Verity, based on Colleen Hoover’s novel, is currently getting mixed reviews. Some hail it as a “campy, faithful adaptation,” and others are writing it off as “a criminal waste” of stars Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett, and Anne Hathaway. The movie follows renowned author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway) and Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), a struggling writer who relocates to a remote estate to ghostwrite for Verity, putting her in close proximity to the author’s mysterious husband, Jeremy (Hartnett). A sexy thriller starring three of the biggest stars in the world that doesn’t take itself too seriously? Sign us up. Despite the discourse, there’s something undeniably fun about watching three wildly charismatic actors throw themselves into a deliciously messy thriller — and, thankfully, the cast seems to be having just as much fun with it as we did.
When R29 senior fashion writer, Victoria Montalti, sat down with Johnson, Hathaway, and Hartnett, it quickly became clear that the off-screen chemistry is every bit as entertaining as the on-screen tension. The trio traded jokes, teased each other, and proved that even when you’re talking about obsession, secrets, and murder, there’s always room for a little chaos. Johnson, Hathaway, and Hartnett bring an easy, playful energy to the conversation that makes it hard not to imagine what it was like on set, and their press tour has already delivered plenty of chaotic, meme-worthy moments, proving this trio is more than willing to lean into the absurdity.
From zodiac signs to their characters’ questionable choices, the three stars were more than willing to play along. Consider this your invitation to leave the discourse at the door, embrace the camp, and hear what the cast of Verity really thinks about the movie, their characters, and each other.
I was always playing the hero… and I think it’s so much fun to be able to play characters that the more you get into them, the deeper and darker they get.
josh hartnett
Refinery29: There are so many twists and turns in this movie. Is there a moment that you remember in theaters seeing a movie and just like being blown away by a plot twist?
Anne Hathaway: The Others. The Nicole Kidman film from the early 2000s. I remember I went to a showing in the middle of the day. A very well-known actor came in and sat down next to me, and I was like 17, so obviously I knew who he was and not the other way around.
Josh Hartnett: Was it me? You keep pointing at me.
AH: You’re just the man to my right the way he was. But yes, Josh, this is how we met. I can’t believe it worked [laughs]. Anyway, there’s this real jump scare that happens where a character comes out of a cupboard — I don’t want to say any more than that — and this very famous actor and I both screamed and grabbed each other and held each other. And then made eye contact and we’re like, “That happened.” [laughs]
Photo credit: Alisha Wetherill
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Dakota Johnson: A plot twist, I don’t remember, but I do remember my older brother [went] on a date to the movies with a girl, and he had to bring me. And he put me in a movie theater to watch some cartoon, and then they went into a movie theater and watched Very Bad Things. And then I went into the movie theater. I was eight.
AH: Oh my God.
JH: Oh my God.
DJ: I know. And that ruined my life. Trauma. It ruined my life.
And then you became a movie star.
JH: Mine’s the same as Annie’s essentially because it’s The Sixth Sense. It’s basically the same twist. Dead people.
DJ: I loved that movie!
Verity’s very aware of the darkness of what’s inside of the manuscript. I’m very grateful that I don’t relate to that darkness.
anne hathaway
Our readers are obsessed with astrology. In the movie, Lowen breezes over the fact that it was her birthday. She does not care. She doesn’t want to celebrate. But do you think she would be into astrology? And what do you think her sign is?
DJ: I’m gonna say she’s a Sagittarius. Or maybe she’s a Pisces.
I was thinking Capricorn or Aquarius ’cause they’re both a little weird. Aquariuses don’t like filling in silences. I’m an Aquarius.
DJ: She’s probably an Aquarius, and she probably doesn’t give a fuck.
AH: I think Lowen secretly cares about her birthday.
DJ: Yeah, everyone does [laughs].
Josh, a lot of your characters in movies are the nice guy on the surface, and then underneath, hiding some deep, dark secrets. What draws you to characters like Jeremy?
JH: It’s more fun to play characters that have depth and complexity, but I don’t know. How old are you? Can I ask?
I’m 27 [laughs].
JH: It’s been a trajectory to get to a point where they’ve allowed me to play much more complex characters. At the beginning of my career, I wasn’t allowed any of that. I was always playing the hero, you know? And I think it’s so much fun to be able to play characters that the more you get into them, the deeper and darker they get.
DJ: You didn’t feel like Trip Fontaine [from The Virgin Suicides] was dark?
JH: Oh, Trip Fontaine had some darkness, for sure. But that was like a kid with a mistake. He regrets it for the rest of his life. That’s the whole backstory. That’s why Trip, as an old man, is talking about it.
AH: I was also gonna say, I also think that because you’ve put in your hero time, it makes the villain time so much richer because we look at you in a certain way, and we’re like, “Oh, Josh is here to save the day.” And then we’re like, “Oh no, he’s gonna kill us all.”
Anne, you’re pregnant. You’re a mother. Was it difficult playing kind of like the opposite kind of character as a mother? Verity is kind of all over the place and I’m sure very different from how you approach parenthood.
AH: Verity’s very aware of the darkness of what’s inside of the manuscript. I’m very grateful that I don’t relate to that darkness. I’ve learned, after doing this for so many years, how to keep the characters internal without having it come anywhere near my real life. Especially because some of these things, they feel so horrible that you’re just very happy for it to be over, and then you just wipe the slate and never look back.
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