Sydney Sweeney is getting further into the thriller genre.
The actress/producer is set to lead the adaptation of a short story that first originated on Reddit, “I Pretended to Be a Missing Girl,” which was written in 2021 by high school English teacher Joe Cote. The viral short story is now getting a big screen adaptation by way of Oscar-winning “Forrest Gump,” “A Star Is Born,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” scribe Eric Roth, with Sweeney starring and producing, an individual with knowledge of the project told IndieWire.
Cote’s story, titled “I pretended to be a missing girl so I could rob her family,” centers on a drifter (Sweeney) who impersonates a missing girl ten years after she went missing to rob her family, only to realize it’s a terrible mistake. The drifter plans to convince the family she is their missing child, and stay just for one night — but she soon uncovers the truth about the girl’s sinister disappearance…
Warner Bros. won the rights to the package in a competitive situation. No director is attached yet. Sweeney will star and produce through her Fifty-Fifty Films banner, along with Underground’s Trevor Engelson and Folbe, Room 101’s Steven Schneider, and Vertigo’s Roy Lee and Mira Yoon. Author Cote will executive produce.
Sweeney is also leading the novel adaptation “The Housemaid,” directed by Paul Feig. The film, which co-stars Amanda Seyfried, will be released in December by Lionsgate. She additionally is reprising her role in “Euphoria” and will star in Apple TV’s “Echo Valley” opposite Julianne Moore. Sweeney was announced to portray Kim Novak in her “Euphoria” co-star Colman Domingo’s directorial debut, and she also recently wrapped production on a biopic about the boxer Christy Martin.
The Warner Bros. slate is full of buzzy projects. Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” was recently released, with Barry Levinson’s “The Alto Knights” and Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” soon in theaters. The studio also won Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” adaptation over Netflix, as IndieWire reported, with the Austen film having a theatrical release. As for franchises, there are new “Matrix,” “Oceans,” “Gremlins,” “Goonies,” and “Lord of the Rings” features in development. Also in the auteur realm, Paul Thomas Anderson‘s “One Battle After Another,” his first film since 2021’s “Licorice Pizza,” will be in IMAX and released on September 26. The feature is the debut collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio and PTA; Alana Haim, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, and Teyana Taylor co-star.
