Anne Hathaway Picks Team Letter as Verity Tops the Box Office

Anne Hathaway is Team Letter.

The actor, who plays Verity Crawford in Verity, told The Hollywood Reporter she comes down in favour of the letter when fans argue over the story's ending. It is the central puzzle of the film. Is Verity the monster described in her manuscript, or the victim described in her letter?

That debate arrived with a strong start at cinemas. Verity earned $32.6 million from 3,510 locations in North America to top the domestic box office chart, domestic meaning the United States and Canada, on its opening weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film carries a $40 million production budget before marketing costs.

The story centres on struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh, played by Dakota Johnson. Lowen is hired by Jeremy Crawford, played by Josh Hartnett, to complete the remaining books of his wife Verity, a bestselling thriller author, according to Deadline. While staying at the family home, Lowen finds an unpublished autobiographical manuscript titled “So Be It” on a hard drive on Verity’s computer, according to Deadline.

That manuscript is disturbing. In it, Verity claims to hate her children and plots the death of her daughter Harper, according to reporting on the plot twists. Another account describes Verity as resentful of her two children for pulling Jeremy’s attention away from her, according to Variety. The letter found later offers a different version, one in which Verity is a victim and the manuscript was an exercise in imagining a darker mind.

Hathaway told The Hollywood Reporter she believes the victim version, which sits behind her Team Letter stance, according to Refinery29. She also said she does not trust Lowen and does not trust Jeremy. Short version: she trusts Verity.

Not everyone involved will pick a side. Author Colleen Hoover, who wrote the novel behind the film, said watching the adaptation gave her a new perspective on the ending and that she still does not know what is real. Director Michael Showalter said he is agnostic on whether the letter or the manuscript is true.

The film ending itself shifted during production. Verity originally had a darker ending that was changed after focus-group testing, according to Variety.

For fans, this means the argument will keep running past the credits. Letter or manuscript, victim or monster, trust Verity or trust no one.