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Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller in The Perks of Being a Wallflower
MT
Coming-Of-Age Story
Michael Fox
Special to the Jewish News
S
tephen Chboksy, the non-
Jewish author of The Perks of
Being a Wallflower, has just
adapted his much-loved 1999 novel,
a powerfully empathetic yet unsenti-
mental saga of young adults, for the
screen, and he has no compunction
about saluting the inspirations for his
characters and, for that matter, his
own career.
The film stars Ezra Miller as Patrick,
an out gay high school senior who
befriends Charlie (Logan Lerman), a
shy, unsteady freshman with a child-
hood secret. The two Jewish actors are
joined by Harry Potter veteran Emma
Watson as Patrick's stepsister, Sam
(with whom Charlie falls in love).
Chbosky, who grew up in a
Pittsburgh suburb, says the catalyst for
Patrick was a Jewish student he met at
the University of Southern California.
"My friend was raised Orthodox,
loved his faith and was also gay,"
Chbosky, 42, explains. "He had such a
difficult time with those two identities
because each was true, and real, and
beautiful for him. God, I wish he had
reached out to his family; but rather
than just trying to live like a normal
person would, he did a lot of self-
destructive, risky things, and he got
himself in trouble."
Thankfully, that was years ago, and
the friend is doing great, Chbosky
reports.
"He was gregarious, he was funny,
he was incredibly charming," Chboslcy
recalls of his friend. "So what I did
was I took his personality and I gave
a lot of it to Patrick and some of it to
[Patrick's closeted boyfriend, football
quarterback] Brad.
"Some of Patrick and Brad's story
happened to [my friend] in high
school, and I wanted to honor what
he had been through. I fictionalized it
because it would be disrespectful not
to, but the spirit and the essence was
there:"
It's one of those curious coinci-
dences that Chbosky ended up casting
a Jewish actor in the role of Patrick,
though Ezra Miller is so talented, and
delivers such a charged performance,
it's hard to imagine another young
actor playing him.
Chbosky shared anecdotes about his
college pal with Miller.
told Ezra a great deal of it, yes:'
Chboksy says. "He was really curious.
It proved to be a good resource"
During a college tour when he was
just 17, Chbosky encountered the
person who would become his pri-
mary career influence: Stewart Stern,
screenwriter of Rebel Without a Cause;
Rachel, Rachel; and other films.
At a seminar at USC, Chbosky heard
Stern tell "stories about all the actors
from James Dean to Paul Newman
to Marlon Brando," he remembers.
"Being a kid from Pittsburgh, it was a
mind-blowing experience to listen to
[him]," and Chbosky decided to attend
USC.
But shortly after Chbosky started,
Stern had a heart attack. "I [had] only
heard him speak for three hours, but
he meant so much to me that I wrote
him an anonymous letter and made
him a little mix-tape to kind of cheer
him up in the hospital," Chbosky says.
"But I made sure not to sign any-
thing because I didn't want him to
think I was trying to get an agent or
anything. Just a simple act of kindness;
it took him a good year and a half to
find me, and he's been my hero and
mentor ever since."
Stern was the first person to read
the Perks screenplay. Perhaps more
important, Rebel Without a Cause was
one of the great inspirations for Perks.
"It showed me how truly timeless an
honest story about young people is,"
Chbosky says. "The central experience
of being young is similar. Almost 60
years separate Perks and Rebel, and
separate Stewart and myself, but if you
sat down with us and joined in that
conversation, it's the same experience,
the same emotion, the same desire for
a good life and hope when things have
been difficult.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
opens Friday, Sept. 28.
H
ITZ
Founder & CEO of Renaissance Media Parent . Company, The Jewish News)
at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre's 8th annual
BEHINEOSCENES
GALA
OCTOBER 15, 2012 • 6 P.M.
at Glen Oaks Country Club
Working with diverse ethnic, religious and racial groups and putting out a
welcome mat for immigrants, Arthur Horwitz has always been a community
conscience on the side of justice. His deep concerns and activism
promoting the arts and culture have made life better for all of us.
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