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Paper Towns (film)

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Paper Towns
File:Temple Hill Entertainment - Paper Towns.png
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJake Schreier
Screenplay by
Produced by
  • Marty Bowen
  • Wyck Godfrey
Starring
CinematographyDavid Lanzenberg
Edited byJacob Craycroft
Music by
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • July 24, 2015 (2015-07-24) (North America)
Running time
109 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12 million[2]
Box office$38 million[3]

Paper Towns is a 2015 American mystery comedy-drama film, directed by Jake Schreier, and based on the 2008 novel of the same name by John Green. The film is written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the same team that wrote Green's first book film adaption, The Fault in Our Stars. The film stars Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne and was released on July 24, 2015 in the United States by 20th Century Fox.[4]

Plot

In Orlando, Florida, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen (Nat Wolff) lives next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman (Cara Delevinge), his childhood friend whom he has always been fascinated with ever since she moved in across the street. As young children, Quentin and Margo one day discover the corpse of a man who has committed suicide. Following this incident, the movie flashes forward to present-day Quentin and Margo, who are now high school students that have since drifted apart although Quentin still has feelings for her. One night, Margo appears at Quentin's bedroom window with a plan for revenge on her high school friends and boyfriend who she feels have betrayed her. She convinces Quentin to help her as she needs a getaway driver and some assistance.

To begin their mission, Margo and Quentin went shopping for a list of items needed to complete their plan. Margo and Quentin then visit her ex-boyfriend, Jase, and her best friend, Becca with whom he has been cheating with. Margo has Quentin call Becca's parents to inform them that their daughter is currently having sex with Jase in their basement. As a naked Jase attempts to escape the house, Quentin takes a picture of him. Margo and Quentin then break into Becca's home, graffiti a blue "M" for Margo on her wall, and leave a dead catfish in her basement to symbolize her betrayal. They then visit Lacey (Halston Sage), one of Margo's best friends. Margo assumes Lacey knew about Jase's affair with Becca and is hurt that she never told her. Margo and Quentin cover Lacey's parked car with Saran wrap and Margo leaves a note stating their friendship is over. They also visit Chuck Parson, the high school bully and Lacey's boyfriend. They sneak into his house, remove one of his eyebrows with hair removal cream, grafitti a blue "M" on the door and slather Vaseline on the door handle before running away as he is awaken from his sleep.

They then sneak into the SunTrust bank building and enter a conference room on one of the higher floors to see a panorama of Orlando. Here, Margo, for the first time, refers to Orlando and their subdivision as a "paper town". She describes it as "fake" and "not even hard enough to be made of plastic." They both return home and exchange a hug before parting ways. As the day ends, Quentin wonders if things will be different between them in the morning.

However, Margo does not show up to school that morning or the following and after several days, he realises she is missing while others including her parents presume that she has runaway only to come home eventually as she has before. Quentin and his friends, Ben (Austin Abrams) and Radar (Justice Smith) notice a poster of Woody Guthrie taped to the back of Margo's bedroom shades. They bribe her little sister, Ruthie, to let them in while her parents are not home, so that they can search through Margo's room. They believe that Margo has left clues behind for Quentin to find her. He soon finds a small piece of paper in his door hinge with an address. Hoping it will lead them to where Margo is, Quentin and his friends decide to skip school the following day to visit the address on the piece of paper. At this location, they find an old abandoned mini-mall that contains evidence of her recent presence.

Quentin eventually discovers how to find Margo's location. He matches up the holes from the tacks in the wall of the mini-mall to his map. This leads him to discover tha Margo has been hiding in a fictional town in New York called Agloe, which was created as a copyright trap by mapmakers. As a result, Quentin, Radar, Ben, Radar's girlfriend, Angela (Jaz Sinclair) and Lacey who still cares for Margo, decide to drive to New York to search for her. The group is put under a time constraint as they want to make it back to prom in time. During the road trip, Radar and Angela have sex for the first time while Lacey asks Ben out to prom as she has recently broken up with Chuck for not telling her about Jase and Becca.

