FILM · 2013
The Spectacular Now
37 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (37)
- #001
Originally, the scene in which Sutter's father asks him to take care of the bar tabs was supposed to end after Tommy leaves the table. Sutter looking in his wallet, asking Amy whether she has any money, and the two of them then trying to scrape together enough to pay was improvised by Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. The director found it such a sad moment that he kept it in the film.
- #002
According to the director, after seeing Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley interact at a lunch he arranged, he worried they would not get along. Teller (who was late to the meeting because he had been in Las Vegas with friends the previous night) was outgoing and energetic, while Woodley, though she liked Teller, was quiet and mostly kept to herself unless spoken to. As the lunch ended and the director drove away, he noticed Woodley and Teller talking in the parking lot but decided to leave them alone; he later learned the two had talked for two hours in the parking lot and gotten to know each other. Teller and Woodley are now close friends.
- #003
Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley disagree about what happens between the two characters after the film ends. Teller believes the pair go to lunch but that they will not get back together, since Aimee becomes stronger and moves on. Woodley agrees that they go to lunch, but believes that, because of their age and immaturity, the two characters do romantically reunite even though it would not be healthy.
- #004
The film's ending differs from the novel's. The film gives Sutter a more hopeful ending, and his relationship with Aimee is left somewhat open. In the book, Sutter lies to Aimee, telling her he cannot go to Philadelphia right after graduation as they had planned because he has to attend summer school. He convinces her to go without him and promises to come once he finishes school. However, Sutter tells the reader that he will never contact her again and will block her email and phone number. The book ends with Sutter walking alone down the street, drunk, with a bleeding finger he cut opening a beer bottle.
- #005
Filming lasted 25 days.
- #006
After The Descendants (2011), Shailene Woodley had not been given any script she felt passionate about and had seriously considered quitting acting to pursue another career. Fortunately this project came along and she fell in love with it.
- #007
The sex scene was shot in a single, uninterrupted take lasting more than two minutes.
- #008
Although Brie Larson and Shailene Woodley share only one scene in the entire film, they became close friends while making it.
- #009
Several of the exchanges between Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller were improvised.
- #010
Because the budget was small, the producers' agents were hesitant about casting Jennifer Jason Leigh, so to convince her the producers told her agents that Julianne Moore also wanted the role very much and that if Leigh did not say yes that day, they would give the role to Moore.
- #011
This was the last film to which Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert gave 4 stars.
- #012
The screenplay for this film appeared on the 2009 Black List, the list of the year's "most liked" unproduced screenplays.
- #013
The original draft of the screenplay focused primarily on Miles Teller's character's struggle with diabetes. His heavy drinking remains a significant feature of the film.
- #014
The love scene between Aimee (Shailene Woodley) and Sutter (Miles Teller) was originally even longer but was cut down substantially in the final version.
- #015
The film includes the first sex scene for both Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley.
- #016
A scene between Miles Teller's and Shailene Woodley's characters, featuring almost constant movement and talking, runs about 3 minutes and 37 seconds.
- #017
Saoirse Ronan was originally offered the role of Aimee.
- #018
Before Miles Teller was cast, Nicholas Hoult was considered for the lead role.
- #019
Kyle Chandler was on the film's set for only 3 days.
- #020
Brie Larson was not required to be nude in her brief sex scene. Because she had never done intimate scenes before and had turned down projects requiring nudity, she took on the task for this film under the assurance that the scene would not be long. She also did it to put her co-star and friend Shailene Woodley at ease, since Woodley had to appear topless for the first time in a love scene as the story required.
- #021
Shailene Woodley, the lead actress in this film alongside Brie Larson, was originally cast as Joy Newsome in Room (2015). Woodley later withdrew from the offer, and Larson took on the role and won the Oscar in 2016.
- #022
Teller and Woodley star together in the Divergent films.
- #023
Brie Larson and Mary Elizabeth Winstead appeared in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010).
- #024
Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley would later appear as rivals in the Divergent series.
- #025
These were Miles Teller's and Shailene Woodley's first nude scenes.
- #026
The love scene between Miles Teller and Brie Larson was shot during post-production.
- #027
Thomas McDonnell was initially cast in the role of Sutter Keely.
- #028
Riley Keough auditioned for a role.
- #029
Both Miles Teller and Brie Larson went on to appear as Marvel superheroes. Teller would play Dr. Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic in Fantastic Four (2015), and Larson would play Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from 2019 onward. Shailene Woodley played Mary Jane Watson in deleted scenes of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).
- #030
James Ponsoldt shot the film in anamorphic 35 mm to give it a timeless quality. He also made sure there would be very few or no pop culture references.
- #031
Miles Teller was hired without auditioning.
- #032
James Ponsoldt shot the film in Athens, Georgia, because he had grown up there.
- #033
Wuxtry gave the filmmakers permission to use the store.
- #034
The cast includes an Oscar winner, Brie Larson, and an Oscar nominee, Jennifer Jason Leigh.
- #035
Shailene Woodley liked this film because she enjoyed working with Miles Teller. When the two first met, he showed up with a glass jar and camouflage clothing because he loved a very alternative hippie survival lifestyle. He told her he had come from a party in Vegas.
- #036
On the first day of shooting, James Ponsoldt and his crew were at the gas station across the street from the street where James was born. The production office building is the same building where the band REM was formed.
- #037
At the prom, Cassidy asks Amiee and Sutter to dance; Amiee says she is not actually a dancer, and Sutter replies, "But lucky for you, I'm an extraordinary dancer." Miles Teller says he must have learned all his dance skills from his role in Footloose (2011).
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