(clip from The Fault in Our Stars movie)

Augustus: Let's go watch a movie.

Hazel: Okay. (laughs) Um... I'm- I'm free later this week?

Augustus: No, I mean now.

Hazel: You could be an axe-murderer!

Augustus: There's always that possibility! (Hazel laughs) Come on, Hazel Grace! Take a risk.

Hazel: I don't- really? That is disgusting.

Augustus: What?

Hazel: What, do you think that that's cool or something? You just ruined this whole thing.

Augustus: The whole thing?

Hazel: Yes! This whole thing.

Augustus: Oh, man.

Hazel: Even though you had freaking cancer, you're willing to give money to a corporation for the chance to acquire even more cancer? Let me just tell you that not being able to breathe SUCKS.

Augustus: Hazel Grace, they don't actually hurt you unless you light them.

Hazel: Huh?

Augustus: I never lit one. It's a metaphor, see. You put the thing that does the killing right between your teeth, but you never give it the power to kill you. A metaphor.

(cuts to interview)

Preston: And I'm sure this is breaking news to you, but this movie is based on your book.

John: Yeah!

Nat: (laughing) Yeah.

Preston: And oftentimes, uh, film-makers have to make certain cuts-

John: Yeah.

Preston: -to the source material, so it can work as a film, and time reasons as well. If somebody were to make a movie about all of ya'lls lives, what kind of cuts do you think they would make to your life?

Nat: Oooh.

John: Oh, man. I think they would cut out- I mean, the truth is that they would probably leave in all the stuff I wish they would cut out, you know? Like, they'd probably leave in middle-school. (Nat laughs) Um... Uh... They- you know, the- the-

A lot of the real stuff of being a person, for me at least, is in incredibly non-dramatic, non-cinematic moments, you know? Like, sitting around watching a movie with my wife and- or like, and kids, or sitting around playing with Hen- playing play-dough with Henry. Um, there's nothing at stake there - there's no rising tension, there's nothing that needs to be resolved...

It's just uh, people who are getting to be alive, and like, the- the real joy of life, for me, is in uh, connection and awareness. Like, connection to uh, people um, and awareness of the world that's going on. Like, just trying to- trying to stop and pay attention, and trying to pay attention, trying to pay attention. Um, none of which is good for a movie, but it's fun for- for me at least, that's where a lot of the reward of being a person, is.

Nat: And if they'd put my middle-school in the movie of my life, I would sue them. (John laughs) 'Cause that's not making it into the movie of my life.

John: Yeah, you wanna- I wanna make sure it's cut!

Nat: That's getting cut.

John: I'm not signing the rights-

Nat: That's gonna be-

John: I'm not signing the rights until it's in the contract.

Nat: I'm not signing the rights- it's in the right- mid-seventh grade is cut! (John laughs) Yeah.

Shailene: Tenth grade!

Nat: Yeah, especially tenth grade.

Shailene: I would hope that nothing got cut, because I feel like (bleep) parts, or the sucky parts, are the parts that I learn the most from, and the excited-

Nat: Yeah, that's true.

John: That's true.

Shailene: -like, the exciting parts are exhilarating and-

John: Yeah, good for a movie.

Shailene: Yeah.

Nat: You didn't see my head gear. (John laughs)

Shailene: You didn't see my back brace!

John: Did you really- you had a- you had a back brace?

Shailene: For two years, in high school.

John: Wow. And you had a head- you had head gear, literally?

Nat: No.

John: Okay. I can't imagine-

Nat: But I had braces- I had really dorky braces.

(cuts to a clip from the movie with upbeat music)

Hazel: This is the truth.

Hazel's Mom: Hey! Make some friends!

Hazel: Sorry.

Augustus: My bad.

Augustus: I'm Augustus Waters. I've been in remission for about a year and a half.

Patrick: Maybe you'd like to share some of your fears with the group?

Augustus: My fears? Oblivion.

(cuts to interview)

Preston: The movies that I watched, growing up, taught me about love, and I feel like this is a movie that can teach a lot of teenagers about love. Is there a film that you watched, growing up, that kind of taught you about love?

Shailene: I think this movie can teach a lot of adults about love, too, to be completely honest.