Once they reach Agloe, they discover an old barn but no sign of Margo. They stay and wait for her but with not much time left, the group becomes frustrated and decides to head back to Florida except for a furious Quentin who refuses to leave without finding Margo. Eventually, Quentin hitches a ride to a nearby town where he purchases a bus ticket back to Florida. There, he sees Margo walk by and chases after her. Margo seems surprised by Quentin's presence. She explains that she had not left any of the clues for him to find her like he believed and that they were left simply to tell him that she is alright. She claims that she did not want to be found. Gradually, Quentin realizes that the image he had of her was as fake as the one that she had been emitting to everyone else. Quentin accepts that it was unfair for him to expect that Margo would live up to the perfect image he built of her. After their conversation, Margo decides to go to New York City. Quentin declares his love for Margo and wishes he could follow her but understands his responsibilities at home restrict him from doing so. They briefly kiss and vow to keep in touch before parting ways once again as Quentin catches the bus back to Florida. He makes it back just in time to join his friends at prom. It later shows Quentin, Radar and Ben all saying goodbye before going their separate ways for college. The movie ends with Quentin telling the stories he's heard about the whereabouts and adventures of Margo.

Cast

Production

Pre-production

Green announced in a 2008 vlog that the film rights to Paper Towns had been optioned by Mandate Pictures and Mr. Mudd.[5] He wrote the first draft of the screenplay.[6]

On March 24, 2014, Green announced via Twitter that Paper Towns would have the same studio (Fox 2000) and be written and produced by the same team that worked on The Fault in Our Stars.[7] On September 4, 2014, again via Twitter, Green announced that Jake Schreier would direct the film.[8]

Producer Wyck Godfrey said that the scene where Quentin and Margo break into Sea World would not be included in the film because of the release of the CNN documentary Blackfish. If this scene was included, people would possibly boycott and the box office would be low.[9] However, Green said during a blog that the scene would take place in a different location.[10]

Casting

On March 24, 2014, Green announced via Twitter that Nat Wolff would be playing Quentin "Q" Jacobsen, the protagonist of the story.[7] On September 16, 2014, Variety reported that Cara Delevingne would be playing Margo Roth Spiegelman[11] which was confirmed by Green on Twitter stating that "Delevingne's audition blew everyone away (including me!) and she understands Margo profoundly".[12] On October 9, 2014, Justice Smith, Austin Abrams, and Halston Sage were cast as Marcus "Radar", Ben Starling and Lacey Pemberton, respectively.[13] In addition, Jaz Sinclair was cast on October 15, 2014, as Angela, Radar's girlfriend.[14] On November 12, 2014, Cara Buono joined the cast as Jacobsen's mother, Connie.[15] Other cast members include Susan Macke Miller, Tom Hillmann and Meg Crosbie as Margo's mother, father and younger sister, respectively, Griffin Freeman as Jase, Margo's boyfriend, Caitlin Carver as Becca Arrington, a friend of Margo's, and Jim Coleman as Detective Otis Warren, who investigates Margo's disappearance.[16]

Filming

Although the novel is primarily set in Orlando, Florida, the tax incentives of North Carolina for filmmakers made it the affordable choice for principal photography according to Green. The crew was encouraged to finish filming before December 31, 2014, the date on which certain tax incentives would have expired.[17]

Filming began on November 3, 2014 in and around Charlotte, North Carolina and concluded on December 19, 2014.[18][19][20] On November 17–18, filming was due to take place at the Mooresville Arts Depot in Mooresville, but due to weather conditions the schedule was moved to November 18–19, where the film was shot on location all day, both days.[21] Production was set to be moved to Wilmington on December 2 to film the high school scenes among extras,[22] though due to a change in venue, filming began in Cabarrus County outside of Charlotte.[23] Crews were filming at Central Cabarrus High School in Concord, which was transformed into "Jefferson Park High School", December 2 through 8. Cast members dressed for warm weather even though it was cold.[24]

Release

The film was originally supposed to be released on July 31, 2015.[25] The date was later shifted to June 19.[4] The date was again shifted, to June 5, the day before the 1st anniversary of The Fault in Our Stars' film release.[26] Then again in March 2015, the release date was shifted to July 24, 2015, which was previously assigned to Poltergeist.[27]

