Dakota Johnson Says Verity Puts Truth and Trust to the Test

Dakota Johnson said Colleen Hoover’s psychological thriller Verity puts truth and trust to the test much like real life, speaking at the film’s UK premiere in London, Reuters and The Evening Standard reported.

Based on Hoover’s 2018 bestseller, the Michael Showalter film follows struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh, played by Johnson, who is hired to finish a book series for celebrated author Verity Crawford after an accident leaves Verity unable to write. Anne Hathaway stars as Verity and Josh Hartnett as her husband, Jeremy.

“It’s so thrilling, it’s so sexy,” Johnson told Reuters. “You are constantly trying to figure out what the truth is and who the good people are and who the bad people are. It’s kind of a lot like life.” At the London screening she also told the Press Association she felt pressure to satisfy book fans whose experience of the novel is intensely personal.

Showalter, whose credits include The Big Sick, said Hoover stayed closely involved as a producer, sharing her original manuscript during prep, visiting set, and weighing in on cuts. He said the adaptation leans further into erotic themes while remaining largely faithful to the novel, and that he wanted a mainstream film that trusted audiences with uncomfortable ideas.

Hartnett framed the story as a choose-your-own-adventure about who the villain is, telling Reuters he hopes the open ending sparks arguments in theaters. He said he was “mesmerised” watching Hathaway and Johnson share the screen. Ismael Cruz Córdova and Brady Wagner also appear in the cast.

Verity continues the screen pipeline for Hoover’s catalog after the attention around It Ends With Us. Reuters said the global cinematic rollout begins September 30; The Evening Standard lists a UK cinema date of October 2. Promotional appearances around the Curzon Mayfair premiere kept the book-to-screen stakes front and center for entertainment readers on Daily News.

Verified facts as of September 25–26 reports: Verity stars Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway, and Josh Hartnett; Showalter directs from Nick Antosca’s adaptation of Hoover’s novel; Hoover is a producer and makes a cameo; global rollout begins September 30 with UK release cited as October 2. How audiences receive the thriller’s ambiguous morality will decide whether Verity becomes the next Hoover phenomenon or a more polarizing prestige play.