The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
Trivia
Nat Wolff wore blinding contacts which blurred his vision to better portray his role as Isaac.
Author John Green based the character Hazel on a young girl named Esther Earl who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Green met her during a Harry Potter convention in 2009 noticing her carrying an oxygen tank. He came to like her because of some of the videos she put up on YouTube as well as her humor and openness. From the time they met to her death at the age of 16 in 2010, Green and Earl would exchange correspondence.
The title is a variation on a quote from Act I, Scene II of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Cassius says "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves..."
A replica of the interiors of the Anne Frank house had to be built as the movie was denied permission to film inside the actual house.
Green added via Twitter about Shailene Woodley's audition for the role of Hazel, "There were so many amazing auditions for the role of Hazel, but Shailene's love for the book and her understanding of Hazel blew me away."
Shailene Woodley insisted that her friend Ansel Elgort read not just the script but also the novel before his first meeting with the filmmakers. "I thought, 'If I tell her I haven't read it, she'll be mad during our audition and it would be a mess,'" Elgort recalls. "So I literally read it for Shailene".
Shailene Woodley wrote impassioned letters to author John Green and director Josh Boone. "If I'm passionate about something, I'll do everything I can to try to be a part of it," Woodley asserts. Although Green didn't initially picture Woodley for the part, he "was blown away" when she read for him. "We were all crying. It was actually sort of bad," he laughs. "But it was hers from that moment on."
John Green was actually present most of the time during filming to give tips and advice to the cast.
Shailene Woodley cut her waist-long hair, which she needs for her role as Tris in The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015), to a pageboy haircut and was not able to wear a wig. She donated the hair to a local childrens hospital that makes wigs for the kids.
In the book, Gus says that he was originally interested in Hazel because she looked like his ex-girlfriend, who died from a brain tumor. He explains that his ex was very mean to him (called him "stumpy," etc.) because she didn't know what she was saying (due to the tumor). In the movie, his ex is not mentioned.
Soon after the film's release, the street bench on which Gus and Hazel had their embrace was stolen. A few months later, it was replaced by the city of Amsterdam. Since the film's release, the bench had quickly become something of a landmark for fans of the film, where they frequently come to take pictures of themselves while re-enacting the scene.
The Oranjee sequence was intended to be shot on location in Amsterdam and outdoors. Yet production designer Molly Hughes eventually decided to have a replica set built back in Pittsburgh as, during her location scout trip, she assessed that the constant poor weather in Amsterdam in mid-October would make it tough to film. Hughes and the filmmakers were also unable to obtain permission to film on location at the Anne Frank house. These location sets, as well as the interior entrance hallway of the Peter Van Houten house, were built on a sound-stage in Pittsburgh.
The character of Augustus Waters originally had deep blue eyes according to John Green's novel but in the film, Ansel Elgort retained his natural, hazel colored eyes.
John Green endorsed Mae Whitman as his initial casting choice for the role of Hazel Lancaster.
In the book, Augustus describes Hazel as resembling Natalie Portman from V for Vendetta (2005). Although this is never mentioned in the movie, a poster of V for Vendetta can be seen in Gus' bedroom.
In the book, Augustus introduces Hazel to his favourite band The Hectic Glow and they listen to their music together. Even though this conversation is never shown in the movie, the band's poster can still be seen on the wall in Hazel's bedroom.
Before Shailene Woodley was cast, Hailee Steinfeld, Liana Liberato and Mary Kate Wiles were considered for the lead role.
The book that the two main characters discuss, analyze and center around is called 'An Imperial Affliction' by Peter Van Houten. This book does not exist in reality.
In Gus' room, a sign of a car about to hit a cow with the word BEWARE can be seen. This may be an allusion to John Green's other novel Paper Towns, in which the characters nearly run into a cow.
Laura Dern and Willem DaFoe did not make the trip to film in Amsterdam. All scenes with them were filmed in Pittsburgh.
The screenplay for this film was featured in the 2012 Blacklist; a list of the "most liked" unmade scripts of the year.
In the egg throwing scene, a street sign shows Eaton Drive. The house that received the thrown eggs is located at 1304 Summit Drive in the Pittsburgh suburb of Oakmont, opposite the T intersection with Eaton Drive.
Both Peter Van Houten and actor Willem Dafoe who plays him, are Americans with Dutch names.
Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort were the only American cast members who actually made the trip to film in Amsterdam.
The character Isaac originally had blonde hair in John Green's novel, but Nat Wolff retained his natural black hair in the film.