Music

The soundtrack gathers new and previously released material from Twin Shadow, Santigold, Grouplove, HAIM, Vampire Weekend, The Mountain Goats, The War on Drugs, Galantis as well as Nat Wolff and his brother Alex Wolff. Atlantic Records President of Film and TV and Grammy Award-winning soundtrack producer Kevin Weaver and music supervisor Season Kent (both of whom worked on the soundtrack for The Fault in Our Stars in 2014) served as the soundtrack's producers.[28]

Charts
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[29] 44
US Billboard 200[30] 89
US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard)[31] 6

Reception

Box office

As of July 31, 2015, Paper Towns has grossed $20.8 million in North America and $17.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $38 million, against a budget of $12 million.[3]

In the United States and Canada, Paper Towns opened simultaneously with three other films, sci-fi Pixels, the sports Southpaw and the horror The Vatican Tapes on July 24, 2015, across 3,031 theaters. Box office pundits projected the film to earn around $20 million in its opening weekend, facing direct competition with Pixels and the holdovers of Ant-Man and Minions. Box office analysts also noted that it could have easily overperformed and had a higher debut, if teen girls – which are its primary target – would have embraced the film and word-of-mouth had gone viral.[2][32][33] Paper Towns made $2 million from its Thursday night showings, which began at 9 p.m. at 2,500 theaters;[34] 500 of the screens were preceded by a live-streaming event.[34] It then earned $6.3 million on its opening day from 3,301 theaters.[35][36] In its opening weekend, the film grossed $12.5 million and finished 6th at the box office, falling short of industry projections and earning much less than what The Fault in Our Stars, a 2014 adaption of John Green's novel of the same name, earned in its opening weekend ($48 million).[37]

It had a major worldwide release on July 24, 2015, in 34 markets grossing $7.9 million from 3,905 screens in 39 markets.[38] It opened in Brazil on July 10, 2015 – the first country to release the film – and earned $2.38 million in its opening weekend, from 630 screens, debuting at third place at the Brazilian box office, behind Minions and Terminator: Genisys. However, in terms of admissions, it was second behind the former film.[39] It had notable openings in Mexico ($1.54 million) and in Australia ($1.53 million).[40][38] It will be released in 18 additional countries in late July and early August, including Germany, Belgium and Netherlands.[38]

Critical response

Paper Towns has received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 55% approval rating, based on 82 reviews, with a rating average of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Paper Towns isn't as deep or moving as it wants to be, yet it's still earnest, well-acted, and thoughtful enough to earn a place in the hearts of teen filmgoers of all ages."[41] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 57 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[42] In CinemaScore polls conducted during its opening weekend, cinema audiences gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[36]

