The Fault In Our Stars, affectionately known as TFIOS by fans, by John Green was released in January 2012. The book was Green’s fourth and quickly topped bestseller lists and garnered critical acclaim. The title is inspired by a famous line from Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar (act 1, scene 2). The nobleman Cassius says to Brutus, ‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.’ It’s that type of attention to literary detail and imaginative use of language that sparked the interest of Hollywood producer Wyck Godfrey.

Sometimes books are optioned before coming out for film adaptations, but it’s hard to imagine Hollywood being interested in a teen love story where the romantic lead has tubes in her nose for every frame of the picture. However, two weeks after the book came out, Godfrey approached Green while on tour in Hollywood and told him he wanted to buy the rights to the book for Fox 2000, a subsidiary of Fox. Green was skeptical at first, not wanting to see his story sanitized and the harsh realities of the illnesses airbrushed by happy endings.

As Green’s book tour progressed (and reached cult-like status of rock stars performing), screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber of 500 Days of Summer fame were brought on to adapt the book. Godfrey stayed in close contact with Green throughout, as did the writers, and everyone seemed relatively pleased with how the adaptation was progressing.

When Shailene Woodley signed on, the film was fast-tracked into production. Green was on set every day and attended almost every cast and crew dinner every evening. This is not typical of authors whose books are being adapted, and Green’s presence was felt through production rewrites and utter support of the performances. The film is set to come out 6/6 and has a killer soundtrack to boot. One of our favorite songs of the summer, Lykke Li’s “No One Ever Loved,” heads up the soundtrack. The film is already garnering rave reviews. Green’s experience with the process was so overwhelmingly positive that he’s already signed off on letting Fox 2000 adapt another one of his books into a movie. We’ll be on the look out for Paper Towns news, but in the meantime, we’re heading to the nearest theater to enjoy TFIOS!