Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett are set to star alongside Anne Hathaway in Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming book-to-screen feature Variety. Michael Showalter is helming the project with a script from Nick Antosca.
Based on the No. 1 New York Times bestseller by Colleen Hoover, earlier drafts for the film were written by Hoover, Lauren Levin, Hillary Seitz, Angela LaManna, Will Honley, and April Maguire. The film is ready for theatrical release.
Producers on 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’s Stacey Sher. Dakota Johnson will executive produce alongside Heartbones Entertainment’s Lauren Levin.
Hoover’s Verity tells the story of Loven Ashley, a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin who accepts the offer of the job of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling thriller author Verity Crawford, hires Ashley to complete the remaining books of a successful series, which his wife is unable to complete after a mysterious accident.
However, upon arriving at the prosperous Crawford estate, Ashley begins to question whether Verity’s manuscripts are merely a work of fiction, a scary confession, or an ominous warning delivered by a deranged psychopath.
While Hathaway will play Verity in the film, Hartnett will play her husband. Meanwhile, Johnson will play Ashley.
Verity was self-published in 2018 before rising to fame through BookTalk and Bookstagram in 2021. The Gothic, psychological thriller novel is set to sell 1 million copies in 2023 alone.
Hoover has been on a path to success recently. His other No. 1 bestseller, It End’s With Us, recently received a film adaptation, starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. The film, released in theaters on August 9, grossed $346 million at the worldwide box office.
Johnson was most recently seen in Daddio with Sean Penn. She will next be seen in two highly anticipated projects: Celine Song’s Materialists and Michelangelo Covino’s Splitsville.
It’s been a great few years for Hartnett. He recently played Ernest Lawrence in the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer. He also appeared in an episode of the hit series The Bear and starred in this summer’s M. Night Shyamalan film Trap.
Also read: Colleen Hoover’s Reminder set for release in 2026 with exciting update
