“For me, the major theme and the big message and what I related to was the overall importance of friendship and confiding in someone else and trusting other people,” Lerman said during a conference call with reporters. “That’s what I learned from his journey, was the importance of his relationships that he made in high school. My favorite line, the one that really stuck with me the most, is the one that they’ve been using a lot for advertising as well, but that would be ‘We accept the love we think we deserve.’ That was one of my favorite lines in the whole script. It really stays with you.”

The cast worked closely with Chbosky, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Lerman said the close relationship between Chbosky and the cast really brought the film together.

“It was really nice to have a close relationship with Steve in that process and just sitting down weekly and just talking about casting and figuring out who would be a part of the young cast,” Lerman said. “We were both going into it nervous. I was nervous about working on my character, and he was nervous about making a film for the first time, so we complemented each other a little bit.”

No-preference freshman Megan Crawford said she is excited to see the movie because she loves the book and trusts that Chbosky will parallel the film adaptation to the book.

“It’s one of my favorites, so I’m really excited to see just how well they translate the entire thing to the big screen,” Crawford said.

“I think I’m most looking forward to all the ‘Rocky Horror’ scenes. I’m intrigued to see how Emma Watson’s going to do with her role as Sam.”

Genomics and molecular genetics sophomore Maria Watson disagreed, saying she thinks not having read the book will enhance her moviegoing experience.

“I think not reading the book will probably make the movie even better, because I won’t know all the details from the book that they’ve omitted or changed,” Watson said.

Lerman, who read the book before filming, said that he feels the movie was true to the material. He said more than anything, he hopes people get entertainment out of it. Watson said she was entertained by the trailer.

“When I first saw the trailer, I wanted to see it mainly because of Logan being the main character,” Watson said.

“But as I watched, I realized that I really loved the storyline, and I found myself relating to it.”
Lerman said he experienced this relatability as he got to know the characters.

“I feel like, at least from my perspective, I know all these people,” Lerman said.

“I’ve known all those characters throughout my life, and they’re very similar to everybody involved. There’s common issues and themes and things that are going on in the film. The themes are relatable because they’re things that everyone is going through in life at that age of discovering who you are and figuring out what you want to do. It’s such a big thing.”

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” opens Friday.