Chloe Grace Moretz Plays Lead In Upcoming Adaptation of ‘If I Stay’

Book to film adaptations are making a splash this year and reintroducing movie goers to beloved stories. Gayle Foreman’s novel If I Stay is making it to the big screen this summer, directed by R. J. Cutler and with Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass, Carrie)  starring as the main character Mia Hall.

The story follows what Mia goes through during an out-of-body experience while in coma as an aftermath of a catastrophic car accident.  During which, she realizes that she must decide whether to wake up or die.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Moretz explains that she is a big fan of the story herself and that “we all tried to stay incredibly faithful to the story. That’s why we’re making it.”  A big contribution to Mia’s story is her boyfriend Adam who is played by relative unknown actor Jamie Blackley. Of her co-star, Moretz explains that during the casting process “When Jamie walked into the room I looked at R.J., and R.J. looked at me, and we did the audition and he left. And I went, ‘That’s Adam. That’s who he is.’ There was not a question. Not even a worry. That’s Adam. And I was like, ‘If you don’t hire him, that is so dumb.’”

About the bookstore designation of If I Stay as being a “young adult novel,” Moretez dismisses it because she believes that it takes away from the book’s value. “It deals with issues that are much bigger,” she says. “I want people to walk in and feel like they actually felt something, and learned something, and realized something different about life…”

Because of how the story is told in the novel, it will be interesting to see how they approached and illustrated how Mia moves through the world during her out-of-body experience.

If I Stay is available at bookstores near you as well as its sequel, Where She Went.  The film itself hits US theaters on August 22.

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