Cara Delevingne in first lead role

DOES AN ABOUT- FACE

“Paper Towns” is a film about coming of age.

“I don’t like quitting. Even if it’s impossible and I’m never going to achieve what I want to achieve, I will still carry on. I can’t stop.”

The door inside the Greenwich Hotel room opens, and in strides Cara Delevingne post- workout, her wet hair wrapped in a gray towel, wearing a matching robe, her feet bare, her face equally scrubbed.

In person, Delevingne is nothing like her kooky, exuberant Instagram presence, which features myriad shots of her sticking out her tongue ( with Wonder Woman Gal Gadot or pal Kendall Jenner) and boasts 15.7 million followers.

She’s sleepy, repeatedly yawning, slapping herself on the face to stay awake. And she’s starving, promptly opening up the Nobu takeout containers assembled in front of her and digging into the creamy spicy shrimp.

“I’m OK. I’m good. This is what I wanted to do forever, so I can’t complain,” she says. “I hate complaining.”

She just flew in from Toronto, where she’s playing Enchantress in the upcoming DC supervillains movie Suicide Squad, and has switched gears to promote Paper

Towns, the adaptation of John Green’s coming- of- age novel. It’s the supermodel’s first lead role, playing magnetic, mysterious high school senior Margo, who goes missing to the obsessive dismay of her neighbor Quentin ( Nat Wolff).

“She’s very clever, extremely creative, wise beyond her years, but she’s also still a kid. She’s an amazing role. Why wouldn’t I want to play her?” says Delevingne, 22. “John has so many amazing, loyal fans and I knew some of them would be shocked by the choice of me playing Margo. You don’t want to disappoint.”

Those expecting the catwalk version of Delevingne will be surprised at how de- glammed and restrained she is in the film.

“I don’t think her Instagram persona is inauthentic. She can be spontaneous and she can be wild. In real life, she’s a tremendously intelligent, introspective, thoughtful person,” Green says. “The whole movie is about how we do a terrible job imagining what it’s like to be other people. No one understands that better than Cara.”

At this moment, she’s just struggling to stay alert. Delev- ingne rubs her eyes. “I’m always hungry, I’m always tired,” she says before launching into a funny story of the time she lost her phone and embarked on an epic journey through nighttime London to find it. It cuts to the heart of Delevingne, who is perseverance personified.

“I don’t like quitting. Even if it’s impossible and I’m never going to achieve what I want to achieve, I will still carry on. I can’t stop,” she says.

These days, Delevingne, who is open about being bisexual, is dating musician St. Vincent ( Annie Clark) and says her relationship is her respite from the craziness of fame. “After you fall in love, you realize that kind of stuff is meaningless. It’s fun and you can get your kicks. It doesn’t help when you feel alone and want someone,” she says.

“In this job, you need support. Finding someone that I can just be like, ‘ I need you,’ that’s the nicest thing.”

Supermodel Cara Delevingne has her first lead film role as a mysterious high school senior who vanishes in Paper Towns.

ROBERT HANASHIRO, USA TODAY JAMES BRIDGES, TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM Delevingne is Margo and Nat Wolff is Quentin in the film based on John Green’s novel.