The New York-set Lily is a character portrait about a woman transitioning back into everyday life following successful cancer treatment. After struggling to survive and grappling with her mortality, Lily must now push those things out of her mind and set her sights on the future for the first time in a long time, spending time with her boyfriend, hanging out with her friends, pursuing career goals, and reconnecting with her estranged father. The film is inspired by the real life experiences of star Amy Grantham, who herself had been transitioning back into the real world following her own cancer treatment.

We spoke to Matt about how he and Amy met, how Lily is not a “cancer film”, how making the film affected Amy, capturing the aura of New York City, his approach to camerawork, and more.

Lily is available now in iTunes. For more info, visit thefilmlily.com

The film is the product of a beautiful collaboration between you and Amy. Can you talk about how you got connected?
We met through mutual friends at a coffee shop. We’d talk when we’d run into each other, and one day she told me she was sick and to check out her blog on her illness. I was really intrigued by it, and we talked about maybe doing something together. Then, she got really deep into treatment. I didn’t hear from her for a while. Towards the end of her treatment, we met up and started talking about all of these feelings and emotions she was having with her treatment coming to an end. It was really interesting, things I’d never thought about. I asked if we could write about it, and she was totally open to that.

What’s cool is that the movie isn’t about cancer.
Yeah, totally. I wanted to try to tap into what I was relating to when Amy was talking about how she was feeling about her treatment coming to an end. I realized it was her vulnerability, and if I was relating to that, I felt like a lot of people could. I thought it would be an interesting way to explore vulnerability through Amy’s story rather than just another break-up film or post-college film or something like that. But really, it’s the same concept. I’m not equating those kinds of films to having an illness, I’m equating it to having something, and then it’s gone, and what that does to someone.

You don’t see too many movies about that transition back to reality post-sickness.
It was important to tap into that moment. From the get-go, we knew we weren’t going to make a cancer film. We were going to make a post-cancer film, which was something Amy was pretty adamant about as well. It’s everything after the sickness, which is basically…life. [laughs] You’re seeing someone have life enter back into their train of thought after they haven’t really thought too much about it, because they’re just trying to survive.

It’s a hard thing to imagine for someone who’s never gone through such a hardship. Has Amy transitioned back into life completely now?
Obviously there’s tons of stuff she has to deal with, like whether or not she’ll get a vasectomy and things like that. She’s healthy–I saw her recently and she’s doing really, really well. There are no signs of cancer in her body. But there are long-term things she’s thinking about.
It’s a bizarre thought for me, to act out some the hard times of my own life onscreen. 

As much as it’s based on her life, we very carefully wrote and crafted a character. The cancer parts were real, but anything else outside of that was written into the narrative. I knew pretty early on that she was going to play the part, and I didn’t want everything to be too close [to real life], so I tried to make it different as much as I could. If I did use anything from her real life, I’d tweak it so that it didn’t feel too familiar. It was pretty easy, actually. There were a few moments that were really hard for her, like going into the hospital where she got treatment in and where we shot. But other than that, it was pretty smooth.

Talk about the camerawork in the film. It’s a very expressive, vérité style.
Brett Jutkiewicz shot the film, and we talked extensively about coverage, and he brought some really great ideas. I like to have things pretty fluid; I don’t like to cut very often. Not in the sense of Béla Tarr or Tarkovsky or guys like that, but close to that. When we were going over the shots, we wanted to be very observational. Not like a documentary, but I wanted the audience to feel like a fly on the wall in her life. The camera moves in the corner from side to side during conversations, we follow her up flights of stairs from behind. We track her from behind a lot, and in the last shot we’re in front. I wanted to transplant the audience there and immerse them, as if they were there watching her get treatment, watching her walk up stairs.

I was going to mention the shot of her walking up the stairs. Not many filmmakers would take the time you do to show that.
That’s a New York shot for sure. Walk up five flights of stairs after a grueling day. I wanted people to feel tired when they got up there with her.

The sound is great in that shot as well. Was it foley or live sound?
Poor Brett…it took us ten takes to do that shot. There are a lot of tricks to it. There was a guy behind him, people going in and out of doors to kind of create that sound. The stairs are so loud. The original cut is so jarring.

What was your approach to capturing the atmosphere and vibe of NYC on screen?
For me, it was just showing the New York that I know and see, which is very intimate. Walking by the bubble guy, you stop and get this breath of fresh air for a moment. People are yelling in the street, then you keep going. That’s the New York that I’d known for 12 years, and it was about showing those mundane, every-day moments. People that really know New York kind of fall in love with that part of it. I wanted it to be in the background and not so abrasive, like, “New York! This is it!” I wanted it to be subtle and in the background, like an afterthought. It’s there, and whatever happens happens.

I liked Amy’s interactions with Simon, who plays her boyfriend. He’s great.
He’s never acted in his life. My producer tricked him into auditioning. We were doing auditions, and he read the script and really liked it. He came by to meet us but didn’t know he was auditioning. The first time he did it I didn’t run the camera on him, and he was great. I had him come back the next day and I was able to shoot him, and he was so natural. I auditioned a bunch of other men, and they just didn’t get it.

What didn’t they get?
They were just trying to play it pretty sleazy, you know? The older guy with the younger girl. Everyone was really sleazy. I was trying to tell them to listen to her, but they wouldn’t. Simon came, and I told him to listen to her story and react, and he did. It was very earnest and natural. It was a challenge for him, and he loved it. He nailed it.

