Internet-famous young adult writer John Green is on his way to getting all of his books adapted into movies. First, there was the smash hit The Fault In Our Stars starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, then the same filmmakers took on Green’s less popular Paper Towns , which comes out in June. Now, the same team will be adapting John Green’s first novel, Looking For Alaska.
Looking For Alaska tells the story of a boarding school student named Miles (nicknamed Pudge) who meets the damaged but beautiful girl of his dreams, Alaska Young. The story is set at Culver Creek Preparatory School, which is based on the boarding school John Green attended. Watch John Green visit the location that inspired Looking For Alaska in the video below.
The book was optioned for a film adaptation a long time ago, as announced by John Green on his popular YouTube video blog show, the Vlogbrothers , but is only just now going forward with production.
According to Entertainment Weekly , the screenplay for Looking For Alaska will be written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the same guys who penned the scripts for The Fault In Our Stars and Paper Towns. At this point, John Green and the men behind the other adaptations have a pretty good relationship, so it’s likely Looking For Alaska will be fairly faithful to the book. The screenwriters claim that key elements of the Looking For Alaska will stay the same.
John Green announced the news of Looking For Alaska coming to the big screen via his Twitter account, and he seems to be as excited as his fans.
(Previous retweet: VERY VERY GOOD NEWS. The same people behind the TFIOS and Paper Towns movies will be working on Looking for Alaska!)
— John Green (@johngreen) February 27, 2015
According to the Hollywood Reporter , like past John Green films, Looking For Alaska will be produced by Temple Hill , which has signed a deal with Paramount studios.
The original novel Looking For Alaska was published in 2005, and has since become a fan favorite. It won the Printz Award for Young Adult literature in 2006. Like The Fault In Our Stars , the book is famous for being both uplifting and heartbreaking . So until the film version of Alaska comes out, be careful to avoid spoilers on the internet.
In addition to adapting John Green novels, Neustadter and Weber are also credited with writing 500 Days of Summer and The Spectacular Now. Temple Hill was responsible for producing another Young Adult adaptation, The Maze Runner , and Nicholas Sparks’ The Longest Ride.
If past John Green adaptations are any indication, Looking For Alaska will begin shooting within a few months and release only a year later.
