Dakota Johnson (
"Madame Web") and
Josh Hartnett (
"Trap") are set to star opposite
Anne Hathaway in Amazon MGM Studios' gothic psychosexual thriller
"Verity" based on
Colleen Hoover's (
"It Ends With Us") bestseller. The film is directed by
Michael Showalter (
"The Big Sick") from a script by
Nick Antosca (
"The Act",
"A Friend of the Family"). Previous drafts were penned by
Colleen Hoover &
Lauren Levine, Hillary Seitz, Angela LaManna, and
Will Honley & April Maguire.
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 (Hartnett), husband of bestselling thriller author Verity Crawford (Hathaway), has hired Ashleigh (Johnson) 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.
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's
Stacey Sher.
Dakota Johnson will executive produce, along with Heartbones Entertainment's
Lauren Levine. The film will fall under Semi-Formal Productions' first-look film deal with the studio.
Johnson can next be seen in
Celine Song's
"Materialists" and
Michael Angelo Covino's
"Splitsville". Hartnett is also set to star in the upcoming thriller
"Fight or Flight" opposite
Katee Sackhoff.