Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett star in ‘Verity,’ an adaptation of author Colleen Hoover’s psychological thriller

NEED TO KNOW

• At the New York City premiere of Verity, Anne Hathaway praises a scream Dakota Johnson lets out in their new thriller as an “all-time” movie moment
• Hathaway, Johnson and Josh Hartnett star in Verity, an adaptation of author Colleen Hoover’s psychological thriller of the same name
• Verity is in theaters Oct. 2

Anne Hathaway thinks Dakota Johnson has a moment in their new movie that audiences will remember .

At the New York City premiere of Verity, Hathaway, 43, gave PEOPLE her take on what director Michael Showalter recently described as an “erotic” moment in the new movie, based on author Colleen Hoover‘s novel of the same name.

Showalter, 56, told Variety in an interview published Sept. 23 that he, Hathaway and Johnson, 36, developed a steamy makeout scene for the movie that was improvised and does not appear in Hoover’s book.

“I don’t remember it being improvised because I pitched it,” Hathaway says, with a laugh. “So I think that maybe what was improvised was the scream at the end. I don’t know. I was just thinking about how this book got under my skin, and so much of the book is about obsession and not being able to get something out of your head. There was so much about what Lowen has going on and her obsession with Verity, and her trying to become Verity, and her hunger. I don’t know I think I was just doing the dishes and I had this scene, and I pitched it to Michael.”

“I remember this happening. I hope this is how it happened. It wound up in the movie,” she adds. “And then right at the end of it, that was when Michael, the last take was like, ‘Dakota, scream.’ She’s like, ‘Really?’ He was like, ‘Just scream.’ She let out this scream. I was right here when she did it, and it was one of the coolest, best screams I had ever seen. I’m a big fan of [screams]. I don’t know why, I just love screams in movies and I was like, ‘That’s an all-timer. That was great.’ And it’s great in the movie.”

View this post on Instagram

In Verity, Johnson portrays a struggling writer named Lowen who has a chance encounter with Jeremy Crawford (Josh Hartnett), the husband of wildly successful and reclusive author Verity Crawford (Hathaway). Jeremy offers Lowen the opportunity to finish a series Verity had begun writing before suffering an accident. But Lowen’s experience with the author begins to unravel in chilling ways when she discovers a separate, unfinished manuscript written by Verity.

The movie is the third adaptation of author Hoover’s work in recent years, following 2024’s It Ends with Us and last year’s Regretting You. Showalter, who previously worked with Hathaway on 2024’s The Idea of You, told Variety in the recent interview that he found a moment in Hoover’s book where Verity and Lowen “have this intimate-hug moment that I thought had the potential to be something very sexually charged.” He said Johnson and Hathaway pitched the idea of their characters making out during the sequence.

“I thought there was something very sexy — erotic — about Dakota being like, ‘I’m just going to sit on your lap and start kissing you.’ She sees [Jeremy] and just goes there, and that felt like the beginning of something that felt transgressive,” he said. “She took this thing that she wants, and he’s there for it.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

On the red carpet, Hathaway — who is pregnant and expecting her third baby with husband Adam Shulman — says she did not mind the film’s dark tone “because my life is on such steady footing.” Verity marks the final release in Hathaway’s impressive five-film run in 2026, following Mother Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Odyssey and The End of Oak Street.

“I’m deeply into my marriage, my kids. I don’t even know how to describe it. I actually wasn’t worried about it,” she says. “Also, because I knew I was working with friends. I’d had such a beautiful, transformative, intense experience with Michael Showalter on The Idea of You, and so many of the crew members from that film came onto this film. So, I was just surrounded by love and family the entire time.”

Verity is in theaters Oct. 2.

#Anne #Hathaway #Calls #Dakota #Johnsons #Scream #Steamy #Verity #Scene #AllTimer #Exclusive