Shailene Woodley stars along with Ansel Elgort the new film The Fault in Our Stars, but she says she’s a fan, too. In fact the actress was a huge fan of the book long before the screenplay was written. She actually sent a lengthy email to the book’s author John Green, very strongly suggesting the book become a film.

“I didn’t say I needed to be Hazel,” Woodley said at the movie’s New York premiere last Monday of her role as Hazel Lancaster, a 16-year-old cancer patient. “I said I needed this movie to get made. Because I knew that it would change the lives of millions of people.”

The Fault in Our Stars debuted as a Young Adult novel in January of 2012 and earned Green the title of ‘The Teen Whisperer.’ It received an incredible recognition from Time magazine that year, too. It awarded the book as the year’s best–period. Never mind that it was a YA novel.

Shailene Woodley recently explained to New York Magazine how she perceives the power behind The Fault in Our Stars–the film.

“In ‘Fault,’ I am trying to rewrite what a female lead can look like,” she said. “You’ve never seen a woman on the poster for a movie with a cannula in her nose.”

The wait is finally over! #TFIOS is now playing! Get your tickets w/ a free side of #feels: http://t.co/7CNQuqTdcD pic.twitter.com/dZLH9aJ3Xj

— The Fault Movie (@TheFaultMovie) June 7, 2014

So how did author John Green react to Shailene Woodley’s email? He never even hit reply. That came back to haunt him, too, when he realized she was auditioning for the role of the film’s lead.

“I didn’t technically know who Shailene Woodley was,” he said. “So I just responded like, ‘That’s such a lovely e-mail! Thank you so much! But I am not a casting director.’ And then when I saw her audition, of course I was horrified that I had not written her back and said, like, ‘Please! Please! Be in our movie!'”

He certainly didn’t have to beg Woodley to sign on. The 22-year-old actress has gone from The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family to films like The Descendents and Divergent. The Fault in Our Stars was simply meant to be hers. She didn’t even think twice when cutting off her long locks for the role. She says the role has provided her with “a deeper sense of gratitude” for living.

The actors beautifully brought to life the characters I loved from the book. @realjohngreen is a genius. Thank you for your masterpiece.

— Madison Pettis (@madisonpettis) June 7, 2014

At the June 2nd New York premiere of The Fault in Our Stars Shailene Woodley pre-empted the tear-jerker with a few tears of her own.

“On this beautiful day, there’s kids at home in bed hooked up to chemo machines,” she said. “There’s no way to justify it. So, really, it taught me a deeper sense of gratitude and a deeper sense of appreciation for these small palpable moments, because they’re the only thing that we’re guaranteed.”

The Fault in Our Stars has trended this weekend and is on the lips of movie-goers across the country. Something big is happening on the big screen–for Shailene Woodley and for the film world.

Have you checked this film out yet?

Image via YouTube