Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)

Timing: 1:45 (105 min)

7.531/10
2706

7.658/10
51409

7.7/10
144000

All about film

Video 21

Photo 34

Actors and characters

Release date

2015-06-12

Country

United States

Production

Indian Paintbrush, Rhode Island Ave. Productions

Genre

Drama, Comedy

Budget

$8 000 000

Revenue

$9 074 749

Website

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/meandearlandthedyinggirl/

Director

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Actors

Olivia Cooke, Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Connie Britton, Nick Offerman, Molly Shannon, Jon Bernthal, Chelsea Zhang, Masam Holden, Katherine Hughes
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Dan Fogelman, Jeremy Dawson, Steven M. Rales, Nora Skinner

Operator

Jeong Jeong-hun

Composer

Brian Eno

Artist

Audition

Angela Demo

Editing

David Trachtenberg
All team (40)

• The film is based on the novel of the same name by Jesse Andrews.
• At the American national «Sundance» Film Festival (Park City, Utah) in 2015, the film company «Fox Searchlight Pictures» acquired the film for $12 million. To date, this is the most expensive purchase in the history of the festival.
• The film's script ended up on the so-called "black list" in 2012 – a list of the most potentially successful scripts that were never realized on screen.
• A.R. Syler's first feature film.
• The teacher mentions the song "Ding-a-dong." This song, performed by Teach-In, won first place at the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest.
• Olivia Cooke's first film role that doesn't fall into the genres of "science fiction" or "horror."
• Greg's father's cat is named Cat Stevens. This is also the stage name of a British singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He was born Steven Demetrios Georgiou, but changed his name to Yusuf Islam in 1978.
• The film references Werner Herzog's «Fitzcarraldo» (1982). The surname Fitzcarraldo is borne by a character of Thomas Mann (played by Greg) in the 2010 film «It's Kind of a Funny Story» directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. The film «Me, Earl and the Dying Girl» references either the film «It's Kind of a Funny Story» itself, or the fact that it contains a reference to «Fitzcarraldo».
• Emma Roberts was initially considered for the role of the main character.
• The film contains references to several other films – for example, a poster for George A. Romero's «Night of the Living Dead» (1968) in a store and a patch on Greg's jacket for the same director's «Dawn of the Dead» (1978).
• The board game played by supporting characters in one of the film's scenes is called «Dominion».
• Actress Olivia Cooke shaved her head to play the role of Rachel.
• In the episode where Greg first calls Rachel, Martin Scorsese's film *Taxi Driver* (1976) is playing on television – specifically the moment where Travis calls Betsy and asks her on a date. In this mise-en-scène from *Taxi Driver*, the camera pans to the right, revealing an empty hallway. Scorsese intended this to show how awkward his characters feel during this phone call. By including this episode in *Me, Earl and the Dying Girl*, director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon attempted to convey that Greg is experiencing the same thing.
• On Greg's paper bag in the cafeteria, it says “Romanian Poison” and below it, “Otrava,” which means “poison” in Romanian.
• The lead role is played by Thomas Mann. Thomas Mann was also the name of a German writer, author of the novella *Death in Venice* (1912), a film adaptation of which Greg and Earl parodied.
• The scene in Rachel's bedroom, where she and Greg discuss prom and her illness, lasts 5 minutes and 5 seconds. Throughout this entire time, the camera moves only once – in the last 2 seconds of the scene.
• In one of the books Greg sees in Rachel's room, you can read the words “parks” and “recreation areas.” Greg's father was played by Nick Offerman, who played Ron Swanson in the television series *Parks and Recreation* (2009-2015).
• At the 2015 Sundance Film Festival (Park City, Utah), Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the film for $12 million. To date, this is the most expensive purchase in the festival's history.
• The film's screenplay appeared on the so-called “Black List” of 2012 – a list of the most potentially successful unproduced screenplays.
• The teacher mentions the song “Ding-a-dong.” This song, performed by Teach-In, won first place in the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest.
• Olivia Cooke’s first film role that does not fall into the genres of “science fiction” or “horror.”
• The film mentions Werner Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo" (1982). The surname Fitzcarraldo is borne by a character played by Thomas Mann (playing Greg) in the 2010 film "It's Kind of a Funny Story" directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. The film "Me, Earl and the Dying Girl" references either the film "It's Kind of a Funny Story" itself, or the fact that it contains a reference to "Fitzcarraldo".
• The film features references to other films – for example, a poster for George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) in a store, and a patch on Greg's jacket for the same director's "Dawn of the Dead" (1978).
• The board game played by supporting characters in one of the film's episodes is called "Dominion".
• In the scene where Greg calls Rachel for the first time, Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” (1976) is playing on television – specifically the moment where Travis calls Betsy and asks her out. In this mise-en-scène from “Taxi Driver,” the camera pans to the right, revealing an empty hallway. Scorsese intended this to show how awkward his characters feel during the phone call. By including this episode in “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl,” director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon sought to convey that Greg is experiencing the same feelings.
• On Greg's paper bag in the cafeteria, it says “Romanian Poison” and below it “Otrava,” which means “poison” in Romanian.
• The main character is played by Thomas Mann. Thomas Mann was a German writer, author of the novella "Death in Venice" (1912), a film adaptation of which was parodied by Greg and Earl.
• One of the books Greg saw in Rachel’s room contained the words “parks” and “recreation areas.” Greg’s father was played by Nick Offerman, who played Ron Swanson in the television series “Parks and Recreation” (2009-2015).