special? The Wimbly Womblys playing in Europe, the Gaulden boy, just eighteen years old, scoring a goal, Leonardo Moura scoring a goal as well... Callum Kennedy's hideous hair, the ginger Other John Green... Everybody celebrating together. What a game. Thanks for watching! Best wishes.