EXCLUSIVE: Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett are set to star opposite Anne Hathaway in Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming feature Verity. Michael 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. 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.
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. 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.
Johnson was most recently seen in Daddio, a TeaTime Pictures production, in which she produced and starred opposite Sean Penn. Johnson will next be seen in two highly anticipated projects for which she recently wrapped production; Celine Song’s Materialists and Michael Angelo Covino’s Splitsville. In 2019, Johnson launched TeaTime Pictures with producing partner, Ro Donnelly. Their first two feature films, Cha Cha Real Smooth and Am I OK? sold straight out of their respective premieres at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival to Apple TV+ and HBO Max. Cha Cha Real Smooth won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic category. Johnson stars in both films. More recently, Johnson and Donnelly executive produced The Disappearance of Shere Hite, in which Johnson is featured as the voice of Shere Hite. Johnson made her directorial debut in 2019 with Coldplay’s music video, “Cry Cry Cry”. This year marked her second time directing, for a short film titled Loser Baby from TeaTime Pictures and Boatrocker.Johnson is represented by CAA and Untitled.
Hartnett is coming off a strong couple years most recently portrayed Ernest Lawrence in the critically acclaimed and award-winning Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer. He also appeared in an episode of the hit series The Bear and also starred in this summer’s M. Night Shymalan film Trap. He also stars in the upcoming film Fight or Flight which will be released in 2025. Hartnett is represented by Entertainment 360 and Verve.
