50 Fun Facts About The Fault in Our Stars

John Green took the title The Fault in Our Stars from a line spoken by Cassius in which Shakespeare play?

Julius Caesar has Cassius tell Brutus that people, not fate, are to blame for their lot. J. M. Barrie borrowed the same line for the title of his play Dear Brutus.

Which actress beat around 150 others to play Hazel Grace Lancaster in the 2014 film The Fault in Our Stars?

Shailene Woodley convinced the director within about fifteen seconds of her audition, peering at him over the top of her script pages. John Green had earlier said he would be happy to see Mae Whitman in the role.

Which everyday word do Hazel and Augustus turn into their private vow of love in The Fault in Our Stars?

Okay becomes the couple's cooler answer to the word always, which Isaac and his girlfriend keep swearing to each other. Hazel says it to Augustus again at his coffin on the day of his funeral.

At which Amsterdam landmark do Hazel and Augustus share their first kiss in John Green's The Fault in Our Stars?

Anne Frank House visitors who catch the two kissing break into applause instead of scolding them. Hazel had struggled up every steep staircase in the building to get there.

What does Augustus Waters hold between his teeth but never use, as a metaphor, in The Fault in Our Stars?

A cigarette he never lights is how Augustus claims control over his health: it could kill him, but only if he lets it. Hazel is furious at the sight of it until he explains.

Which actor played Augustus Waters in The Fault in Our Stars months after playing his co-star's brother in Divergent?

Ansel Elgort was cast as Augustus in May 2013, while Divergent was still in production. He went on to win a Teen Choice Award as the year's breakout star.

In The Fault in Our Stars, where did Hazel spend her one Genie Foundation wish at the age of 13?

Disney World used up Hazel's wish years before she had a better idea, so Augustus spends his own on flying them both to Amsterdam.

In which American city, John Green's birthplace, do Hazel and Augustus live in The Fault in Our Stars?

Indianapolis was chosen partly because, like Amsterdam, it is a canal city, so both halves of the story unfold beside water. Green moved back there in 2007.

Which mathematical idea does Hazel build her eulogy for Augustus around at his pre-funeral in The Fault in Our Stars?

Infinity, Hazel argues, comes in more than one size, and she thanks Augustus for the small but endless stretch they shared. She took the idea from the novelist they met in Amsterdam.

Which British singer-songwriter wrote All of the Stars for the closing credits of the film The Fault in Our Stars?

Ed Sheeran said he wanted the song to feel sad yet euphoric and to lift people a little. Its video was built from messages of encouragement sent in by fans.

In The Fault in Our Stars, Hazel's cancer has spread to her lungs but began in which gland?

Thyroid cancer was also the illness of Esther Earl, the 16-year-old fan and friend to whom John Green dedicated the novel.

Which actress does Augustus Waters say Hazel resembles on the day they meet in The Fault in Our Stars?

Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta is the comparison, and Augustus promptly invites Hazel over to watch the film. She had never seen it.

Asked at Support Group what he fears, what one-word answer does Augustus Waters give in The Fault in Our Stars?

Oblivion, the dread of being forgotten, drives Augustus through the whole story. Hazel replies on the spot that everyone is forgotten eventually, which only impresses him.

In The Fault in Our Stars, what does Augustus Waters let a heartbroken Isaac smash to pieces in his basement?

Basketball trophies from Augustus's playing career are sacrificed after Isaac's girlfriend leaves him just before surgery will blind him. Augustus had already decided the sport was pointless.

Which girlfriend dumps Isaac shortly before the operation that leaves him blind in The Fault in Our Stars?

Monica had sworn "always" to Isaac again and again, yet stops answering him before the surgery. Hazel points out that his illness cannot have been easy for her either.

In The Fault in Our Stars, which video-game novel does Augustus lend Hazel in return for An Imperial Affliction?

The Price of Dawn hooks Hazel enough that she soon buys the next two books in the series at the mall. Augustus had left his phone number written inside the book.

Which cancer survivor leads the Support Group where Hazel meets Augustus in John Green's The Fault in Our Stars?

