Hollywood’s new heartthrob

CEBU, Philippines – The “Fault in Our Stars” actor Ansel Elgort, 20, is the cover star of Town & Country’s third annual “Top 50 Bachelors” issue. Photographed by his dad, the acclaimed Arthur Elgort, the movie star’s kin and colleagues explain why he’s won the hearts of young people around the world.

Ansel got his big break in the 2013 “Carrie” reboot, directed by Kimberly Peirce. She had already picked a slightly older actor to play Tommy when a casting director suggested she audition Ansel. “I had looked at 40 guys for that part,” she says. After meeting Ansel, she recalls, “It was amazing seeing someone who was the right age for the part. He could be cocky, but he was still innocent.”

Ansel made an even bigger impression after he “tried to kiss” Gabriella Wilde, the actress who played his girlfriend, Sue. “You don’t typically kiss in an audition. I don’t know why he did it. Either he really felt it and wanted to kiss her, or he felt entitled to, or he didn’t know you don’t normally do that,” Peirce says. Ansel reminded her of another leading man whom she cast in 2008’s “Stop-Loss”: Channing Tatum. “It’s hard to find someone who is handsome who you genuinely feel is a good guy,” she says. “Those are the movie stars.”

“Carrie” wasn’t a blockbuster—not that it mattered to Ansel. “When I got ‘Carrie’ I thought, ‘Wow. I’m going to be the lead of, like, a studio film. Even if after this I go back to the sage and do more plays and stuff, I’ve done it. I made a movie and I was the lead in it.” After the success of his follow-up roles, he says, “It’s so funny now that the film is almost irrelevant.”

While his career is soaring, Ansel remains grounded. In fact, he recently moved to Williamsburg, which is teeming with likeminded artists who aren’t entranced by his newfound celebrity status. “Brooklyn is nice because it’s a little more chilled out. Even if they do recognize me, they won’t say anything,” the actor explains.

Most of the time, anyway. “I played basketball with these kids at a local court—this was before any of the movies came out—and now they’re like, ‘What the hell, man? You got all famous.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, shut up.’ I don’t want to be treated like that. I’m just trying to play basketball. I didn’t want my life to change. Once everyone starts treating me like I’m a famous person, it gets bad.”