John: Yeah. Yeah. Um...

Shailene: Dirty Dancing taught me a lot about love.

Nat: Say Anything.

John: Yeah, Say Anything.

Nat: Andy Hall.

John: Say Anything, for me. Also, Better off Dead.

Nat: I love-

John: John Cusack movie.

Nat: -all of John Cusack, yeah.

John: John Cusack movie.

Shailene: Pretty Woman.

Nat: High Fidelity.

John: That's so- High Fidelity? (Nat and John laugh)

Nat: The Grifters. (John laughs) Yeah.

John: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Nat: The Paperboy. (John laughs)

(cuts to a clip from the movie)

Augustus: What's your full name?

Hazel: Hazel Grace Lancaster. Why are you staring at me?

Augustus: 'Cause you're beautiful.

(music in the background gets louder)

Augustus: So, what's your story?

Hazel: I was diagnosed when I was thirteen-

Augustus: No, no, no, no. Your real story.

Hazel: I am quite unextraordinary.

Augustus: I reject that out of hand.

(cuts to interview)

Preston: Um, so Shailene, coming from Divergent, you had to play a character who had to be physically strong, and here you have to be mentally strong, because Hazel's body won't allow her to be physically strong. Thinking about that, which role was like, harder for you to dive into?

Shailene: I mean, every role is so different that it's kind of near-to-impossible to ever compare them. Um, something that I wish I had time- I had more time for, was going from Divergent, where I had a lot of muscle, to this movie. I pretty much, the day we wrapped Divergent, did nothing. Like, other than walking, um, and stretching, in order to sort of like, lose muscle... Which worked towards the end of the movie, but there's some scenes in this movie where I see it, and I'm like "there's a little Tris in there, still!" (laughs)

(cuts to a clip from the movie)

Isaac: You know, Gus talks about you all the time.

Hazel: We're just friends.

Augustus: I hope you realize, you trying to keep your distance from me in no way lessens my affection for you.

Hazel: Gus, I'm a grenade. (the music dramatically stops) And one day I'm gonna blow up, and I'm gonna obliterate everything in my wake. And I don't wanna hurt you.

(cuts to the interview)

Preston: And one of the things that I really like about this film is how genuine Hazel and Gus' relationship is. And oftentimes in films, we kinda get the more cinematic version of the relationship, but in this, it just feels very real. What do you think is the difference between a movie relationship and a real-life relationship?

Shailene: Well, if it's a good movie-

Nat: Hopefully nothing, yeah!

Shailene: -there's no difference.

John: Yeah.

Shailene: If it's a- if it's a bad movie

Nat: A bad movie, a lot.

Shailene: -then a lot, yeah.

Nat: Yeah.

Shailene: In this movie, I don't think there's much difference.

Nat: That's why it's a good movie, yeah, 'cause it's really, I feel like those people are in love, when I watch that movie.

John: A lot of that goes down, I think, um, to the director, the cinematographer, who I think didn't shoot in the sort of like, gauzy, romanticized way that maybe we're- we're used to, with love stories.

Preston: Mmm hmm.

John: Um, and then I think a tremendous amount of credit goes to the script and um, which- which just- refused to be sentimental, refused to be emotionally manipulative. Like, when I read the script, um... I really did not think that they- that it was a sentimental movie. I think it's pretty hard to tell a love story in a movie, that isn't sentimental.

John: And then, you know, the most important- most important part of that is always gonna be the actors, and Shailene and Ansel, you know, from their make-up or their lack thereof, to their absolute authenticity of- with each other, their openness with each other, I think that's what- that's what makes it feel real, because it- it is real.

(cuts to a clip from the movie)

Augustus: You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, but you do have a say in who hurts you.

Augustus: I am in love with you, Hazel Grace. And I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and I am in love with you. (Hazel wipes a tear away)

Augustus: All your efforts to keep me from you are gonna fail.

(cuts to the interview)

Preston: There's a great line in the book, as well as the movie, uh, where it says "I fell in love with you the same way that you fall asleep. Slowly, and all at once." Have you ever fell in love with something - maybe not with someone, but with something - in a very similar way?

