User:Paneralover/Five Feet Apart

Release

The novel was published in November 2018 which allowed printing to begin in February of the following year. The first print run consisted of 90,000. These copies were used to promote the upcoming release of the film.

The film was released on March 15, 2019, by CBS Films via Lionsgate. The studio spent $12 million on prints and advertising.

Differences From the Book

The film Five Feet Apart is based on a novel written by Rachel Lippincott, Mikki Daughtry, Tobias Iaconis. The book was published on November 20, 2018 before it was turned into a motion picture. The movie stayed true to the majority of the book, but had a few discrepancies. A possible reason for this may have been due to the limited time available for screenplay.

In the book, each chapter alternates between the perspectives of Haley Lu Richardson's character, Stella, and Cole Sprouse's character, Will. The audience loses the ability to hear each of the character's thoughts throughout the movie. This lack of depth for each character creates some inconsistencies in the flow of the plot.

In the movie, the viewers find out that Stella's parents separated after her sister's sudden death, but they do not emphasize their strained relationship. In the book, Stella's parents will not even talk to each other. As a result, Stella goes out of her way to not burden or worry them. The viewers do not get to see the lengths Stella goes to protect her parents. For instance, in the book, Stella takes an Uber to the hospital when she gets sick and lies to her parents that the other drove her.

The audience gets to create an attachment to Stella Grant's best friend Poe Ramirez, played by Moisés Arias, as the story progresses. However, the film fails to include Poe's backstory. This is a large part of the book and it allows the readers to get a better understanding of Poe's character. Poe also has cystic fibrosis and has been at Saint Grace's Hospital as long as Stella has. Unlike Stella, Poe is alone because his parents have been deported back to Colombia. The watchers get a small glimpse of Poe's love life and his commitment issues with previous boyfriends when his ex boyfriend Michael is mentioned. The lack of background about Poe makes his ultimate end in the story less impactful than the book.

The ending of Five Feet Apart also differs between the movie and book. In the movie, Will gives an emotional goodbye to Stella once she wakes up from her lung transplant after rallying all her loved ones to put lights outside her window. On the other hand, the book has Will watching the YouTube video Stella made, similar to the movie, eight months after their break up. He is in the airport with his best friend waiting to go Rio when he sees Stella across the airport, waiting for her flight to Rome. They come together with six feet between them, then they close in to five. The book leaves an open ending for the readers to interpret for themselves what happens to the characters after.

Response from cystic fibrosis community

Responses from the cystic fibrosis community were mixed. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation welcomed the opportunity to raise awareness about the struggle many patients experience with the disease, while others found fault with the film's depiction of medically dangerous behavior. Others voiced concern about a terminal illness being romanticized and trivialized as a Hollywood teen romance plot device.

One doctor from Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital voiced their concern by stating the movie had false premises on the "six foot rule" to begin with. The doctor shared that the "six foot rule" was only accurate when outdoors. They continued to share that when indoors, the "six foot rule" would be ineffective due to the fact that hospitals have one AC system, speadring the bacteria in a closed system. According to Healthy Balance, by the University of Virginia, other myths about Cystic fibrosis are exposed during the film. It is portrayed that cystic fibrosis is contagous by cough when in fact, it is not. As well, the film shows the two lovestruck teens with oxygen tanks when that is not the case for everyone with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis can be diagnosed as unnoticable.

The film was promoted using Instagram, where the studio paid influencers to post about hardships involving love and physical distance. Many of the posts discussed family members who lived far away; the promotion was perceived as tone-deaf and trivializing a fatal disease. After the ensuing backlash, the campaign was pulled, and the studio apologized.