Patrick survived testicular cancer and uses his own story to rally the group, though Hazel is no fan of his. Late in the story he is the one who asks a grieving Hazel why she chooses to go on living.

Which fictional drug keeps Hazel's tumours in check in The Fault in Our Stars after her doctors expected her to die?

Phalanxifor shrank Hazel's tumours after pneumonia nearly killed her, letting her live at home and take community college classes. She calls that recovery her miracle.

In The Fault in Our Stars, what do Hazel and Augustus call the favours sick children get out of pity?

Cancer perks, in their slang, include the driving licence Augustus was handed after repeatedly failing the test. His driving on a prosthetic leg terrifies Hazel.

Which piece of medical equipment does Hazel Grace Lancaster wheel everywhere she goes in The Fault in Our Stars?

An oxygen tank feeds Hazel through a cannula, the thin tube under her nose. At the airport she insists on walking through the scanner without it, and pays for those few steps in pain.

Beside which real sculpture by a Dutch artist does Augustus lay out a picnic for Hazel in The Fault in Our Stars?

Funky Bones is a giant skeleton by Joep van Lieshout, laid out on the grass in twenty bone-shaped sections that visitors can sit on. For the film, the crew built a copy with the artist's help.

In The Fault in Our Stars, which colour is everything at Augustus's Dutch-themed picnic, from the tulips to the blanket?

Orange is the national colour of the Netherlands, and the picnic is how Augustus reveals that he has spent his wish on taking Hazel there. He even wears a Dutch player's jersey.

What does Hazel compare herself to in The Fault in Our Stars when explaining why she keeps Augustus at arm's length?

A grenade is how Hazel sees herself: sure to go off one day and wound everyone standing close. Her parents tell her she is no such thing to them.

In The Fault in Our Stars, which relic of Hazel's childhood do she and Augustus advertise online, free to a good home?

A swing set built by her father had been making Hazel cry, so the two write a jokey advert and give it to a man whose children never play outside.

Which of Hazel's doctors argues she should be allowed to fly to Amsterdam in The Fault in Our Stars?

Dr. Maria insists that Hazel's life is hers to live, risks and all, and later phones her parents to say the trip should go ahead. A colleague had argued firmly against it.

In the novel The Fault in Our Stars, which action film do Hazel and Augustus watch on the flight to Amsterdam?

300 thrills Augustus, while Hazel mostly watches his face. Afterwards they argue over whether the living outnumber the dead, and he assures her the dead win easily.

Which complimentary drink do Hazel and Augustus share at their canal-side dinner in The Fault in Our Stars?

Champagne arrives free with the meal, and a waiter chats with them about where it came from. They later learn the whole bill was paid by the author they had come to meet.

What music does the drunken author Peter Van Houten blast at his young visitors in The Fault in Our Stars?

Swedish rap thumps through his living room while Van Houten drinks Scotch, insults his guests and refuses to say what happens after his novel ends.

In The Fault in Our Stars, what does a newly blind Isaac hurl at his ex-girlfriend's car while Augustus directs his aim?

Eggs, a full dozen bought for the purpose, splatter the car in broad daylight. When the girl's mother comes out to object, Augustus talks her into going back inside.

In The Fault in Our Stars, which assistant quits her job with Peter Van Houten and later finds Augustus's last letter?

Lidewij had secretly arranged the teenagers' visit, hoping that meeting devoted readers would pull her employer out of his drinking. After the funeral she emails Hazel the pages Augustus sent him.

In The Fault in Our Stars, which future invention does Isaac say in his eulogy he would turn down without Augustus?

Robot eyes, Isaac says, would be wasted on him if his friend were no longer there to be seen. He softens the blow first by listing how vain and talkative Augustus is.

In The Fault in Our Stars, which lost relative does Peter Van Houten admit inspired Anna in An Imperial Affliction?

His daughter died of leukaemia as a child, which Hazel guesses when he turns up in her car after the funeral. She tells him to go home, sober up and write.

In The Fault in Our Stars, what has Hazel's mother been secretly studying online for a year, to Hazel's delight?

Social work classes answer Hazel's fear that her mother will have no life once she is gone. The essays got written late at night and in the car outside Hazel's own classes.

