Written By | Entertainment Desk
Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett walked the red carpet in New York on Tuesday night before Friday's opening of the latest Colleen Hoover adaptation.
Search
NEW YORK
On paper, the plot of "Verity" sounds almost silly. A struggling writer is hired to finish the book series of a famous novelist who can no longer speak or move after a car crash. She moves into the family's remote house, falls for the husband, and then finds a hidden autobiography that suggests her silent employer may be a monster, and may not be as helpless as she looks.
Amazon MGM Studios is betting that audiences will enjoy exactly that. On Tuesday night the studio held the film's New York premiere at the AMC Lincoln Square 13. A pregnant Anne Hathaway posed in a form-fitting gown and hugged co-star Dakota Johnson on the red carpet, and Josh Hartnett joined them. The film opens in theaters on Friday, October 2, five days after a gala screening in London.
A "super group" of stars
Directed by Michael Showalter and written by Nick Antosca, "Verity" is based on Colleen Hoover's 2018 bestseller. Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, the ghostwriter who moves into the house. Hartnett plays Jeremy Crawford, the attentive husband who is a little too quick to suggest Lowen borrow one of his wife's dresses. Hathaway plays Verity, mostly seated, silent and staring.
None of the three had worked together before, and Showalter compared them to a "super group." He told the Associated Press the film grew out of a lifelong interest in suspense that began with a high-school Alfred Hitchcock class. Hitchcock's "Rebecca," about a new wife haunted by the woman who came before her, was his main reference point.
The Hitchcock connection runs through Johnson's family. Her grandmother, Tippi Hedren, starred in "The Birds" and "Marnie." Her mother, Melanie Griffith, starred in Brian De Palma's Hitchcock-influenced "Body Double." Johnson joked that she wasn't "really thinking about my mother or grandmother in erotic thrillers at the time of filming," but said the family history became "inspiring in a way."
"I guess, because it's something that has been in my family, it's like a sense of understanding and bravery. I'm inspired by my mother and grandmother that they can do, or did that. And so could I." (Dakota Johnson)
Scary, sexy and very funny to make
The cast is open about how ridiculous the material can be. In the film, Johnson's character blows vape smoke in Hathaway's face. A fantasy sequence begins with Johnson kissing Hartnett and ends with Hathaway kissing her. Johnson said it seemed "really fun to play somebody who's deeply unwell."
The hardest part, according to Hathaway, was keeping a straight face. "There would be some shots where Dakota and I would just have to stare at each other," she told the AP. "There's just something about knowing that you're supposed to be scary that makes you giggle."
That tone may explain why first reactions are split. Screen Rant described early responses as "wildly divided." Some viewers loved the pulpy excess, while others were less convinced. One entertainment editor called it "an absolutely wild ride" and "the perfect fall movie." Full critics' reviews had not yet been collected on Rotten Tomatoes as of Wednesday.
The Colleen Hoover question
Hoover's name sells tickets, but the adaptations have had a rough ride with critics. "It Ends With Us" made more than $350 million worldwide in 2024, and became as well known for its off-screen legal fight as for the film. According to Screen Rant, it holds a 55% Rotten Tomatoes score, while the later adaptations "Reminders of Him" and "Regretting You" scored 56% and 28%.
"Verity" is different. It's Hoover's darkest book, a thriller rather than a romance, and it has one of the strongest casts of any adaptation of her work. Industry watchers expect it to do well. SlashFilm projects an opening weekend of $20 million to $29 million and has called it a likely "sleeper hit" of the fall.
Anne Hathaway's final lap
The film also ends a remarkable year for Hathaway, who produced "Verity" as well as starring in it. It's her fifth major theatrical release of 2026, after "Mother Mary," "The Devil Wears Prada 2," Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" and "The End of Oak Street." The AP reports that those four films have made just over $2.5 billion worldwide. She is also expecting her third child and has lined up a "Days of Thunder" sequel with Tom Cruise after a break.
She is uncomfortable being praised for it. "Please let's not over praise the pampered actress," she said. "There's a lot of pregnant women out there at home and in the workplace who didn't get a manicure this morning."
She talked more happily about the moviegoing boom this year. The AP says the annual domestic box office is up around 19% on last year. "This year in particular felt like the first time for me, post pandemic, post the strikes, where the movies were so exciting and people came out in droves to see them again and again," she said.
Hartnett joked that he agreed with The Onion that "we're becoming overly reliant on Anne Hathaway in our economy." Hathaway reassured him: "I'm going to rest pretty soon. This is the last one."
What this means for you
If you liked "Gone Girl" or "Fatal Attraction," "Verity" is aimed straight at you. Go with friends and expect to argue about it afterwards. If you've read the book, the big question is how faithfully the film handles its notorious twist, so avoid spoilers until Friday.
If you prefer quieter films, reviews over the weekend should tell you whether the camp works or wears thin. Either way, it will be the big date-night film of the weekend, and with Halloween a month away the timing is good.
The bottom line
Hollywood mostly stopped making adult thrillers like this in the 1990s. "Verity" is a test of whether a big cast, a bestselling book and a sense of humour can bring the genre back. We'll know by Monday how many people went to see it, but the argument over the film has already started.
