Paper Towns had one cameo we were expecting and another that completely caught us by surprise.
Spoiler warning!
After his cameo in The Fault in Our Stars was cut from the final version of the film, many John Green fans were hoping the author would appear in Paper Towns.
He did… sort of.
John Green’s Paper Towns cameo isn’t visual — it only involves his voice. Listen very carefully to a certain phone call during Q and Margo’s night of havoc, and you’ll hear an angry dad on the line. That dad, we believe, is Green.
While Green and the crew have been hesitant to offer a direct description of his cameo, the author said in a recent interview that his cameo is “audible,” hinting that his appearance can only be heard, not seen.
We were keeping an eye out for Green the entire time and didn’t see him once. It was only after we left the movie that we discovered his true cameo. We would’ve preferred a visual cameo, but at least this “appearance” keeps viewers guessing!
Ansel Elgort’s ‘Paper Towns’ cameo
Nat and Ansel re-create the TFIOS poster
Unless one of your friends spoiled it for you on social media over the past couple of weeks, the big surprise cameo in Paper Towns was actually not from Green, but from The Fault in Our Stars lead Ansel Elgort. The actor appears during the fun gas station sequence as Q and friends are taking bathroom breaks and loading up their car with snacks. Elgort plays the gas station attendant who has the hots for Lacey as she tries to make purchases. Sorry Ansel, Lacey is already taken by Ben!
In light of this cameo, a diehard John Green fan could possibly argue that all of the author’s books are interconnected. Does Elgort’s appearance confirm that Gus lives in the same fictional world as Q? Did Q decide to change his name to Isaac after the events of Paper Towns? Okay, maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves here, but it’s a fun theory to think about.
Elgort and Green revealed that the actor had visited the Paper Towns set in December, but no one had wondered if this meant he’d have a cameo:
A photo posted by John Green (@johngreenwritesbooks) on
Paper Towns is now in theaters. What did you think of John Green and Ansel Elgort’s cameos?