John Green's 'Turtles All The Way Down' Finally Coming To Max This Spring!

John Green fans, rejoice! The film adaptation of Green’s 2017 novel Turtles All the Way Down is coming to Max this Spring! The novel is about a teenage girl named Aza who navigates friendship, romance, and mystery-solving while also dealing with intense symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder. The young adult novel handles Aza’s struggles with mental illness tactfully and realistically. Green himself struggles with OCD, and he portrays it in a manner that is understandable for a wide audience while not diluting the severity of the disorder. The plot covers the usual young adult themes of school and first love but also has the twists of a missing billionaire and a tuatara (a type of rare reptile that is only found in New Zealand and resembles an iguana).

Turtles All the Way Down is unique and true to Green’s style. There is always the concern that film adaptations won’t live up to the standard of the book, but this movie has received Green’s stamp of approval. In a Tweet from November 2022, he gushed about the film. He called it “so beautiful and hilarious and heartfelt and honest.” 

While Green does not play a role in casting actors for the adaptations of his novels, he has praised the cast online. He also hosted video conversations on his YouTube channel with the film’s two leading actresses and director. Here’s a bit of background about them in case you want to get acquainted with the cast before the film’s debut.

Isabela Merced plays the main protagonist, Aza Holmes. She was also in the film adaptation of Green’s 2008 novel Let It Snow, which is on Netflix. Her most recent role is in Madame Web, which is in theatres now. Aza is a complex character. Her story balances common themes like crushes and shifting friendship dynamics with a mystery plot, and the entire storyline is influenced by her struggles with mental illness. Merced is a talented actress, and there is no doubt that her performance will capture the essence of the character’s highs and lows. 

Cree Cicchino is a former Nickelodeon actress who had a main role on the show “Game Shakers”. She also starred in the 2020 Netflix series “Mr. Iglesias” and the Netflix movie The Sleepover in the same year. In Turtles All the Way Down, she portrays Daisy Ramirez, Aza’s best friend who is a hard worker, quirky fan-fiction writer, and mystery pursuer. Daisy brings a level of comic relief to the novel. She is a solid guiding force for Aza and an important fixture of the plot. Cicchino’s passion and energy as a performer make her perfect for this role.

Hannah Marks is the film’s director. She has previously worked as an actress, been nominated for two Young Artist Awards, and she was named one of Rolling Stone's “25 Under 25 Artists Changing the World” in 2017. Marks is a talented and passionate director, and we know her creative vision has done justice to the best selling novel. 

An official trailer has not been released yet, but Green and Max have shared promotional stills from the movie. This movie has been long in the making, but the wait is almost over. It is clearly a passion project all around, and the enthusiasm of everyone involved has us overjoyed!