Josh Hartnett credits intimacy coordinator on Verity ahead of Oct. 2 release

Josh Hartnett says an intimacy coordinator played a big part in filming Verity, the Colleen Hoover adaptation due in cinemas on Oct. 2.

He described building screen chemistry with co-stars Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson “like a puzzle”. The comment came in an interview on ABC News Live Prime, as reported by Deadline.

Verity is a film adaptation of Hoover’s novel, directed by Michael Showalter, Hartnett said in the same interview. Hathaway portrays renowned author Verity Crawford. Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer who moves into the Crawford estate to ghostwrite for Verity, meaning to write in her name. Hartnett plays Jeremy, Verity’s husband.

The remarks arrived just after the film’s New York City premiere on Sept. 29, 2026. Both Hathaway and Johnson attended the premiere, according to People.

Hartnett said the three leads had to work out how their characters connected. He put it simply. They built it piece by piece, “like a puzzle”, as cited by Yahoo News UK.

An intimacy coordinator is the on-set specialist who choreographs intimate scenes and agrees boundaries with actors. Hartnett said that support mattered on this production. He did not describe specific scenes in the interview excerpt.

What makes this stand out is how openly the process is being discussed before release. Intimacy coordinators have become a standard credit on studio productions with sex scenes. For fans, this means the talk around Verity is starting with craft rather than plot twists.

The film is advertised as opening in theatres on Oct. 2. No box-office figures have been reported yet.