Ansel Elgort Featured in The June Issue of Teen Vogue!
It was Divergent, however, that initially brought Shailene and Ansel together, when he played her brother, Caleb Prior—only his second movie role (his first was jock Tommy Ross in Carrie, starring Chloë Grace Moretz). But being cast in the blockbuster almost prevented him from landing the part in TFIOS: “John Green was like, ‘Please be anyone but the girl’s brother from Divergent,’” Ansel remembers of his audition. He made a tape in his parents’ stairwell (his father is famed Vogue and Teen Vogue photographer Arthur Elgort, and his mother is opera director Grethe Holby) of three “tough scenes,” and Ansel won the role, beating out several higher-profile actors.
Ansel Elgort”Augustus is quirky, weird, and nerdy,” Ansel says, his brown eyes squinting against the morning light. “That’s kind of how I am in real life. Really!” While he cites slightly more cool-kid interests—like playing basketball, producing house music, and rock climbing—among his favorite things, he admits: “I paint miniatures and play video games, too. I have a lot in common with the guy!”
Preparing for the role of Augustus, who has a prosthetic right leg from a battle with osteosarcoma, was an emotional process. “I thought, I should know my disease; I should know what it would be like to lose my leg,” he says. He spoke to doctors and befriended Tanner Boatwright, a teen who’d been injured in a hunting accident and who served as his body double on the movie’s set. “Tanner said that when he lost his leg, there was no mourning period,” he recalls. “I think Augustus was that way, too. He’d probably be like, ‘I’m going to tackle this.’”
And what better Hazel than Shailene, one of Hollywood’s most in-demand young actresses? “She is a rare girl,” he says of the down-to-earth 22-year-old. “And not just in this industry—I mean out of everyone I’ve ever met. She plays Hazel negatively in the beginning, which is not very Shailene at all. Then you see her open up because of Gus, and it’s beautiful.”
The movie demanded that the pair spend 12-hour days shooting scenes, many involving particularly heartbreaking moments (if you’ve read the book, you know which ones I’m talking about). “We would cry all the time,” Ansel says. “It felt good. I let it out.” After wrapping in Pittsburgh, they went to Amsterdam for a week and filmed at the Anne Frank House and various outdoor city locations. “We had a wonderful time in Amsterdam together,” he says dreamily. “I bet we walked every single block.”
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