From what I understand, you don’t enjoy the auditioning process.
I hate it.

Why?
I don’t know. I think it’s just…I don’t want to put my foot in my mouth. It’s awkward for me. I’m probably more nervous than them!

What was Amy’s physical condition during the shoot. Was she getting through it okay?
There were some moments where she was tired. At one point she actually got sick with the flu. I think it’s because her immune system was still coming back. Towards the end there was one point where she had a 100 degree fever. Other than that, she was a trooper. It didn’t affect her. She was pretty healthy.

Did the movie have a positive affect on Amy, maybe in a cathartic way?
I think she was just happy to have done something she’d never done before, something she really wanted to do in her life. I hope she does more of it, because she’s really talented. I think she was excited. I think it was a good thing for her, to go from being sick to making this movie.

Based on the wildly popular John Greene novel, The Fault in Our Stars, directed by Josh Boone, has a can’t-fail combination of gifted, pretty, rising young stars and an invincibly sympathetic, sob-inducing story of big dreams and heartache that will, without a doubt, draw piles and piles of money into the laps of all involved in the production. Many a skeptic cinephile will find themselves approaching the film with folded arms, expecting a manipulative tearjerker expertly designed to appeal to the teen idol masses. The film is, in fact, every bit a product of the Hollywood cheese factory, but it offers much more than that; it’s bravely earnest, self-aware, crafted with care, and undeniably life-affirming.

“Depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying.” It’s biting remarks like these, spoken by Shailene Woodley as plucky 16-year-old cancer patient Hazel Grace, that elevate the film high above manufactured YA mediocrity. Hazel’s lived with metastatic thyroid cancer (which mostly affects her lungs) for the larger part of her life, dragging around an oxygen tank with a tube fed to her nose at all times. She refuses to pity herself, a quality so endearing it isn’t fair. She’s mostly concerned with how her imminent fate will affect her sweet parents (Laura Dern and Sam Trammell) than she is afraid of leaving this world. At once cynical and compassionate, witty and self-deprecating, Hazel Grace is irresistible.

Hazel acquires a persistent admirer at a cancer support group named Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), a brazen, unstoppably confident young man who pops cigarettes in his mouth but never lights them. Augustus (Gus for short), though in remission, lost a leg to disease, so he keeps the thing that could kill him hanging from his lips, but never gives it the power to do its dirty work. “A metaphor,” he proudly calls the strange habit through an impish grin. Yes, Gus should be incredibly annoying, but he’s not. This is because Elgort, like Woodley, is so charismatic you’ll pretty much buy whatever he’s selling, including an unlit cigarette.

A problem with most young actors is that they tend to be given dialogue that their intellect isn’t mature enough to support. They say all these smart, insightful things, but you can see on their face that they frankly don’t fully understand the weight of what they’re talking about. Woodley and Elgort are gifted in that they exude intelligence, thoughtfulness, and savvy, making smart dialogue sound smart, the corniest lines sound terribly romantic and natural.

Shortly after they meet at the support group, Hazel asks Gus why he’s staring at her. He answers: “Because you’re beautiful.” Typing that made me cringe. But watching the scene unfold, you see the utter conviction and sincerity in Elgort’s eyes, Woodley lets out a small, nervous laugh, and amazingly…you smile. They’ve got you, those damn kids. Then, as Gus turns to say goodbye to another girl from the group, Woodley almost inaudibly mutters, “…I’m not beautiful.” Perfect timing. The heart melts.

For a while, Hazel and Gus swirl around each other in a whirlwind teen fantasy, flirting, texting, and charming each other to pieces. When Hazel is invited to Amsterdam by Van Houten (Willem Dafoe), her favorite author, she’s overwhelmed with excitement, but her dream escapes her when her mom, full of regret, breaks the news that they simply don’t have enough money to make the trip. Dern is absolutely wonderful, filling every frame she occupies with love and acceptance. Hazel’s dream is saved by Gus, who uses his last wish (granted by the Genie wish foundation) to fly them to Amsterdam where they indeed meet the famed author. The interaction is an unexpectedly intense watershed moment, with the young actors playing beautifully off of the seasoned Dafoe.

Woodley’s role is a colorful one, covering a wide spectrum of emotions, and she wears every iota of them on her face. She can make you laugh with a simple raised eyebrow, or make you sob with a subtle quiver of the lip. Her talent is beyond her years, which is fitting, as Hazel is forced to face more trauma before her 18th year than most people do in a lifetime. The physical torment endured by Hazel due to her condition are conveyed excellently, and the danger of her lungs failing is always lingering in the back of your mind, defining the stakes.

Elgort is suave and super-cool as you’d expect, but his looks are pleasantly pedestrian; he’s handsome no doubt, but he also looks like your everyday teen with his puffy Nikes and thrift store leather jackets. When he leans in and says, “I’m in love with you, Hazel Grace,” he doesn’t blink, doesn’t shake. He means what he says, and we feel it.

The film is less about the sadness of cancer than it is about the wry skepticism and wild energy of teenagers. Being a teen is a beautifully flawed experience on its own, but Hazel and Gus’ poise in the face of doom makes their story all the more inspiring and memorable. The film’s ending, while predictably tragic, doesn’t define the experience. Yes, it’s manipulative, and yes, tears will be shed by the bucketful. But what will stick with you is the strong chemistry between the young lovebirds, which is the greatest victory for any romance movie. Color me impressed.

The Fault in Our Stars trailer