John Green looked to Indy sites for 'TFIOS' settings
After watching an early version of the movie adaptation of "The Fault in Our Stars," John Green offered just one corrective note to the filmmakers who shot his Indiana story in Pennsylvania:
Mountains shouldn't be seen out the window of an airplane taking off from Indianapolis.
"I told them about that, and they fixed it," said Green, referring to a scene in which lead characters Hazel Lancaster and Augustus Waters fly from Indiana to the Netherlands.
"The Fault in Our Stars" arrives in theaters on June 6. Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber wrote the screenplay, while Green has a "based on the novel by John Green" credit.
Check out seven Indianapolis sites represented in the pre-Hollywood version of "The Fault in Our Stars":
Speedway gas station
The Speedway at 86th Street and Ditch Road (1340 W. 86th St.) is the site of a medical emergency in Chapter 18 of "The Fault in Our Stars."
"I was in that parking lot once and thought, 'This would be a sad, sad place to have that happen,' " Green said.
North Central High School
Augustus Waters is a sophomore enrolled at North Central High School (1801 E. 86th St.), a detail revealed in Chapter 2.
"I wanted to ground 'The Fault in Our Stars' in a real place," Green said. "In my mind, I like to have the grid of a place I know."
Waters played basketball, until he experienced an epiphany while shooting free throws in the NCHS gym.
Castleton Square
Indiana's largest mall, Castleton Square (6020 E 82nd St.), is where Hazel Lancaster meets her friend Kaitlyn for a food-court meal and some shoe shopping in Chapter 3. Hazel also buys two books at a "bookstore attached to the mall" — perhaps the bygone Borders.
In Chapter 4, Hazel and her mother attend a "3-D movie about talking gerbils" at Castleton.
Holliday Park
In Chapter 25, Hazel and her parents have a Bastille Day picnic near the Ruins of Holliday Park (6363 Spring Mill Road).
Green said he's been "completely fascinated" by the Ruins — public art centered on the repurposed columns of New York City's St. Paul Building (1898-1958) — since moving to Indianapolis.
Broad Ripple Farmers Market
The Lancaster family visits the Broad Ripple Farmers Market (open Saturdays from May through November behind Broad Ripple High School, 1115 Broad Ripple Ave.) in Chapter 5, and Green sneaks in a personal nod to his mother, Sydney Goodrich Green.
Similar to the market's "man in overalls," North Carolina resident Sydney makes and sells goat-milk soap for her Farmer Jane Goat Milk Soap company. "I don't do it that much," Green said of insider references. "But my mom's goat-milk soap is excellent."
100 Acres
Augustus takes Hazel to 100 Acres (4000 Michigan Road), also known as the Indianapolis Museum of Art's Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, in Chapter 5.
Sarah Green worked as an IMA curator of contemporary art when 100 Acres opened in 2010, giving the author behind-the-scenes knowledge of two sculptures mentioned in the book: "Free Basket," by Los Carpinteros, and "Funky Bones," by Joep Van Lieshout. A disposable duplicate of "Funky Bones" was fabricated for the movie's shoot in Pittsburgh.
"I think Indianapolis people will feel like they're looking at 'Funky Bones,' " Green said.
Crown Hill Cemetery
As Hazel notes in Chapter 25, Crown Hill Cemetery (700 W. 38th St.) is the final resting place of three vice presidents (Thomas Hendricks, Charles Fairbanks and Thomas Marshall) and one president (Benjamin Harrison). Earlier in the book, a key character makes an unexpected appearance at Crown Hill.
The movie, made for $12 million, was shot in Pittsburgh to keep costs down. Pennsylvania offers tax incentives to production crews, while Indiana does not.
Still, Green filled his best-selling novel with Hoosier references — something that carries over to the silver screen, from a Butler University T-shirt worn by Waters to a sculpture on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Born in Indianapolis, Green was an infant when his family moved to Michigan and eventually to Florida. As an adult, he's lived in Indianapolis with his wife, Sarah Urist Green, since 2007. They're parents to 4-year-old son Henry and 11-month-old daughter Alice.
Affection for the city is reflected in Green's "Fault" mentions of Holliday Park, a place known for its playgrounds and walking trails that border White River.
"I love going on that walk down to the river with my son," said Green, 36. "He knows every inch of it and feels really at home there."
At the same time, "The Fault in Our Stars" isn't a lopsided love letter to Indianapolis, thanks to snarky narration from 16-year-old Hazel.
She refers to her hometown as the 137th nicest city in America. During a passage in which she and Augustus list things you never see in Indianapolis, the roster includes topography, culture and "skinny adults."
"I'm pretty hard on Indianapolis in a couple of parts of the book," Green said. "I hope that those are read as loving jibes and not as attacks. One of the pleasures, for me, of loving a place is being able to make fun of it. I actually think it's a very beautiful city."
Amid Green's hectic bicoastal commitments to promote the movie, he was home last weekend to execute a favorite annual tradition: riding his bicycle to attend the Indianapolis 500.
Adolescence, Green said, is an inherent factor in Hazel's sarcastic views.
"I was trying to imagine it from the perspective of a teenager, and I think teenagers always want to leave," Green said.
"They always dislike where they're from. I remember talking to teenagers in New York City, and them saying, 'Ugh, it's no Paris.' "
On the topic of great European cities, Amsterdam is where a large chunk of "The Fault in Our Stars" unfolds. Green wrote part of the book in the Dutch capital, where the film's cast and crew also worked.
Connections between Indianapolis and the Netherlands include 100 Acres sculpture "Funky Bones" (made by Rotterdam-based artist Joep Van Lieshout) and former Pacers center and Eindhoven native Rik Smits (whose jersey is worn by Augustus).
"Amsterdam was in the story very early, pretty much as soon as Indianapolis was, because I wanted to contrast them," Green said. "They're both canal cities, but we imagine them very, very differently."
Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. On Twitter: @317Lindquist.