Actor Shailene Woodley who played George Clooney’s daughter in The Descendants is all praises for him and considers him a mentor and friend. “He has been an angel in my life for many reasons. He knew everyone’s name on set. He treated everyone as an equal and everyone got his warmth,” said Woodley, reported People magazine.
Woodly, 22, is known for her warmth and bubbly persona, the actor has been earning rave reviews for her role of a teenage girl battling cancer in the big-screen adaptation of John Green’s best-selling novel The Fault in Our Stars. Just like Clooney, who she calls her mentor, she’s also gravely concerned about the issues in world around her.
“As much as this industry is a platform for talking about big issues, there are just so many issues. Maybe the only thing that I’m supposed to do is just show up and be me in every moment. Because I do feel that one of my gifts is to be open and lovely – simple things like smiling at strangers and having kind, small interactions. I think that is what’s going to ultimately shift things,” said the actor.
Clooney has also always been all praises for his co-star and is certain that she will figure it all out. “Shailene can do whatever she wants,” he says. “If she wants to be a movie star, she has it. If she wants to change the world, she will. Her talent and kindness go hand in hand.”
“We’ll be talking about Shailene Woodley 40 years from now,” he adds. “I’ve never seen anyone so young that has so much together.”
Woodley’s role in The Fault in Our Stars has further opened her eyes and taught her a lot. “I want to wake up every single day and be the best version of me. A lot of that has to do with Fault and meeting these 16 to 18-year-olds who had a week to live or passed away while we were filming,” said the 22 year old. “Doing that film taught me that there is no room for fear. Zero.”
Watching real-life cancer patients everyday on the set made the actor feel a little guilty. “There is just no way to justify life,” she says. “Why am I here making this couple-million-dollar movie and eating a nice meal with and at the table right next to me is a 16-year-old boy with a tumour growing out of his head?”
The young star, however, chooses to be optimistic and has embraced the fact that life is unpredictable.
“Are we going to spend life wallowing, or are we going to be stoked and laugh? We have no idea [when we will die], so it is just about living life to the fullest,” she says. “All my older friends laugh a lot and have no wrinkles. That is the secret to good skin, I swear. Everyone has this big thing about chemicals and facials, but it is just laughter.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 13th, 2014.
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