Colleen Hoover adaptations have somehow become the hottest ticket in Hollywood. Last month, it was announced that Anne Hathaway would star in Verity, directed by Michael Showalter. Now she's joined by yet more A-listers in the romantic thriller: Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett have joined the cast, according to Deadline.
Johnson is set to play Lowen Ashleigh (a moniker firmly within CoHo naming conventions; the male characters in It Ends With Us were called "Ryle Kincaid" and "Atlas Corrigan"). Lowen is a struggling writer who gets a major break when she's hired by Jeremy Crawford (Hartnett), husband of the novelist Verity Crawford (Hathaway). Because Verity is unable to continue writing after a mysterious accident, Lowen is tasked with completing the other woman's best-selling book series. But as she spends time in the Crawford home sorting through Verity's notes, she discovers an unpublished manuscript that seems to uncover chilling family secrets. As Lowen grows closer to Jeremy, she has to discern fact from fiction—and decide whether she's going to use the manuscript to her advantage.
Hoover originally self-published Verity in 2012. Since then, she's become a sensation not only in the publishing world but in Hollywood as well. It Ends With Us was one of the most financially successful films of the year, an all the more impressive feat in a sea of blockbuster sequels and spin-offs. According to Deadline, Hoover penned one of the drafts of the Verity script with Lauren Levine. Hillary Seitz, Angela LaManna, and Will Honley & April Maguire all took passes on the screenplay before it landed with Nick Antosca, who wrote the current version and will serve as a producer under his Eat the Cat banner.
Meanwhile, Hartnett and Hathaway are both in the midst of personal renaissances; Hartnett is coming off of Trap, and Hathaway starred in and produced Showalter's The Idea Of You (both films included in The A.V. Club's list of 2024's best scenes). Dakota Johnson was Madame Web. Johnson will executive produce Verity, with Hathaway, Showalter, and Hoover all serving as producers.
