--- description: Ansel Elgort has signed on to play pianist Van Cliburn in an upcoming film about the musician’s life. title: VIDEO: Ansel Elgort To Play Virtuoso Pianist Van Cliburn image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab45c25b65430660/6986990f35ba6f47dfc02be7/ansel-elgort.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Ansel Elgort to Play Virtuoso Pianist Van Cliburn by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 24, 2014 3:57 PM CUT  Ansel Elgort in a scene from "Divergent." Ansel Elgort in a scene from "Divergent."Jaap Buitendijk—Summit Entertainment/AP by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 24, 2014 3:57 PM CUT Ansel Elgort, the star of 2014’s _The Fault In Our Stars_, [tweeted](https://twitter.com/AnselElgort/status/481122983340023811 "undefined") out a teaser for his latest movie role Tuesday. The 20-year-old is set to take on the role of piano virtuoso Van Cliburn in the biopic based on the 1993 novel by Howard Reich, which tells the story of Cliburn’s formative years and his success, aged 23, at the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. Cliburn’s performance in the competition is said to have impressed Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and led to an easing of tensions at the time between the United States and the USSR. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2917530/ansel-elgort-van-cliburn/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2917530/ansel-elgort-van-cliburn/"},"headline":"Ansel Elgort to Play Virtuoso Pianist Van Cliburn","datePublished":"2014-06-24T15:57:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:35:38.723Z","description":"The Fault in our Stars actor has signed on to play the celebrated 1950s ivory-tickler in an upcoming film about the musician’s life","url":"https://time.com/2917530/ansel-elgort-van-cliburn/","keywords":["celebrities","movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab45c25b65430660/6986990f35ba6f47dfc02be7/ansel-elgort.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab45c25b65430660/6986990f35ba6f47dfc02be7/ansel-elgort.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ansel Elgort in a scene from \"Divergent.\"","caption":"Ansel Elgort in a scene from \"Divergent.\"","creditText":"Jaap Buitendijk—Summit Entertainment/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2917530/ansel-elgort-van-cliburn/","name":"Ansel Elgort to Play Virtuoso Pianist Van Cliburn"}}]}] ```