Why Colleen Hoover's 'Verity' Needed a Campier Adaptation

This week, Sophie and Rudi discuss “ Verity ,” a new film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s twisty psychological thriller that stars Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett. The Amazon MGM movie, which opened at No. 1 at the box office this past weekend, stars Hathaway (“The Odyssey”) as Verity Crawford, the writer of a famous thriller book series, whose husband (Josh Hartnett, “Oppenheimer”) enlists a younger writer, Lowen Ashleigh (Johnson, “Fifty Shades of Grey”), to help Verity finish the popular series after a car accident leaves her unable to write. Before they get to the book and film, Sophie recommends reading journalist Patrick Radden Keefe’s new book " London Falling ” (00:01:38) and Rudi shares what it was like to spend a week seeing three pop star arena shows — Charli XCX, Phoebe Bridgers and Olivia Rodrigo — all of whom have music in page-to-screen adaptations this year (00:03:41). They begin their “Verity” chat by sharing their overall feelings on the film (00:09:50) and dig into the Colleen Hoover phenomenon and her growing cinematic universe (00:13:25). Then they discuss director Michael Showalter, who previously collaborated with Hathaway on the adaptation of “The Idea of You,” writer Nick Antosca (“ Cape Fear ”) and the film’s development (00:17:18) before diving in-depth into “Verity’s” twisty plot (00:19:43). Throughout their conversation, Sophie explains why this is a mostly faithful adaptation of the 2018 novel that still managed to leave out a few key details (and invent some unnecessary ones). They both share what they found frustrating about the film, what made them laugh, and whether or not “Verity” is as campy as it thinks it is. They debate the merits of Johnson as an actor (00:24:33) and fawn over the real-life house where much of the movie is set (00:29:19) before getting into the manuscript that sets the twists in motion (00:33:02) and the letter (00:52:16) that has ignited debate among fans (are you Team Manuscript or Team Letter?) and Hoover herself (00:54:16). Rudi shares his theory on a more interesting idea for an alternate ending (00:58:08), they briefly compare “Verity” to “The Housemaid” adaptation from 2025 (01:04:41) and discuss how Hathaway’s performance compares to the other four movies she starred in this year. Finally, Sophie shares her pick for what she enjoyed more: Reading Hoover’s writing or watching the film (01:09:50). Next week, we’re discussing the horror movie “ Other Mommy ,” which adapts Josh Malerman’s 2024 novel “ Incidents Around the House .” The film, which stars Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, and Arabella Olivia Clark, opens in theaters this weekend. It Was A Book First is the podcast about new book-to-screen adaptations. Subscribe now to get new episodes delivered weekly on Wednesdays. Follow us on Instagram: @ itwasabookfirstpod TikTok: @ itwasabookfirst YouTube: @ itwasabookfirstpodcast Email: itwasabookfirst@gmail.com Hosts and producers: Sophie Vershbow and Rudi Greenberg Editing: Rudi Greenberg Social media: Sophie Vershbow Music: Cliff Blum and John Connelly; music production: Kevin Pons Logo: Trisha Louise Prieto Website: Kevin Pfab