Anne Hathaway will star in the upcoming film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling book “Verity.”
She will play Verity Crawford, a famous author who is unable to finish her thriller novel after a car accident leaves her badly injured and incapacitated. So her husband Jeremy offers a struggling writer named Lowen a huge sum of money to complete the remaining books in the series. Lowen accepts the gig but uncovers dark secrets in the process — including an unfinished manuscript that hints at chilling admissions about Verity and her family’s past — leaving Lowen to determine if Verity is a gifted fictionist or deranged psychopath. The roles of Jeremy and Lowen have yet to be cast.
Michael Showalter, who worked with Hathaway on this year’s rom-com “The Idea of You,” is directing the film for Amazon MGM. It will be released in theaters. Nick Antosca wrote the script after previous cracks at the screenplay by Hillary Seitz, Angela LaManna, and Will Honley & April Maguire.
Hathaway, Hoover and Showalter will serve as producers under their respective banners of Somewhere Pictures, Heartbones Entertainment and Semi-Formal Productions. Additional producers include Antosca of Eat the Cat, Jordana Mollick of Semi-Formal and Stacey Sher of Shiny Penny. Lauren Levine of Heartbones will executive produce. “Verity” falls under Semi-Formal’s first-look film deal with Amazon MGM.
“Verity” was self-published in 2018 and became a literary sensation, spending months on the New York Times best-sellers list and selling more than 1 million copies in 2023 alone. The story is described as a “gothic, psychosexual thriller” in the vein of “Rebecca” and “Gone Girl.”
Hoover has been high on Hollywood’s radar after her hit novel “It Ends With Us” became a box office sleeper hit over the summer. The film, directed by Justin Baldoni and starring Blake Lively, grossed $349 million globally against its $25 million budget. Though Hoover already wrote a best-selling sequel called “It Starts With Us,” it’s not expected to get the big screen treatment because Lively and Baldoni — who played the two main characters in the first film — didn’t get along on set and likely won’t work together again. A film version of Hoover’s book “Reminders of Him” is in the works at Universal Pictures.
Hathaway will be seen next in “Mother’s Instinct” opposite Jessica Chastain, as well as David Lowery’s melodrama “Mother Mary” and the sci-fi story “Flowervale Street.” She’s also set to reprise her role in Disney’s “The Princess Diaries 3” as Mia Thermopolis, princess of Genvoia. The Oscar-winning actor is known for “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Les Misérables,” “Ella Enchanted,” “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Oceans Eight.”
Showalter’s film and television credits include “The Big Sick,” starring Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan; “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” with Chastain and Andrew Garfield; Hulu’s “The Dropout” featuring Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes; and “The Shrink Next Door” starring Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd. He’s also the co-creator of “Wet Hot American Summer” and the HBO Max series “Search Party.”
Deadline Hollywood first reported the news of Hathaway and Showalter’s hirings.