Preston: Like, for instance, I have a lot of friends that play a lot of video games, and I'm not- I don't consider myself much of a gamer, but they love to play Call of Duty and I like, watch from a distance. And then one day, I just picked it up, and just couldn't put it down. So something like that.

Shailene: I do it every day.

Nat:  That reminds me of Gus and Hazel's romance. (John laughs) Definitely- definitely- the same weight.

John: The way I love Call of Duty?

Nat: Yeah.

John: Well, with Gus- Gus probably loves Counter Insurgence that much. In the same way-

Nat: Yeah, that much! Yeah!

John: Yeah.

Shailene: Yeah. I fall in love the way you fall asleep, almost every day, where you're just like, "oh, my God, look at how beautiful that tree is!"

John: Yeah.

Shailene: "I am so in love with you, immediately."

John: There is something crazy about that though, like... When you can pause and look at- like, my son is four, and like, he'll look at a stick or something, and he'll just be like "dude, this stick! This-" I mean, he won't say it in this language-

Shailene: Dude. (laughs)

John: of course. But he'll be like, "this stick, man. This stick is- there's never been a stick like this!" I mean, he's right! There has never been a stick like that! (laughs)

Shailene: Yeah.

John: Like, and it's- it's crazy, like...

Nat: Yeah.

John: He'll just be like, he'll look at it in such detail and like, peel away the bark and be like "this stick is crazy, Dad!" Like, "look at all this stuff that's going on with this stick! There's an ant in this stick!" And that ability to like, really pay deep, sustained attention just to- to what we think of as small things, that like-

Nat: Yeah.

John: -reveal the infinity that's inside all of these small things, is so powerful to me.

Nat: Mmm.

John: Um, yeah. So I guess that's what I was trying to get at, in that line.

(cuts to a clip from the movie, with upbeat music)

Hazel: We are a hot mess!

(cuts to the interview)

Preston: -in my last question... I feel like after everybody goes- sees this movie, there's gonna be a lot of girls going up to their boyfriends and saying "why can't you be more like Augustus Waters?!" (John and Nat laugh) And so-

Shailene: There might be a lot of guys going up to their girlfriends, too, and being like "why aren't you more like Hazel Grace?" (laughs)

John: -more like Hazel Grace Lancaster!

Preston: But, on behalf of those guys, I would say that, (laughs) uh... I would like so many scenes in this film, romantic scenes, to happen to me in real life. Is there a particular scene from this movie, or maybe any movie, that you wish would happen to you in your life?

Shailene: I love when Aladdin flies up on the magic carpet. If a guy flew up on my balcony on the magic carpet- (Nat and Shailene laugh)

John: Yeah!

Shailene: I would be really creeped out!

Nat: You'd be like, "Alright, I'm in!"

Shailene: Or- yeah (laughs)

John: You'd be like, this is super weird, but I am excited about your carpet!

Shailene: But I wanna go on a magic carpet ride! (laughs)

John: Yeah.

Nat: Like, you need to call a scientist, or something!

John: Yeah! (laughs) This should not be possible!

Nat: Yeah! You're defying gravity!

Shailene: I love- I- just, in the movies as a little girl, um... Oh, it gives me chills. I have butterflies. When, in Pretty Woman, when he takes her on- to go see an opera-

John: Mmm hmm.

Shailene: And it's the first time she's ever seen anything like that before. I have this fantasy, since I was probably seven years old, that one day, I will fall in love the way she fell in love with an opera... In that same situation.

John: Mmm.

Nat: Now we know where to take Shai on a date! (Nat and Shai laugh)

Shailene: Yeah. Opera!

Nat: That's a great place, yeah.

John: For uh- uh, for me, in this movie, it's Amsterdam. Um, I think everybody should have the experience of being some place they haven't been before with someone they love, because it makes the- makes the love feel new, it makes the place- place feel exciting. And um, I thought they captured that so well in this movie. But that's one of my favorite things, is to be with- be with my wife in a place that we're both discovering together, and brings us together and just makes the place so alive for us.

(cuts to a clip from the movie)

Isaac: Are you angry?

Hazel: So angry!

Augustus: You need to break something.

(shouts and cheers of joy)

Hazel: You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I can't tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity.

Augustus: It's a good life, Hazel Grace. Okay?

Hazel: Okay.