books like the perks of being a wallflower stephen chbosky

“I guarantee you, you personally know a lot more about Ezra Miller these days than I do,” he insists. In 2022, to watch Miller’s performance as an outwardly charismatic, inwardly tormented teenager is to witness a star-making turn- Zack Snyder was convinced to cast Miller in The Flash off of Perks-but it’s also unavoidably complicated given the actor’s alleged misdeeds and troubled public image in recent years.Ĭhbosky, who spoke about Miller ahead of VF’s latest reporting on them, hasn’t had much contact with the now 29-year-old since Perks. Undoubtedly beyond Chbosky’s power is the alleged misconduct of Ezra Miller, who brought eccentric high school student Patrick (alongside a post– Harry Potter Emma Watson as his soulful step sister Sam), from page to screen. “And as the years go on, I find myself remembering even more.” “I am one of those that did not forget what it was like to be young,” he says wistfully. “Not a week goes by when I don’t talk to some young person or get a letter or a phone call or email from somebody who was very moved by it.”Īnd although his world-weary protagonist, Charlie, warns that there “are people who forget what it’s like to be 16 when they turn 17,” Chbosky, now 52, is not among them. “It’s always present to me,” he tells Vanity Fair. In its final moments, Logan Lerman’s Charlie races through that same tunnel, arms outstretched into the air, musing that one day his adolescence will inevitably fade away, but for now, “We are infinite.”Ī decade later, the cult-classic film that Stephen Chbosky adapted and directed from his own 1999 debut novel feels like less of an old photograph and more… you know. Nestled in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, the highway underpass opens the coming-of-age film, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this week, and serves as the setting for its most ethereal sequence.

In some ways, The Perks of Being a Wallflower’s legacy is like the tunnel that bookends its cinematic rendering: a warmly lit, strangely mystical-feeling portal.

Books like the perks of being a wallflower stephen chbosky