Anne Hathaway To Star In Adaptation Of Colleen Hoover’s ‘Verity’ For Amazon MGM Studios And Michael Showalter
EXCLUSIVE: Following the success of the Amazon film The Idea of You, Anne Hathaway and director Michael Showalter have found their next big project to team up on. Hathaway is set to star in Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming feature Verity, which Showalter is helming. Based on the No. 1 New York Times bestseller by Colleen Hoover, the current script is written by Nick Antosca. Prior drafts were penned by Hillary Seitz, Angela LaManna, and Will Honley & April Maguire. Sources say the film will be released in theaters.
Producers for the project include Eat the Cat’s Antosca and Alex Hedlund, Semi-Formal Productions’ Showalter and Jordana Mollick, Somewhere Pictures’ Hathaway, Heartbones Entertainment’s Hoover and Shiny Penny Stacey Sher. Heartbones’ Lauren Levine will executive produce. The film will fall under Semi-Formal Productions’ first-look film deal with the studio.
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The story follows, Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer who is on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling thriller author Verity Crawford (Hathaway), has hired Ashleigh to complete the remaining books in a successful series that his wife is unable to finish after a mysterious accident. Upon arrival at the lavish Crawford estate, Ashleigh slowly learns that things are not exactly as they seem with the discovery of a secret, unfinished manuscript that may divulge chilling admissions about the family’s past. As Lowen ingratiates herself with Jeremy and his young son Crew, she must discern if Verity’s writings are merely lurid works of fiction or an ominous warning by a deranged psychopath.
Verity was self-published in 2018 and grew into a phenomenon that was acquired by Grand Central Publishing in 2021. It has spent months on the bestsellers list, selling more than 1 million copies in 2023 alone. The novel is a gothic, psychosexual thriller in the vein of Rebecca and Gone Girl.
Hoover has been on a streak as of late as her other No. 1 bestseller, It Ends With Us, starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, was released in theaters August 9, bringing in $346 million at the worldwide box office. Since that debut, her properties have gained a ton of momentum around town and Amazon MGM moved fast to get this next one into production.
The film reunites Showalter, Hathaway, and Amazon MGM Studios after the hit romantic comedy The Idea of You, also starring Nicholas Galitzine, which attracted nearly 50 million worldwide viewers in its first two weeks on Prime Video, becoming Amazon MGM Studios’ No. 1 romantic-comedy debut of all time. Showalter and Amazon MGM have also reteamed on the upcoming holiday comedy Oh. What. Fun., starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
As for Hathaway, the Oscar winner was most recently seen starring opposite Jessica Chastain in Mother’s Instinct. Other recent works include Vertical’s She Came to Me; Focus Features’ Armageddon Time; and an adaptation of Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh’s 2015 coming-of-age novel.
Hathaway can next be seen in Mother Mary, directed by David Lowery. Earlier this year, she wrapped production on Flowervale Street, which will be in theaters in May 2025. Hathaway is also set to reprise her role as Mia Thermopolis in the third installment of The Princess Diaries. She is repped by CAA, Entertainment 360, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern
RELATED: Dave Franco Latest To Join Josh Boone Adaptation Of Colleen Hoover’s ‘Regretting You’
The Emmy-nominated Showalter’s previous work includes directing and producing Spoiler Alert, an adaptation of journalist Michael Ausiello’s memoir that stars Sally Field and Jim Parsons. Showalter directed the two-time Oscar-winning film The Eyes of Tammy Faye, for which Chastain won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance, as well as the acclaimed The Big Sick, which received an Oscar nomination for its screenplay. His feature credits further include writing and directing Hello, My Name Is Doris starring Field, as well as directing and producing action-comedy The Lovebirds starring Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae. Showalter is represented by UTA, Artists First and Goodman Genow.
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