On which July holiday, celebrated with gusto by her mother, does Hazel visit Augustus's grave in The Fault in Our Stars?

Bastille Day is one of the many minor holidays Hazel's mother insists on marking, so Hazel plants a little French flag in the earth at the grave.

In The Fault in Our Stars, where is a gravely ill Augustus stranded when he phones Hazel for help at night?

A gas station was as far as he got on a secret errand meant to prove he could still do something for himself. Hazel finds him sick in the driver's seat and calls an ambulance.

In The Fault in Our Stars, what kind of pet is Sisyphus in the novel An Imperial Affliction that Hazel adores?

A hamster is among the loose ends Hazel most wants tied up, and its fate is the only thing Van Houten agrees to discuss at all.

Esther Earl, the dedicatee of The Fault in Our Stars, met John Green in person at a convention for which book series?

Harry Potter fans had gathered at LeakyCon in Boston in 2009, where the two met face to face after years as online friends. Green later said he could never have written the novel without knowing her.

Which hospital job, held by John Green in his early twenties, planted the idea for The Fault in Our Stars?

Chaplain duties at a children's hospital in Ohio shook Green so much that he dropped his plan to become a priest. He then spent about ten years failing to turn the experience into a novel.

What did John Green add to all 150,000 copies of the first printing of The Fault in Our Stars?

His signature was promised for every pre-order, so he signed the entire first printing, in Sharpie colours chosen by a public vote and used in proportion to the ballot.

Which American classic did John Green salute by opening The Fault in Our Stars with a quotation from an invented book?

The Great Gatsby begins with lines by a poet F. Scott Fitzgerald made up; Green's epigraph comes from An Imperial Affliction, a novel that exists only inside his own.

Which Jurassic Park star plays Hazel's mother, Frannie Lancaster, in the 2014 film The Fault in Our Stars?

Laura Dern went on to act opposite the film's young lead again in the series Big Little Lies, having helped persuade her to join the cast.

Which actor plays the reclusive, hard-drinking novelist Peter Van Houten in the 2014 film The Fault in Our Stars?

Willem Dafoe's casting was announced by John Green himself, soon after filming had begun. Weeks before the film opened, Dafoe was serving on the Cannes Film Festival jury.

Who directed the 2014 film of The Fault in Our Stars after Stephen Chbosky turned the job down?

Josh Boone, who had written and directed the romantic comedy Stuck in Love, was hired in February 2013. Chbosky felt the story was too similar to the teen drama he had just made.

Which city stood in for the American home of Hazel and Augustus when The Fault in Our Stars was filmed?

Pittsburgh is far hillier than the city in the book, so John Green joked that the crew only had to find a couple of flat streets. The Amsterdam shoot was wrapped up within a single week.

Which everyday object from the Amsterdam scenes of The Fault in Our Stars vanished in 2014, embarrassing city officials?

A bench where the two leads were filmed beside a canal went missing weeks after the release. The city put it back about a week later and insisted it was the original.

Which Charli XCX song from The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack became her first solo top-ten hit in America?

Boom Clap reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100; her earlier visits to the top ten had been as a guest on other acts' singles.

Which 2020 Hindi film retold The Fault in Our Stars and became actor Sushant Singh Rajput's final release?

Dil Bechara, meaning the helpless heart, premiered on streaming weeks after his death and was made free to watch in tribute. It moved the story to India and aged up its lovers.

Which bookseller accidentally shipped 1,500 copies of The Fault in Our Stars weeks before its official release date?

Barnes & Noble sent the pre-orders out three weeks early, and Green asked the public not to vilify its staff. Many recipients pledged not to read their copies until launch day.

Which 2009 romantic comedy made the names of Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who scripted The Fault in Our Stars?

500 Days of Summer drew on a real romance from Neustadter's own life. The pair went on to adapt a second John Green novel, Paper Towns.

Which former star of Nickelodeon's The Naked Brothers Band plays Isaac in the 2014 film The Fault in Our Stars?

Nat Wolff won a Teen Choice Award as the film's scene stealer, then took the lead in the next John Green adaptation, Paper Towns.