( CNN ) -- Shailene Woodley is n't just the lead actress in `` The Fault In Our Stars . '' She 's one of the book 's original fans . Long before she landed the role of Hazel Grace , a bright 16-year-old facing cancer , she sent the novel 's author , John Green , an impassioned , lengthy e-mail rallying for `` The Fault In Our Stars '' to become a movie . `` I did n't say I needed to be Hazel , '' Woodley said at the movie 's New York premiere on June 2 . `` I said I needed this movie to get made . Because I knew that it would change the lives of millions of people . '' If the movie version of `` The Fault In Our Stars '' is anything like the book , Woodley will soon be proven right . The adaptation , now in theaters , is faithful to its beloved source material , which chronicles the romance between two cancer patients with humor , intelligence and honesty . Author Green had already amassed a fan base when `` The Fault In Our Stars '' was released as a novel in January 2012 , one devoted enough to earn him the title of `` The Teen Whisperer . '' But `` The Fault In Our Stars '' has stretched far beyond its intended young adult demographic , selling millions of copies and sticking to The New York Times Young Adult best-seller list for 78 weeks . Young adult books and sex : What we learned under the covers . Time magazine did n't name it `` The Best YA Novel of 2012 '' ; it recognized it as the year 's best book , period , the kind of endorsement Woodley could get behind . The 22-year-old actress , who is developing a reputation for pushing back against Hollywood 's rules , recently explained to New York Magazine the impact she thinks `` Fault In Our Stars '' could have . `` In 'Fault , ' I am trying to rewrite what a female lead can look like , '' Woodley said . `` You 've never seen a woman on the poster for a movie with a cannula in her nose . '' Although Woodley said she was n't gunning for the role of Hazel when she wrote Green , the author remembers that exchange a bit differently . `` The letter was extremely long , like 40 pages long , and ... I did n'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 ! ' '' Of course it 's unlikely that Green , who calls Woodley `` a gift '' to the film , would have had to beg . Woodley , who 's gone from ABC Family 's `` The Secret Life of the American Teenager '' to high-profile projects like `` The Descendants '' and `` Divergent '' in the blink of an eye , was game for the role , chopping off her long hair to accommodate the part . In the process , she gained something as well : `` a deeper sense of gratitude '' for life . `` On this beautiful day , there 's kids at home in bed hooked up to chemo machines , '' Woodley reflected at the movie 's June 2 premiere . `` 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 . '' CNN 's Joan Yeam contributed to this report .
Shailene Woodley wanted to see `` Fault In Our Stars '' made into a movie . She wants to change what a female lead can look like . She believes the movie will `` change the lives of millions of people ''