Author John Green is not happy with Paramount and their handling of the Looking For Alaska movie.
Update: Looking For Alaska is now being developed as a limited series at Hulu.
We all know and love the book, so we’re hoping that a Looking For Alaska movie can one day hit movie theaters. Sadly, it doesn’t appear to be happening anytime soon.
‘Looking For Alaska’ movie adaptation seems to be doomed
In a series of tweets Thursday afternoon, John revealed that the studio has been ignoring his phone calls on the movie adaptation. “I don’t think they like me,” he tweeted. His full remarks are below:
Okay, I have a kind of important announcement. I don't usually prepare you with pre-announcement tweets, but I think it's warranted here.
— John Green (@johngreen) February 19, 2016
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Okay. Are you ready? Here is the announcement: I do not cast movies.
— John Green (@johngreen) February 19, 2016
In fact, the movie studio that owns the rights to the book in question won't return my phone calls. They haven't for months.
— John Green (@johngreen) February 19, 2016
I don't think they like me. The feeling is profoundly mutual. So I can't even get someone to answer the telephone, let alone cast a film.
— John Green (@johngreen) February 19, 2016
Clearly, one of the issues is that Paramount has been uninterested in working with him:
@PetersenCassidy You'd think.
— John Green (@johngreen) February 19, 2016
Last month we shared new comments from John in which he strongly hinted that Looking For Alaska film adaptation was in bad condition. “At this point I’m not involved in the project in any way,” he said in January. “I’m not going to lie, it definitely bums me out.”
In the same video he said he doesn’t expect the movie to be made at all, and his attempts to buy the film rights back from Paramount (who’ve owned the rights since 2005) have been unsuccessful.
If he were to get the rights back, he could presumably sell them to Fox, who’s successfully adapted The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns. He said as much in a tweet to another fan today:
@claudiojaneco You and me both.
— John Green (@johngreen) February 19, 2016
Looking For Alaska has been through two directors over the past two years. Last February the screenwriting and producing team behind Fault and Paper Towns were added to the Alaska team. Things were looking up when that happened!
And now? Not so much.
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