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Anne Hathaway's 'Verity' Opens Strong, Wrapping Up Her Busy 2026 Film Slate
Confirmed
In Short: Hathaway recently posted a viral video on Instagram where she disappeared in a puff of smoke, drawing attention to her latest film and her busy year.
The movie, directed by Michael Showalter, follows Lowen (Dakota Johnson), a struggling writer who is offered a job to ghostwrite for the injured author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway).
As Lowen delves into Verity's work, she becomes engrossed in a manuscript that reveals Verity's twisted story of lies and manipulation.
Hathaway's performance is largely silent, with the actress using flashbacks and reading the manuscript to convey Verity's character.
While 'Verity' has been praised for its star-studded cast, including Josh Hartnett, critics note that the film's back-and-forth structure can feel repetitive and monotonous.
The film's success is part of a trend in Hollywood adapting Colleen Hoover's novels, following the massive success of 'It Ends with Us' in 2024.
Hathaway recently posted a viral video on Instagram where she disappeared in a puff of smoke, drawing attention to her latest film and her busy year.
In an interview with CBS Mornings, Hathaway discussed her changing relationship with fame and her decision to embrace her success.
Despite the mixed reviews, 'Verity' is expected to attract book clubs and continue the trend of Hoover adaptations in Hollywood.
Hathaway's fifth film of 2026, 'Verity' marks the end of a busy year for the actress, who has also starred in 'The Odyssey' and 'Dune Part 3.'
What this adds
Hathaway's Instagram video was a callback to a comment she made earlier in the Verity press tour.
The film's success is part of a larger trend of Hollywood adapting Colleen Hoover's novels, with 'Verity' being the fourth adaptation.
Background
At the New York premiere of her latest film, 'Verity,' Anne Hathaway took charge of the red carpet, directing photographers to ensure the best group photo possible.
Despite the strong performances, 'Verity' is described as 'twisty and uneven,' with critics noting that Johnson's character is underdeveloped and Hartnett's role does not shine until the end.
''Verity'' is an English-language female given name derived from the Latin ''veritas'', meaning "truth". It is also used as a surname.
What's confirmed
- The movie, directed by Michael Showalter, follows Lowen (Dakota Johnson), a struggling writer who is offered a job to ghostwrite for the injured author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway).
- As Lowen delves into Verity's work, she becomes engrossed in a manuscript that reveals Verity's twisted story of lies and manipulation.
- Hathaway's performance is largely silent, with the actress using flashbacks and reading the manuscript to convey Verity's character.
- While 'Verity' has been praised for its star-studded cast, including Josh Hartnett, critics note that the film's back-and-forth structure can feel repetitive and monotonous.
- The film's success is part of a trend in Hollywood adapting Colleen Hoover's novels, following the massive success of 'It Ends with Us' in 2024.
- Hathaway recently posted a viral video on Instagram where she disappeared in a puff of smoke, drawing attention to her latest film and her busy year.
- In an interview with CBS Mornings, Hathaway discussed her changing relationship with fame and her decision to embrace her success.
- Despite the mixed reviews, 'Verity' is expected to attract book clubs and continue the trend of Hoover adaptations in Hollywood.
What's still developing
- Subsequent adaptations "Regretting You" and "Reminders of Him" have failed to match the success of the 2024 movie that started it all (but didn't do that bad at the worldwide box office, both coming in around $90 million).
- Perhaps the latest Hoover adaptation, "Verity," will be the next big one. The first three Hoover movies all dabbled in the same brand of melodrama, while "Verity" is a different spin on what has been seen from the Hoover Factory. The new film, directed by Michael Showalter, captures Hoover's sense of heightened drama and tortured romances but with an airport thriller sheen. It's a page-turning book that can easily be picked up at any Hudson News outlet while waiting for a flight, and the ludicrous thriller was destined to become a movie once audiences began responding to Hoover's work. As a pulpy read, "Verity" was disposably entertaining.
- As the movie opens, Lowen is reading excerpts from her new book at a bookstore to a single-digit audience.
- Lowen is being offered a gig ghostwriting popular author Verity Crawford's (Anne Hathaway) next three books, and Jeremy is there to tell Lowen that Verity personally requested she be the one to get the job (Surprise!
- Once Lowen is at Verity's home, she begins digging into her work and office to try and obtain a sense of her process as a writer.
- She finds a first-person manuscript Verity wrote and becomes instantly addicted to the twisted words she put to page.
- "Verity" feels like a wasted opportunity to end such a run of movies on. The film's back-and-forth structure begins to feel repetitive and monotonous, but Showalter is occasionally able to capture a jolt of energy that is strangely missing from the movie. Even so, book clubs will flock to "Verity" and the Hoover train will continue to chug along.
- Verity is actually the fourth CoHo novel to earn a movie adaptation, on the heels of It Ends with Us (the less said about that, the better), Regretting You, and Reminders of Him, but it's arguably the biggest and most star-studded one yet.
- Since Hoover is most widely known for writing contemporary romance and women's fiction, her 2018 psychological thriller Verity represents a major deviation from her work.
- Given the pedigree behind the film, with Nick Antosca ( Cape Fear ) penning the script and Michael Showalter ( The Dropout ) directing, any curious viewer would probably have the impression that they're the ideal creative duo to bring Verity 's twisted tale of lies and manipulation to the screen.
- While the movie itself is unquestionably buoyed by its leads Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett, there's a looming sense that Verity isn't nearly as creepy, campy, or sexy as it could have — and should have — been.
- All of that changes when her publicist, Cory ( The Rings of Power 's Ismael Cruz Córdova ), summons her to a meeting with Jeremy Crawford (Hartnett), the handsome and charming husband of bestselling thriller author Verity Crawford (Hathaway).