References

  1. ^ "PAPER TOWNS (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. July 16, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Pamela McClintock (July 21, 2015). "Box-Office Preview: 'Pixels,' 'Paper Towns' Prepare for Battle With 'Ant-Man,' 'Minions'". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Paper Towns (2015)". Box Office Mojo. (Amazon.com). Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  4. ^ a b Motsinger, Carol (October 27, 2014). "'Paper Towns' will begin filming in Charlotte next week". citizen-times.com. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  5. ^ Green, John (October 24, 2008). "Paper Towns Movie!!11!!!". Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  6. ^ Lighting Candles for Rwanda (at 2:48) on YouTube
  7. ^ a b Green, John (March 24, 2014). "Paper Towns will have the same screenwriters (@iamthepuma and @thisisweber), same producers (@wyckgodfrey), same studio, AND @natandalex". twitter.com. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  8. ^ Green, John (September 4, 2014). "EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT: The Paper Towns movie will be directed by the brilliant @jakeschreier, who previously made "Robot and Frank."". twitter.com. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  9. ^ Ford, Rebecca (January 16, 2015). "SeaWorld Scene Cut From John Green's 'Paper Towns' Film". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2015. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; January 23, 2015 suggested (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Is the Paper Towns Movie Like the Book? Thoughts on Adaptations on YouTube
  11. ^ Kroll, Justin (September 16, 2014). "Cara Delevingne Lands Female Lead in John Green's 'Paper Towns' (EXCLUSIVE)". variety.com. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  12. ^ Green, John (September 16, 2014). "Cara Delevigne's audition blew everyone away (including me!) and she understands Margo profoundly. I am so excited!". twitter.com. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  13. ^ Sims, Andrew (October 9, 2014). "'Paper Towns' casts Quentin's friends Radar, Lacey, and Ben". hypable.com. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  14. ^ Sims, Andrew (October 15, 2014). "'Paper Towns' adds Jaz Sinclair as Radar's girlfriend Angela". hypable.com. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  15. ^ Yamato, Jen (November 12, 2014). "'London Has Fallen' Adds 'Tyrant' Thesp; Cara Buono Joins 'Paper Towns'; DC Superhero Rumors Swirl". deadline.com. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  16. ^ Lindquist, David (November 27, 2014). "Meet 15 actors in the cast of 'Paper Towns' movie". indystar.com. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
  17. ^ Motsinger, Carol (September 25, 2014). "'Paper Towns' film adaptation coming to North Carolina". citizen-times.com. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  18. ^ Schreier, Jake (October 28, 2014). "Camera test. 7 days til day 1. #papertowns". instagram.com. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  19. ^ Lindquist, David (November 3, 2014). "Film shoot for John Green's 'Paper Towns' begins today". indystar.com. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
  20. ^ "'Paper Towns' has begun filming in Charlotte, NC". onlocationvacations.com. November 12, 2014. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
  21. ^ "Downtown movie filming delayed by weather". mooresvilletribune.com. November 16, 2014. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  22. ^ "John Green's 'Paper Towns' is about to move to Wilmington, NC & they need extras for a high school scene". onlocationvacations.com. November 24, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  23. ^ "'Paper Towns' is filming in Cabarrus County, NC this week". onlocationvacations.com. December 2, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  24. ^ "Central casting: High school has starring role in 'Paper Towns'". Independent Tribune. July 26, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  25. ^ Kilday, Gregg (August 1, 2014). "John Green's 'Paper Towns' Film Adaptation Gets Release Date". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  26. ^ McClurg, Jocelyn (December 23, 2014). "Author of the Year: John Green". USA Today. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  27. ^ Lesnick, Silas (March 4, 2015). "20th Century Fox Shifts Dates for Spy, Poltergeist and Paper Towns". comingsoon.net. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  28. ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/10/idUSnMKW9TCvca+1d8+MKW20150710
  29. ^ "ARIA Australian Top 50 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. July 27, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  30. ^ "Soundtrack Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  31. ^ "Soundtrack Chart History (Soundtrack Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  32. ^ Brent Lang (July 21, 2015). "Box Office: 'Pixels,' 'Paper Towns' Jump Into Crowded Summer Field". Variety. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  33. ^ Anthony D'Alessandro (July 21, 2015). "'Pixels', 'Paper Towns' & 'Southpaw' Vie For A Variety Of Demos – Box Office Preview". Deadline.com. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 22, 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  34. ^ a b Dave McNarry (July 24, 2015). "Box Office: 'Paper Towns' Tops 'Pixels' With $2 Million on Thursday Night". Variety. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  35. ^ Pamela McClintock and Rebecca Ford (July 24, 2015). "Box Office: 'Pixels' in Trouble; 'Southpaw' Could Beat 'Paper Towns'". The Hollywood Reporter. (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  36. ^ a b Anthony D'Alessandro (July 25, 2015). "Adam Sandler Wins Friday, But 'Ant-Man' Will Punch 'Pixels' Out Of No. 1 Spot – Late Night B.O. Update". Deadline.com. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 25, 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  37. ^ Scott Mendelson (July 26, 2015). "Box Office: Jake Gyllenhaal's 'Southpaw' Hits $16.5M Weekend, John Green's 'Paper Towns' Nabs $12.5M". Forbes. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  38. ^ a b c Nancy Tartaglione (July 27, 2015). "'Minions', 'Ant-Man' Grow In Actuals; 'Pixels' Powered By Latin America – Intl B.O. Final". Deadline.com. (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved July 28, 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  39. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (July 13, 2015). "'Minions' Henchmen Runs Past $400M Worldwide & No. 1; 'Terminator' Generates $46.5M; 'Baahubali', China See Big Bows – Intl B. O. Update". Deadline.com. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  40. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (July 20, 2015). "'Ant-Man' Shrinks A Tick; China's 'Monster' Smash Tops Overseas; 'Minions' No. 1 WW – Intl Box Office Actuals". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on July 20, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  41. ^ "Paper Towns". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  42. ^ "Paper Towns". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
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