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By Christen M. Stroh

On November 9, Upper St. Clair native and now-established screenwriter and director Stephen Chbosky returned to the South Hills to promote his newest film, ‘Wonder’, with a private screening for friends and family. While in town, Chbosky also signed posters at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont.

Screenwriter and director Stephen Chbosky, on the set of ‘Wonder.’

‘Wonder’ tells the story of August Pullman, a soon-to-be 5th grader born with facial deformities that have prevented him from going to a mainstream school thus far. As Auggie enters the local 5th grade, his family, his new classmates, and the larger community all work to find their compassion and acceptance, and Auggie’s journey unites them all to make them better versions of themselves as he seeks to find himself.

The movie is very faithful to the book, according to Chbosky, who notes that this is “the best literature for children easily in the last half century.” He continued, “It’s so well-written, the characters are wonderful, and what I loved about the book was that it changes your points of view. What I tried to capture in the movie is for the audience – if you understand what’s going on in someone’s life you will have more empathy and then you will inherently have more kindness towards them, and that that’s what I loved about the book.”

What drew Chbosky to this story was the birth of his son; he was reading the book at the time his son, Theodore, was born, and he wondered, what world would Theo and his sister, Macy, enter? “I thought about it a lot, and with kids, there’s so much out there that’s difficult to navigate, from childhood through adolescence,” he said, adding, “I wanted to pick something that would help them.”

Chbosky’s life continues to inspire him and his work; in fact, he has always found motivation in his surroundings. His first book, ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower,’ takes place in Pittsburgh, and the movie, which he wrote the screenplay for as well, was filmed in and around Pittsburgh. It also afforded him the opportunity to direct. “When you’re in film school, part of the curriculum is directing. The two disciplines go hand in hand,” said Chbosky. “Directing movies is a lot like writing novels. Tone and details and character approach, I try to direct with the same scope and detail that a novelist would,” he said.

Chbosky knew from the age of 12 that he wanted to be a writer. He noted, “My father told me great writers are great readers. I was a 12-year-old boy and I didn’t read a lot. I thought I’d write movies, because that’s what I was familiar with.” He enrolled in courses when in high school and credits his Upper St. Clair teacher, Mary Lou Einloth, with giving him his start, taking both a cinema history class and filmmaking class with her, and following up with courses at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. “Luckily,” he said, “I had the education and the opportunity in Pittsburgh and the passion to pursue this as my career.” He wrote his first screenplay when he was 16 years old and went to school specifically for screenwriting.

Though he now lives on the west coast, Chbosky still makes it back to the South Hills at least once a year, often to visit with friends and family. He encourages people out here interested in film to pursue their interests, noting, “There are a lot of opportunities in this field. What I found is that the people who do well, they choose the right ladder for them, and if you choose the right ladder, you’ll naturally begin to climb it.”

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