The Fault in Our Stars (film)

The Fault in Our Stars is a 2014 American coming-of-age romance film directed by Josh Boone from a screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by John Green. The film stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, with Laura Dern, Sam Trammell, Nat Wolff, and Willem Dafoe in supporting roles. The story centers on a sixteen-year-old cancer patient, played by Woodley, forced by her parents to attend a support group, where she meets and subsequently falls in love with another cancer patient, played by Elgort.

Development began in January 2012 when Fox 2000 Pictures optioned the film adaptation rights to adapt the novel into a feature film. Principal photography began on August 26, 2013, in Pittsburgh, with a few additional days in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, before concluding on October 16. Pittsburgh doubled for all of the scenes set in Indianapolis, Indiana, the novel's setting, as well as for some interior scenes set in Amsterdam.

The Fault in Our Stars had its premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 16, 2014, and was released in the United States on June 6 by 20th Century Fox to favorable reviews, with praise being given to Woodley's and Elgort's performances and chemistry together, as well as the screenplay. The film opened at number one at the box office during its opening weekend and grossed $307.2 million worldwide against a production budget of $12 million. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 16, 2014, and earned $42 million in total domestic video sales.

Indianapolis teenager Hazel Grace Lancaster is living with thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs. Believing she is depressed, her mother urges her to attend a weekly cancer patient support group.

There, Hazel meets Augustus "Gus" Waters who is at the support group for his friend Isaac, who has eye cancer. Gus lost a leg to bone cancer but has since gone into remission.

Hazel and Gus bond over their hobbies and agree to read each other's favorite books. He gives her The Prince of Dawn, while she recommends An Imperial Affliction, a novel about a cancer-stricken girl named Anna that parallels Hazel's own experience, but has an abrupt ending. Its author, Peter Van Houten, retreated to Amsterdam following the novel's publication and has not been heard from since.

Weeks later, Gus tells Hazel he has tracked down Van Houten's assistant, Lidewij, and has been corresponding with Van Houten via email. He will only willingly answer their questions in person. Gus then surprises Hazel with tickets to Amsterdam, acquired from a wish charity organization. After a medical setback, Hazel's doctors eventually allow the trip.

Hazel and Gus arrive in Amsterdam, where he declares his love for her during a romantic meal sponsored by Van Houten. The following afternoon they go to his house, but are shocked to discover he is a mean-spirited alcoholic. It is revealed that the emails from Van Houten had actually come from Lidewij, who arranged the meeting without Van Houten's knowledge. He taunts Hazel for seeking serious answers to a piece of fiction and belittles her medical condition.

Distraught, the teens leave the residence, but Lidewij follows after them and invites them to go sightseeing to compensate for their ruined experience. The three of them visit the Anne Frank House, where Hazel and Gus share their first kiss. They return to Augustus' hotel room, where they lose their virginity to each other. The next day, Gus reveals to Hazel that his cancer has returned and metastasized, so is now terminal.

After their return to Indianapolis, Gus' health continues to deteriorate. Gus invites Hazel and Isaac to his "pre-funeral" so that they can both deliver their prepared eulogies, during which she tells him she would not trade their short time together for anything. Gus dies eight days later.

At his funeral, Van Houten arrives and reveals that Gus had demanded that he attend the funeral. He apologizes for his hostile treatment of them and explains that An Imperial Affliction was inspired by his own daughter, Anna, who died from leukemia at a young age.

The author gives Hazel a piece of paper, which she initially crumples up and discards in the car. She later retrieves it after Isaac reveals that it was a letter from Gus, who had asked for Van Houten's assistance in writing a eulogy for Hazel.

Hazel reads the letter, in which Gus accepts his fate and professes his love for her. As she finishes the letter, she lies on her back on the lawn in her backyard and looks up at the stars, smiling.

On January 31, 2012, it was announced that Fox 2000 Pictures, a division of 20th Century Fox, had optioned the rights to adapt John Green's novel The Fault in Our Stars for a feature film. Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen were due to produce the film with their production company, Temple Hill Entertainment. Stephen Chbosky, who directed The Perks of Being a Wallflower (also filmed in Pittsburgh), was in talks to direct the film but turned it down because of its similarity to Perks. On February 19, 2013, Josh Boone was hired as director; Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber were hired to adapt the novel into a screenplay—their second adaptation for Fox, following Rosaline, though Rosaline did not release until 2022.

