<P> The Fault in Our Stars is a 2014 American romantic tragedy film directed by Josh Boone, based on the novel of the same name by John Green . The film stars Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, and Nat Wolff, with Laura Dern, Sam Trammell, and Willem Dafoe playing supporting roles . Woodley plays Hazel Grace Lancaster, a sixteen - year - old cancer patient who is forced by her parents to attend a support group, where she meets and subsequently falls in love with Augustus Waters, another cancer patient, played by Elgort . </P> <P> Development of The Fault in Our Stars began in January 2012 when Fox 2000, a division of 20th Century Fox, optioned the rights to adapt the novel into a feature film . Principal photography began on August 26, 2013, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a few additional days in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, before concluding on October 16, 2013 . Pittsburgh doubled for all of the scenes set in Indianapolis, Indiana, the novel's setting, as well as for some interior scenes set in Amsterdam . </P> <P> The Fault in Our Stars was released in the United States on June 6, 2014, to positive critical reception, with praise for Woodley's and Elgort's performances as well as the script . The film was also a blockbuster, becoming number one at the box office during its opening weekend, and grossing over $307 million worldwide against a budget of $12 million . It was released on Blu - ray and DVD on September 16, 2014, and grossed over $42 million in total domestic video sales . </P> <P> Hazel Grace Lancaster is a teenager living in Indianapolis, who has terminal thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs . Believing she is depressed, her mother Frannie urges her to attend a weekly cancer patient support group to help her make friends with individuals who are going through the same thing . There Hazel meets Augustus Waters, a charming teenager who lost a leg to bone cancer but has since apparently been cancer - free . He invites Hazel to his house where they bond over their hobbies and agree to read each other's favorite books . Hazel recommends An Imperial Affliction, a novel about a cancer - stricken girl named Anna that parallels her experience, and Augustus gives Hazel Counter Insurgence . They keep in touch via text over the weeks that follow and grow closer . After Augustus finishes the book, he expresses frustration with its abrupt ending (it ends in the middle of a sentence). Hazel explains that the novel's mysterious author, Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe), retreated to Amsterdam following the novel's publication and has not been heard from since . </P>

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