“When I did a study of all the coming-of-age movies that meant a lot to me, whether it was 'The Graduate' or 'Rebel Without a Cause' or 'Dead Poet's Society,' they all had that timeless feel. None of them were completely married to the details of their age. They felt timeless in their treatment of it. That's what made them resonate with me.”

American film director, screenwriter, and author

Stephen Chbosky is an American film director, screenwriter, and author. He is best known for the bestselling coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, published in 1999, and for writing and directing its 2012 film adaptation. He later directed Wonder in 2017 and the film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen in 2021. In 2019, he published his first psychological horror novel, Imaginary Friend.