[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Turtles All the Way Down.]
Adolescence is an amusement park of emotions and experiences, defined by unforgettable thrills of core memories and the turbulent twists of growing up. Your friendships in those teenage years can be the most powerful relationships in your life, filled with brutal honesty, delicate emotions, and newfound freedom.
In Turtles All the Way Down, the film adaptation of John Green’s 2017 novel, Aza (Isabela Merced) finds her platonic soulmate in her best friend, Daisy (Cree). Being a teenager is hard enough, but Aza also battles obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety. Whenever she’s struggling, the vivacious Daisy is there to help settle Aza’s worries and intrusive thoughts.
The novel and the film introduce a love interest for Aza in her childhood friend. Davis (Felix Mallard) is a beautiful first love for Aza, but the friendship between Aza and Daisy is the heart of the story.
“I think you can see a distinction between the way I carry myself when I’m with Daisy versus Felix [who plays Davis],” Merced tells TV Insider. “There’s a sort of comfortability that I have with Daisy, and that’s due to the longevity of our relationship. But also with Felix, his character Davis, you do sense the nervousness, the sort of like, my voice gets a little bit higher. And I think that is a platonic love versus a romantic love.”
Daisy and Aza’s friendship isn’t flawless — but what friendship is? As they navigate the unexpected curveballs of life, these best friends hurt each other in the process. As teenagers, we’re still learning everything. Life is still so fresh, and mistakes are often just around the corner. We have to mess up in order to grow up.
In one of the movie’s most pivotal scenes, Aza and Daisy have a blistering fight after Aza reads Daisy’s Star Wars fanfiction where Daisy alludes that Aza is her “greatest burden.” Daisy is surprised Aza even read the fanfiction considering she hasn’t taken the time to do so for years.
Their quarrel spirals into an endless back-and-forth of shouting in Aza’s car. Daisy compares Aza to mustard, telling her that “a lot of you is a lot.” She calls Aza out for not knowing simple facts about her life, including her middle name. Aza fires back that Daisy has no idea what it’s like to be “stuck” in her head all the time. Both of them are hurt by the other, and their roller-coaster fight is just about to slow down when they are caught up in a car accident.
“I love how much the book and the movie promote sharing with people you trust,” director Hannah Marks explains to TV Insider. “I think so many people can be afraid to open up about how they’re feeling, and I personally would love to destigmatize that. I think it’s so important to let people know what you’re going through, and it’s nice that Daisy is a character that provides that safe space while still being her own person.”
Once they’ve recovered from their injuries, Aza and Daisy quickly forgive each other for their harsh words before the accident. “I love you. I want to be buried next to you,” Daisy tells her best friend.
When Aza suffers her first heartbreak, Daisy is the one who brings Aza out from the shadows of her thoughts. Daisy assures Aza that she will have a “full life” when Aza worries if she’ll ever be capable of being with someone due to her conditions. In a stunning monologue, Daisy promises Aza that she’ll have an “incredible love story” one day, even if she can’t envision this life for herself yet.
As only best friends can, Daisy tells Aza that life won’t be easy. Sometimes, Aza will “see that life unbuilt. But you’ll always rebuild it.” No matter what, Daisy swears that Aza will never be alone. “Because you will always love and be loved,” she says.
The final scene is a significant change from the ending of the book. Daisy doesn’t deliver this monologue to Aza, but this rearrangement of Green’s words feels right to come from Aza’s best friend, the person who knows her better than anyone.
“Honestly, it was an honor. I was so scared. I was peeing for weeks about that, but it felt really special to me,” Cree says. “It’s one of the more truly earnest and vulnerable moments of Daisy where there are no bits to be found, there are no jokes to be seen. It’s pretty different tonally from a decent amount of what I did in the film, so I was really nervous about it, but it felt like a really special night. Isabela is just such a dream to work with, so present and emotionally engaged and everything.”
For Merced, filming that final scene “cemented” Daisy’s words into her brain and “allowed me to access that in my personal life now. Love is what makes you real, being loved and loving someone is what makes you real, and I fully agree with that.”
Green tells TV Insider that changing the ending of his book for the film was a decision made by the screenwriters, Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker. One that he fully approves.
“I really love it because, ultimately, it’s a movie about friendship,” he says. “And when I think about how this story connects with my own life, I do think a lot about OCD, but I also think a lot about how I’ve had these friends in my life who have really, really lifted me up and really, and who believed me, who believed that my pain is real, and acknowledged that, and still work to meet me where I am and help me through. And that, for me, is what Cree is doing in that final scene in a way that’s so beautiful and that reflects the best of my friendships, the best friendships that we can have. I loved the decision. ”
He adds, “In writing the book, I wanted to have this time jump for various reasons, some of them somewhat selfish. But I also wanted to give Aza a series of futures or a series of options for futures. But I love the idea of that being given to you by your best friend.”
Turtles All the Way Down, Streaming Now, Max