John Green announced on his official Twitter account Wednesday afternoon that Mike Birbiglia will play Patrick in The Fault in Our Stars movie.
Tweeted Green proudly:
So excited to announce that one of my all-time favorite comedians/humans, Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs), will play Patrick in the TFiOS movie.
— John Green (@realjohngreen) August 28, 2013
Birbiglia is a comedian with several Comedy Central specials, most recently 2011’s Sleepwalk With Me. He had a minor arc in HBO’s Girls last year.
The character Patrick is the leader of the cancer support group that Hazel and Augustus attend. They aren’t fans of him or his usage of the phrase “literal heart of Jesus.”
Related: John Green vlogs from the Fault set with Woodley, Elgort, and others.
Patrick is a positive thinker and is the opposite of what Hazel believes in when it comes to dealing with cancer.
One of the major casting unknowns for The Fault in Our Stars is who will play Peter Van Houten. With filming now underway (as of Monday!), we imagine an announcement is imminent.
The Fault in Our Stars movie stars Shailene Woodley as Hazel and Ansel Elgort as Augustus Waters. Laura Dern and Sam Trammell play Hazel’s mother and father, while Nat Wolff plays Isaac. The film is directed by Josh Boone.