Finding the right actors for any film is a delicate process, but filling the shoes of characters beloved by a generation presents unique challenges. Chbosky meticulously put together an extraordinary cast for his directing debut, including a gifted trio of young actors playing the central characters of Charlie, Sam and Patrick: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller.
“I think the script was waiting for this cast,” he says. “If I’d finished the screenplay three years earlier, they would all have been too young. If I finished two years later, they would be too old.”
Logan Lerman, an emerging star who plays the title role in the Percy Jackson franchise was cast as Charlie. His immediate connection to the character surprised even the director. “I thought no one knew Charlie like I did, but Logan does,” says Chbosky. “His performance is so subtle. He is awkward, but at the same time he’s handsome and positive. He navigates every emotion with such dexterity. I think it’s one of the greatest performances I have ever seen by such a young actor.”
Chbosky was so impressed by Lerman’s emotional transparency and versatility that he preserved a moment of the film that he says represents the actor at his best. “He has a very emotional scene with Joan Cusack, who plays Dr. Burton. We tried it so many ways. I saved a ten‐minute take of him doing the scene three times, with small adjustments. It is one of the most powerful ten minutes I have ever seen on film. I will cherish it forever.”
Logan Lerman knew the novel by reputation, but had not read it when he received the script. His reaction to the story and the characters was immediate and intense. “I was overwhelmed with emotion,” he says. “The people are so real and interesting. I didn’t know who I wanted to play at first, but I knew that I wanted to be a part of the film no matter what.”
He soon decided that Charlie was the role he really wanted. “Charlie’s very naïve and uncomfortable in his own skin,” he says. “He’s trying to deal with the emotional struggles of some tough situations in his past, and make it through his first year of high school.”
What saves Charlie, says Chbosky, is his openness. “Charlie is a very pure soul. On the surface, he’s awkward and lonesome, but he always tries to find joy in the world. He has just entered high school, he has lost a dear friend, and he is still struggling with the loss of his favorite relative many years before. He’s trying to find some hope and what he gets is a bunch of mean seniors and a sister who won’t eat lunch with him. Then he does a brave thing. He goes stag to the Friday night football game, and he encounters Patrick. It changes his life forever. And that is an important message. Just get off the wall. Just go to the game. You might look like a dork. But go to the game.”
Given that the material is so well‐known and loved, Lerman was reassured to know that Chbosky retained creative control over the screenplay and the film shoot. “The book means so much to so many people,” he says. “Steve brought real passion to the process and passion is contagious. It was an exhausting shoot, but sitting down and talking to Steve every day refueled me. He assembled a group of people whose work I deeply admire. To be a part of a film where I can work with these talented people is a big honor. I just hope that people respond to it as strongly as we did.”
Sam and Patrick are stepsiblings, seniors who introduce Charlie to their friends, a group of creative free spirits that Sam refers to as inhabitants of the “island of misfit toys.” “They decide to welcome him so that he doesn’t ever have to feel alone again,” says Chbosky.
“Sam has a reputation for being a bit wild and Patrick is gay, so they know what it feels like to be judged. You cannot deny the inherent goodness of these two kids. They teach Charlie the ways of the world. They give him permission to explore life, to strip down to his underwear and stand in front of 300 people for The Rocky Horror Picture Show and to question the things he thinks he knows. They lead him to his first kiss, his first great drive, and to the music that will define his entire life.”
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