Isabela Merced to Star in John Green’s ‘Turtles All the Way Down’ for New Line, HBO Max (Exclusive)

Borys Kit
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Slow and steady wins the race, as the saying goes, and so it is with Turtles All the Way Down, the adaptation of John Green’s New York Times best-selling novel.

The long-gestating project has landed at New Line, which, putting the movie on the fast track, has cast Isabela Merced as the lead. The YA film, which is intended for HBO Max, is expected to begin shooting in April.

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Actress-turned-director Hannah Marks is helming from a script by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, best known for co-showrunning This Is Us and writing the screenplay for Love, Simon.

Temple Hill’s Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey and Isaac Klausner will produce. The banner previously tackled Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, which became a runaway sensation when it hit theaters in 2014, and 2015’s Paper Towns. Green will executive produce alongside Aptaker and Berger.

Turtles explores themes of mental illness and anxiety by telling the story of 17-year-old Aza Holmes, trying to be a good daughter, a good friend and a good student, all while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts that she cannot control. When circumstance reconnects Holmes with her childhood crush, she is confronted with fundamental questions about her potential for love, happiness, friendship and hope in the face of her mental illness.

Turtles, which was Green’s first book since the massive breakout success of Fault in Our Stars, debuted as an instant No. 1 best-seller, with rights sold in over 30 countries, and more than 2 million copies in print. It made numerous “best of the year” lists, from The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly to NPR and Publishers Weekly.

It was first picked up for adaptation by Fox 2000 in 2017, where Aptaker and Berger, as well as Marks, became involved during the course of its development. When the literary-minded Fox 2000 was shuttered as part of Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the project reverted to Temple Hill, which began regrouping and looking for a new home.

Execs at New Line identified it as a good fit for corporate parent WarnerMedia’s growing HBO Max streaming service. It had already found surprising success with the Jenny Ortega-starring The Fallout, another drama that dealt with serious topics — in that case, trauma — that was also directed by a young female filmmaker, Megan Park, who has shown a sensitivity to her target audience.

Marks, 25, appeared in shows such as Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and You’re the Worst before making her feature co-directorial debut with the independent film After Everything, which she also co-wrote. The Maika Monroe- and Jeremy Allen White-starring drama premiered in competition at SXSW in 2018. She recently wrote and directed the indie comedy Mark, Mary & Some Other People, which premiered in November and earned her the best screenplay award out of the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.

Merced is one of Hollywood’s busiest rising talents, who counts movies such as Instant Family, Dora and the Lost City of Gold and Sicario: Day of the Soldado among her credits. She even appeared in a previous Green adaptation, Let It Snow, for Netflix.

The actress last starred alongside Jason Momoa in Netflix thriller Sweet Girl and recently wrapped a turn opposite Kaitlyn Dever in Rosaline, 20th Century Studios’ comedic retelling of Romeo & Juliet. She also last year shot a role in Warner Bros./HBO Max’s update of Father of the Bride with Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan.

Merced, who released her debut EP, the better half of me, during quarantine, is repped by CAA.

Green is repped by Writers House and Anonymous Content. Marks is repped by UTA, Untitled, Circle of Confusion and Goodman Genow.

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