Turtles All the Way Down (film)

Turtles All the Way Down is a 2024 American romantic drama film based on the 2017 novel of the same name by John Green. The film is directed by Hannah Marks from a screenplay by Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker, and stars Isabela Merced. The story centers on a 16-year-old with obsessive–compulsive disorder who pursues the disappearance of a billionaire.

The project began development at Fox 2000 Pictures in December 2017, with Berger and Aptaker announced as screenwriters and Marks set to direct it in January 2019. Because The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox 2000 Pictures, Disney closed Fox 2000 and put the project into turnaround, until it was eventually acquired by New Line Cinema. Merced, who had starred in another adaptation of Green's work, Let It Snow (2019), was announced in March 2022. Principal photography began in April of the same year in Cincinnati and ended in June.

Turtles All the Way Down was released on May 2, 2024, on the streaming service Max.

Premise
When a sixteen-year-old struggling with obsessive–compulsive disorder reconnects with her childhood crush, she confronts the possibility of finding love and happiness in the face of mental illness.

Cast

 * Isabela Merced as Aza Holmes
 * Cree as Daisy
 * Felix Mallard as Davis
 * Maliq Johnson as Mychal
 * Poorna Jagannathan as Dr. Kira Singh
 * Judy Reyes as Gina
 * J. Smith-Cameron as Professor Abbott
 * Hannah Marks as Holly
 * Debby Ryan as Quinn
 * John Green as Mr. Adler
 * Jason Kientz as Mark Holmes

Production
Turtles All the Way Down was optioned by Fox 2000 Pictures upon the publication of the novel in 2017, with John Green and Rosianna Halse Rojas as executive producers. Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker were announced as screenwriters in May 2018 and Hannah Marks was announced as director in January 2019. After The Walt Disney Company acquired and subsequently closed Fox 2000 Pictures, the project was put into turnaround until it was eventually acquired by New Line Cinema with distribution rights later passing to the streaming service HBO Max, which would subsequently be replaced by Max. The film is also produced by Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, and Isaac Klausner of Temple Hill Entertainment which also produced screen adaptations of Green's previous novels.

Isabela Merced, who had previously starred in another adaptation of Green's work, Let It Snow (2019), was announced in March 2022, and Judy Reyes, Cree Cicchino, Felix Mallard, J. Smith-Cameron, Poorna Jagannathan, and Maliq Johnson were announced as part of the cast in the following months.

Principal photography began in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 26, 2022, and ended in June.

In January 2024, it was announced that the film would have a "First Look" at the Savannah College of Art and Design's SCAD TVfest in Atlanta on February 9, 2024.

Release
Turtles All the Way Down was released on Max on May 2, 2024.

Reception
Adrian Horton of The Guardian awarded the movie three stars out of five and wrote that it "struggles to find a balance between relatable teenage angst and heightened vessel for emotions that feel bigger than life", but complimented the depiction of thought spirals from obsessive compulsive disorder and Merced's performance.