Why Hannah Marks Spent Most of Her Twenties Making ‘Turtles All the Way Down’

In many ways, the story of the adaptation of Turtles All the Way Down is also the story of the state of Hollywood. Hannah Marks was 24 when she first scored an interview to helm the adaptation of John Green’s beloved novel about a teenage girl struggling with OCD; she was poised to become one of the youngest female directors hired by a studio. Now 31, she’s celebrating its long-awaited release on Max, a platform that didn’t even exist when this journey began.

Marks, who grew up in L.A. and San Luis Obispo, on California’s Central Coast, got her start in the business as a child actor. From the age of 12, she appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, including Awkward and The Amazing Spider-Man. She began making short films in her early 20s, and her feature debut, After Everything (directed with Joey Power and starring Jeremy Allen White and Maika Monroe), premiered in 2018 at SXSW and garnered enough buzz to earn her a meeting with the Fox 2000 execs who held the option for Turtles.

“That meeting turned into more meetings, and then I finally got the job and Disney and Fox merged, and Fox 2000 shut down while we were in preproduction,” she explains over smoothies in Burbank, where she’s lived since her preteen years. The film then found a home at New Line and Warner Bros.; the latter’s volatile merger with Discovery took place during filming. “I definitely had a few moments where I was like, ‘Am I cursed?’ It’s just scary when you pour so much of your heart into something and you don’t know what will happen,” she says. “But you realize very quickly that the same thing is happening all around you. Look what happened to Batgirl. I knew I couldn’t feel sorry for myself.”

Turtles‘ young protagonist is Aza (Isabela Merced), whose mental illness is inspired by Green’s own experience. In one poignant scene, she finds herself in a fight with her best friend, played by Cree, who has been pushed to her limits while attempting to accommodate Aza’s ups and downs. “When I read that in the book, that’s when I felt like I really had to make this movie,” says Marks. “We’ve seen a million meet-cutes, but I haven’t seen anybody put this kind of reality, about how loving someone who struggles with their mental health — and I’ve been on both sides of it — to film.” In the director’s chair, Marks approached the material with her history as a young actor in mind — something that she says she can’t help but think about. She laments the occasions on which directors tiptoed around feedback, preferring to adopt a clear-is-kind approach, mindful of how she felt in front of the camera not too long ago. Not that she’s reviewing her old game tape. “I find it hard to watch back my own work, whether directing or acting, but I absolutely cannot watch anything from puberty,” she says with a laugh. “I’m like, why didn’t I start acting at 18? Those photos are online forever.”

During Turtles‘ many fits and starts on the way to the big (and eventually small) screen, Marks pivoted and directed two more films: the ethical non-monogamy dramedy Mark, Mary & Some Other People, and the John Cho-starring father-daughter road-trip flick Don’t Make Me Go. She describes an almost ravenous desire to take on more and more work as a reaction to her time in the child-acting trenches. “You feel like nothing’s in your control — you spend your whole life waiting on auditions. So it was nice to spend that time not waiting on anything,” says Marks. “I didn’t want to stop. I feel most in my element, and most alive, directing.”

Though it hasn’t been intentional, there is a throughline to her body of work. “I’ve noticed that everything I’ve made has been about temporary love, whether it’s because of an illness or a breakup. My partner is probably like, ‘What are you trying to say?’” she says. “I do like a bittersweet ending, because it feels more true to life, but in my next movie I definitely want the characters to end up together.” Marks says she’s also being intentional in building a directing career outside of YA, that constantly expands in scope. She’s currently finishing a (still secretive) script for a project that’s poised to be a buzzy follow-up, and she’s in the trenches of preproduction on Razzlekhan, an MGM Studios movie (produced by Lili Reinhart) about a millennial couple who stole billions in cryptocurrency. “For me, success is about the experience and the friendships, I don’t want to go backwards,” she says. “Right now my focus is, ‘How big can I go?’ I want to be like Soderbergh. He does it all — really small art house projects, and then something as big as the Ocean’s movies. I love how he constantly diversifies and doesn’t put himself in a box.”

But in the immediate future, she’s focused on closing the seven-year-long book on Turtles All the Way Down. Talking about the making of the film feels a little bit like living in the past — looking back on her 24-year-old self — but she’s leaning into the nostalgia. “I’m a totally different person than when I first got this job, but I’m so proud of it and I’m really happy about the message that it’s putting out in the world,” she says. “I love the actors and I want people to see their performances. I almost feel like a proud mother.”  

This story first appeared in the May 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.