Though we’re now more accustomed to teen novel adaptations featuring dystopian futures or romances with supernatural creatures, the tearjerkers are coming back in force with the grounded likes of The Fault In Our Stars. If I Stay, however, treads both a fantastical and a romantic line, and the first trailer has arrived.
Adapted from Gayle Forman’s 2009 bestseller, the film stars Chloe Moretz as Mia Hall, a young music prodigy who is experiencing her first taste of love with rocker Adam (Jamie Blackley). Wavering between her Julliard ambitions and her blossoming personal life, Mia is cast into an even more difficult situation when a devastating car crash kills her parents (Mireille Enos and Joshua Leonard) and leaves her in a coma.
Caught between life and death in a limbo state, Mia must choose between fighting to live in a world where she’ll face tragedy or passing on to a presumably peaceful death.
The film itself has survived a period in limbo. Originally set up back in 2009 with Dakota Fanning attached, it was moved to MGM after a period in turnaround and is finally ready to hit the screen.
With a script by Whip It’s Shauna Cross and R.J. Cutler calling the shots,** If I Stay** also features Lauren Lee Smith, Jakob Davies and Liana Liberato and will arrive in American cinemas on August 22. There are no details on a UK release yet.