On March 9, it was announced that John Green’s best-selling novel Turtles All The Way Down will be made into a movie. Although the book was published in 2017, it holds a very fond place in many readers’ hearts. Turtles All The Way Down follows Aza Holmes while she and her best friend, Daisy, try to find the missing Russell Pickett to get a large cash reward. To do this, they get in touch with Russell’s son, Davis, and develop an interesting relationship with him. However, while all of this is happening, Aza is dealing with her extreme anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and a general feeling of lack of control in her life.
Turtles All The Way Down is John Green’s next release after his extremely popular The Fault In Our Stars. Multiple John Green books have been adapted into movies in the past, such as The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska. Now, Turtles All The Way Down will follow! According to The Hollywood Reporter, it has been announced thus far that the movie will be available on HBO Max, and filming will begin in April. A release date has yet to be announced.
The adaptation was originally supposed to be produced by Fox 2000 and directed by Hannah Marks, as stated by Teen Vogue. However, the project hit a road bump when Disney bought 20th Century Fox, thus explaining the delay from the book release and the adaptation. It has now been taken up by HBO Max and is still being directed by Hannah Marks. Isabela Merced has been cast as the lead for this production and will be playing Aza Holmes. Merced is best known for her role as Dora in Dora and the Lost City of Gold, which premiered in theatres in 2019, and Sicario: Day of the Soldado,which premiered in 2018. Director, Hannah Marks, has experience acting, directing and even writing movies! She is best known for her lead role in the series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.
Despite the late announcement of the adaptation from the time the novel was released, this announcement has already stirred up a lot of excitement, including from John Green himself! Green posted a TikTok sharing the exciting news, stating, “Oh my god, I’m so excited.” Green has quite a large fanbase, with 1.7 million followers on TikTok alone. His rise to fame came primarily from the success of his novels but only continued to increase after the success of his very popular educational YouTube Channel “Crash Course” that he owns alongside his brother, Hank Green.
While this book has fun topics such as mystery and high school romance, it’s especially popular among young adults because of the important and heavier topics that are brought up within it. When this book was released, mental health and its importance were starting to become an important point of discussion, especially on social media. Furthermore, it not only validated many readers who struggle with OCD themselves but also helped explain just how intrusive it can be to people who do not have the mental illness.
Unfortunately, the production has not started filming yet, so it may be a while until it is officially released on HBO Max. However, this is very big and exciting news, so make sure to check for updates on this upcoming adaptation!
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