Sandler confirms: Ansel Elgort is wicked hot

The crowd outside the world premiere of Men, Women & Children at the Toronto Film Festival on Saturday was overrun with tween girls who shrieked, hyperventilated and begged Ansel Elgort for autographs. Fresh from the success of The Fault in Our Stars, the doe-eyed heartthrob received the kind of welcome that would be all too familiar to Robert Pattinson. Elgort appeared to be too busy catering to his lustful fans to talk to print media, but co-star Adam Sandler made it clear he’s not the jealous type.

“I’ll give it all to Ansel,” Sandler said. “I love that kid. He’s a sweet kid and it’s just a nice energy to be around. He wasn’t a superstar when we shot this movie but now he’s certainly having a good time.”

Men, Women & Children is a cross-generational story about the ways that social media and technology are make it difficult for people to connect on a human level even as they break down barriers to communication. In a departure, Sandler plays an unhappily married man who becomes increasingly reliant on internet adult sites. 50 First Dates it decidedly is not. But Sandler seemed energised by the challenge of working with Juno and Up in the Air director Jason Reitman.

“I like being part of other people’s vision,” he said. “It’s nice that they want to bring me on that ride.” The film is discomfiting and demanding, but Reitman said the audiences at Toronto are up to the challenge. “You get audiences here that are just as keen to be pushed as they are to be entertained,” said Reitman. “I can bring a film that’s going to make people laugh and also is going to make them walk out of the theater with questions in their head.”

Sandler made it clear that his work in the picture had left him feeling more vigilant and aware of the challenges of parenting in the internet age. “There’s a lot of stuff out there as a parent you’re nervous about — schools, friends, what they’re getting into,” he said. “This is just another thing to keep an eye on and it’s there every day to watch.”

Jennifer Garner plays an overly protective parent in the film. In real life she said she only uses the Internet to search for recipes, and still demands handwritten letters from nieces and nephews.

“I don’t even use this stuff at all, so I’m so behind I have to get on all these things before my daughters are wanting to be on Instagram or Facebook or whatever, is it Timbler or Tumblr? It’s terrifying as a parent to face this whole new world of technology,” she said at a press conference for the film.

Elgort said it’s a misconception that children know more about technologies than adults. “You say the parents aren’t (on top of) it, but the kids aren’t” always either. There’s a big learning curve for everyone,” he said. Elgort confided that he got his first smartphone at age 15. He is 20 years old. “It’s so crazy how it’s changed things in such a short period of time,” he said.