In PH cinemas September 30
In 2018, Colleen Hoover stepped out of her comfort zone and got inspired to write her first thriller after making a name for herself with her hit romance novels. “I have a dark sense of humor and am definitely not as romantic or emotional as the characters in some of my books,” says the author. “I love isolating characters and putting them in creepy places or having them cut off from the outside world and facing challenges on their own.”
She published Verity on her own, and it instantly became a hit. Producers Alex Hedlund and Nick Antosca raced to get the film rights. “I read the book in the spring of 2019 and I knew instantly that I had scratched off a winning lottery ticket, there was something really special here,” says Hedlund. “It was provocative, it was sexy, it was fun, it was shocking. It had all these different flavors, and that was even before I really understood who Colleen Hoover and her fan base was. She seems to have her finger on the pulse of what people relate and empathize with better than most contemporary authors.”
Antosca, who also wrote the screenplay for Verity, was compelled by the mystery Hoover weaved within her pages. “Colleen’s book is fun, it’s juicy, it’s kind of disturbing, and it’s over the top in a really delicious way. And I think that’s why people respond to it so much, and it leaves you with questions,” he says.
Watch the trailer:
Verity is a seductive, psychological thriller that revolves around acclaimed author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), and aspiring writer Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson). Lowen, under Verity’s request to ghostwrite for her next novel, moves to the Crawford estate to immerse herself in the author’s world. As Lowen uncovers Verity’s autobiographical notes, the line between fiction and reality blur, and the involvement of Verity’s husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett) adds an additional layer of intrigue.
Director Michael Showalter came into the picture as the producers began to bring their vision to life.”I love the way that he approaches character, emotion and particularly moments of intimacy in his films and I felt like that was going to make or break Verity,” Hedlund says. “Those more intimate moments are very delicate and they really help drive the story forward. I knew that Michael was going to have a great handle on making the actors feel comfortable and finding the emotion within those scenes.”
For the director, it was just as thrilling as reading the novel to take on an adaptation of his favorite genre. /”It’s very escapist. It’s suspenseful, it’s sexy, it combines all these different cinematic elements and allows for humor, visual storytelling,” he says. “I am a big fan of Hitchcock and Adrian Lyne, Brian De Palma and their movies from the ’80s and ’90s. The joy of cinematic storytelling is so present in those kinds of thrillers. And so for me, this was an opportunity to try to do one myself and try to tell the story in a unique and interesting way.The source material is the “north star””
Hedlund comments about the joy of collaborating with Hoover for this project. “She’s so open, communicative and giving with her time, wanting to make sure that the movie could stand on its own,” he says. “A huge responsibility for me as a producer was making sure that I could earn her trust and blessing. And I think the movie is a testament to that.”
As for Hoover, she places a lot of faith in the filmmakers, and she knew that her story would be in good hands. “I don’t give a lot of pushback when it comes to changes because I understand them and the readers were always a priority,” she says. “Even with things they had to change or cut, it’s still a great reflection of the book.”
Watch the mystery unfold as “Verity” arrives in Philippine cinemas on September 30.
