Anne Hathaway’s Next Movie Might Just Be the Sexiest Thriller of 2026

Based on the best-selling book by Colleen Hoover, Verity stars in Verity as an injured, best-selling writer whose husband, Jeremy (Josh Hartnett), hires a struggling writer, Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson) to help finish his wife’s book. But the more Lowen learns about Verity, the scarier the situation becomes. Don’t worry, this isn’t some blood-soaked slasher. Director Michael Showalter describes it to Polygon as more of a “twisted, dirty thriller.”

Ahead of the film’s release next month, Polygon connected with Showalter for our 2026 Fall Preview and asked him five simple questions. There are no spoilers below, but a few fun teases about what to expect from Hathaway’s most intriguing performance of the year.

1

What is Verity about?

“Verity is an erotic thriller; a twisted, dirty thriller, we like to call it. Three really interesting characters stuck in a house together. It’s a Colleen Hoover book, but it’s sort of a different genre than her other book adaptations. It’s sexy, and it’s scary, and it’s creepy and suspenseful.”

2

What excited you about Verity?

Image: Amazon MGM Studios

“I was shown the script by the executives we work with at Amazon, and I loved it. I loved the story. It was something I’d never really seen before. It had so many great things about it to bring to life. These characters, the world, it felt like a really visual story to me. These characters are having huge tragedies and love affairs and violence and career ups and downs. That excited me.”

3

How involved was Colleen Hoover in the movie?

“She was with us on set for portions of the shooting of the movie. She and I also talked about the movie a lot in the pre-production phase as we were sort of getting the movie ready and doing some work on the script. I spent a lot of time talking to her about the book and her intention and trying to understand what things were for her. She worked on the script too. She was a true collaborator.”

4

Anne Hathaway is having a big year. What’s special about this performance?

Image: Alisha Wetherill/Prime Video/Collection

“I just love her commitment level. She creates her character and there is just a 10,000% commitment level that she gives to her performances — aside from her also being an incredible actress and a great human being. As an artist, it’s just exciting to watch someone who brings that much commitment to their work. It’s something that other people feed off.”

5

Will fans of Anne Hathaway be surprised by Verity?

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures/Paramount

“I think so. I don’t want to say too much about it, but Verity is a very complicated character.”

“Anne needed to sort of create multiple different kinds of characters for the audience to feel strongly about. That’s a very difficult task. At times, we don’t think we can trust Verity. We may even feel that she is the villain of the story. But then there are other times where we are on a journey with her through flashbacks. So you need to have a bunch of different feelings about Verity that are all happening at once and not ever know exactly which version of her is the one you should believe.”

Verity releases in theaters on Oct. 2.