February 11, 2013

Stephen Chbosky: "Emma Watson was exactly like Sam"




Such a great young cast has been assembled for this film including Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller - he is just terrific in it - so can you tell me a little bit about the casting process and what you were looking for in for this trio of characters?

The casting process was one of the great joys of making this movie because I was looking for more than just great young actors as I was looking for great young people.

I wanted people that were kind and generous and passionate and committed because I knew that I couldn’t tell the story that I wanted to tell without it.

There is an instinctive thing that directors and anyone who does casting feels - it is a moment when the person walks in, you just meet them or talk to them and the moment goes ‘clink’ and you realise you just met the person who was always meant to play this part.

In the case of Emma she did not audition and I just met her in New York City. I had seen her Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - or was it Half Blood Prince? And she has this beautiful scene with Daniel Radcliffe outside a dance on some stairs and she was so touching I just thought ‘I think that is Sam’.

When I met her in New York what I saw was this lovely young woman who grew up in the eye of a hurricane but who was desperate and passionate to move on into the next phase of her live - that made her exactly like Sam.

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