On March 19, 2013, Entertainment Weekly announced that Shailene Woodley would play Hazel Grace Lancaster. Director Josh Boone said, "We read close to 150 actresses for the role, and I saw about 50 of those. Within ten or fifteen seconds of Shailene's audition, I knew she was Hazel. She held up her script pages and just her eyes were peeking over them." On May 10, 2013, Ansel Elgort was cast as Hazel's love interest, Augustus Waters. On July 23, Laura Dern was cast as Hazel's mother Frannie Lancaster, and Nat Wolff as Isaac, Augustus' best friend. Wolff told HuffPost Live, "It's exciting, I feel really lucky. The fact that I get to work with these super talented people—I mean, that's part of the reason why, I'm good in the movie, that's the reason." On August 14, Sam Trammell was cast as Hazel's father Michael Lancaster, and on August 28, author John Green announced that Mike Birbiglia would be playing Patrick. On September 6, he tweeted that Willem Dafoe would play Peter van Houten.

Prior to these announcements, author John Green had tweeted that he would be happy if Mae Whitman played Hazel, and in February 2013, there had been speculation that Shailene Woodley and Hailee Steinfeld were among those being considered for the lead role.

John Green filmed a cameo appearance; his scene was cut from the film but is included in the deleted scenes section of the film's DVD and Blu-ray releases. In the cut scene, Green plays the father of a young girl who asks about Hazel's cannula while at the airport. Green said, "They cut [the scene] because it was totally unnecessary to the movie-slash-I was terrible."

Principal photography began on August 26, 2013, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Film locations included Oakmont, Pennsylvania, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and the historic The Mansions on Fifth hotel. The church scenes were filmed at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon. Filming in Pennsylvania continued until October 10; then the production moved to Amsterdam, where filming began on October 14. Filming was officially completed on October 16, 2013.

In Amsterdam, three days of filming took place. Woodley and Elgort were filmed on a canal-side public bench. On July 2, 2014, The Guardian reported that the bench had gone missing, and city officials said they did not know where it was. Amsterdam city spokesman, Stephan van der Hoek said, "It's a bit embarrassing, because we do keep good track of them, but it's gone all right". He promised to install a new bench within weeks. Just a week later, Entertainment Weekly said the Amsterdam film office had tweeted a photograph taken during the re-installation of the stolen bench; Amsterdam film commissioner Simon Brester said it was the same bench, not a replacement.

Filming in Pittsburgh included the interior scenes at the Anne Frank House, which was recreated on a soundstage at Pittsburgh Studios located in Churchill, Pennsylvania, in the east suburbs of Pittsburgh. Production designer Molly Hughes and art director Greg Weimerskirch built three different studio sets in Pittsburgh, one for each floor. Also, the Funky Bones art monument in Indianapolis was recreated in Pittsburgh with the help of the sculpture's creator, Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout.

Author John Green, though an Indianapolis native, was pleased with the selection of Pittsburgh for filming. He commented that

Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott of Bright Eyes scored the film. The full album track list was released on April 13, 2014, featuring songs from artists including: M83, Grouplove, Kodaline, Jake Bugg, Tom Odell, Birdy, Ed Sheeran and Charli XCX, who performed "Boom Clap", one of the main songs from the movie, which became an international success, due in part to its exposure in the film. The soundtrack was released by Atlantic Records on May 19 in the U.S., and on June 23 in the UK.

The Fault in Our Stars premiered to 300 guests at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City on June 2, 2014. At the premiere, Green said: "I didn't want to sell it, because Hollywood sucks at making unsentimental movies about illness." The film was released on June 6, 2014.

After the New York premiere, Evangeline Earl, a student, announced that Green's book, from which the film was adapted, had been inspired by her sister Esther Earl, who had also been an author. Esther had thyroid cancer and died in 2010. Evangeline said Esther had met Green at LeakyCon, a Harry Potter convention held in Boston in 2009. Green said, "I could never have written The Fault in Our Stars without knowing Esther. Every word on that book depends on her." Green said he used the word "okay" in the book and the film because Hazel and Augustus used it to express their love for each other.