Film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's 'Verity' set for May 2025 release

The highly anticipated film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel Verity is set to hit theatres on May 15. The Amazon MGM Studios-backed project boasts a star-studded cast, featuring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett in lead roles.

Directed by Michael Showalter, the film follows struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh, who is hired as a ghostwriter for bestselling author Verity Crawford under mysterious circumstances. However, Lowen’s assignment takes a disturbing turn when she uncovers chilling autobiographical notes that reveal dark family secrets. As she becomes entangled in the Crawfords' world, her perception of reality begins to blur, particularly with Verity’s husband, Jeremy.

The screenplay is penned by Nick Antosca, known for his work on Brand New Cherry Flavor and The Act. Previous drafts of the script were worked on by several writers, including Colleen Hoover herself, Lauren Levine, Hillary Seitz, Angela LaManna, Will Honley, and April Maguire. The film is being produced by Antosca, Alex Hedlund, Stacey Sher, Showalter, Jordana Mollick, Hathaway, and Hoover.

This marks the second major film adaptation of a Hoover novel following It Ends With Us, which starred Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. The film became a sleeper hit, grossing over $346 million worldwide. However, It Ends With Us remains entangled in a legal battle involving Lively and Baldoni, with ongoing disputes over production rights and contractual agreements.

Verity was initially self-published by Hoover in 2018 before being acquired by Grand Central Publishing in 2021. The novel has remained a staple on The New York Times Best Sellers list, selling over a million copies in 2023 alone.

Dakota Johnson, known for her work in the Fifty Shades of Grey series, was last seen in Sony’s Madame Web, where she played a clairvoyant paramedic in the studio’s expanding Spider-Man universe. She is also set to star in upcoming projects Materialists and Splitsville.