Another Movie Shot & Set in Pittsburgh Headed to the Big Screen

"Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" received rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival.

Photo by Chung Hoon Chung

Ketchup. Steel. Football. Acclaimed teenage dramas.

If the trend continues, that last item will become as strongly associated with Pittsburgh as the first three.

Following in the footsteps of 2012’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and 2014’s “The Fault in Our Stars,” the locally shot and set film “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” has been picked up for worldwide distribution after receiving a five-minute standing ovation in its debut at the Sundance Film Festival.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the figure Fox Searchlight paid for “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” was “in the $12 million range,” which would be a record-setting deal for a film debuting at Sundance. The studio outbid a pack of other studios, including Lionsgate, Focus Features, A24 and Miramax, for the rights to the film.

Based on the novel by Pittsburgh native Jesse Andrews (who wrote the screenplay himself), “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” follows a forced friendship between Greg (played by Thomas Mann), a socially fixated high school senior, and Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a classmate battling terminal cancer. Lest you shy away from the subject matter, though, early reviews are quick to point out that the film is as funny as it is heartfelt. The cast also includes Connie Britton, Nick Offerman and Molly Shannon; it’s directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, a veteran of “Glee” and “American Horror Story.”

“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” is expected to hit theaters by late 2015.