The scenes involving the Peter Van Houten home in Amsterdam were shot in 3 locations. The street exterior scenes with Hazel and Gus were actually filmed on Vondelstraat in Amsterdam including outside address 162. When the shot cuts to the door opening and the inside stairs and entryway are seen, this was a recreated set on a sound-stage in Pittsburgh. Once the characters are inside the living room of the house talking, these shots were filmed in a house in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood.
About 2 minutes into the film, we see Hazel watching an episode of The X-Files. Hollywood A.D. to be exact.
Nickelodeon posters are seen in the game room. Nat Wolff (Isaac) was in The Naked Brothers Band (2007), a Nickelodeon show.
The interior scene of the hotel lobby, supposedly in Amsterdam, is really the interior of the McCook Mansion on 5th Ave in Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood - now a Bed and Breakfast.
Although this is the first film to be successfully adapted from a John Green novel (his fifth), it is not the first to have its film rights be sold. In 2005, the film rights for Green's debut novel, Looking for Alaska, was purchased by Paramount. Although the success of The Fault in Our Stars has reignited interest in Paramount to start production, Green revealed in 2016 that "It has always fallen apart of one reason or another."
(at around 1 min 36 sec) While Hazel and her mother are at the mall, on the table between them are two plastic giraffes humping. This may be an Easter egg for the nerdfighters, the name for vlogbrothers fans. The two giraffes refer to the fact that the vlogbrothers placed giraffe sex thumbnails on some of their videos even though they have nothing to do with the videos' content.
Willem Dafoe starred in Spider-man (2002) as the Marvel villain Green Goblin. Shailene Woodley starred as Mary-Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 but her scenes were cut.
Dutch actress Lotte Verbeek actually filmed most of her scenes in Pittsburgh as Pittsburgh doubled for many scenes set in Amsterdam. This would include the interior of Peter Van Houten's house as well as the interior of the Anne Frank House. She returned to Pittsburgh a year later to work on The Last Witch Hunter (2015).
The film that Hazel and Gus watch together on the plane is Aliens (1986).
Nat Wolff later appeared in The Stand (2020) as Lloyd Henreid, a role previously played by Miguel Ferrer. Ansel Elgort later appeared in West Side Story (2021) as Tony, the role originally played by Richard Beymer. Laura Dern appeared on Twin Peaks: The Return (2017) with both Ferrer and Beymer.
Cameo
John Green: the father of the blonde girl talking to Shailene Woodley's character at the airport before the departure to Amsterdam.
Spoilers
The t-shirt Hazel is seen wearing the night Gus dies is the same one that Gus wears the first time they meet.
A scene in the book but absent in the film had Gus and his mother in a shouting match. This would have taken place just before Gus and Hazel were seen at the airport departing to Amsterdam. If this scene was included, it would have provided the earliest hint of Gus' cancer relapse.
At a point of the movie, Peter Van Houten ( Willem Dafoe ) talks to Hazel about the Trolley Problem. The Trolley Problem is a mental exercise in ethics presented by Philippa Foot in 1967. It poses a situation involving a runaway trolley that is bearing down on a group of five incapacitated people laying on one set of tracks while a single incapacitated person lays on a parallel track. You have the option to pull a lever and switch the trolley to the parallel track. You are then faced with the dilemma of doing nothing, in which case five people will die, or pulling the lever, in which case one person will die.
While Van Houten might have been referring to the most obvious meaning of this exercise, he might have been referring to its deeper meaning instead, which is not about sacrificing someone else, but having the moral courage to sacrifice oneself and to be willing to suffer the consequences by confronting the problem at all. The focus of the Trolley Problem is not on the victims but on the person confronted with the problem.
While Van Houten might have been referring to the most obvious meaning of this exercise, he might have been referring to its deeper meaning instead, which is not about sacrificing someone else, but having the moral courage to sacrifice oneself and to be willing to suffer the consequences by confronting the problem at all. The focus of the Trolley Problem is not on the victims but on the person confronted with the problem.
In Divergent (2014), Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort play brother and sister, while in this movie, they play boyfriend and girlfriend who have sex.
In the movie Gus ends his letter with "Okay Hazel Grace" and Hazel answering with "Okay" while in the book it only ends with "I hope she likes hers" and Hazel answering "I do Augustus. I do."
The song that Peter van Houten plays when they meet is called "Bomfalleralla" with Afasi and Filthy. This is the uncensored version and contains a lot of profanity.
The movie glosses over Augustus' condition towards the end, whereas in the book, Hazel is shown as being a larger part of his illness. For example, in one scene, Augustus is shown as being embarrassed over the fact that Hazel had seen him vomit and pee himself in bed.
When Isaac (Nat Wolff) is with Augustus after breaking up with Monica, he sings the line "I've been breaking all the rules" which just happens to be a song by Nat and Alex Wolff named "Rules".
