This New York Times Best Seller Book Is Getting A Movie Starring Sydney Sweeney And Amanda Seyfried

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Two of Hollywood's most in-demand stars have signed on to play the leads in a twist-filled noir — and the book it's based on has already kept millions up at night. Sydney Sweeney of "Euphoria" fame and the ever-compelling, critically acclaimed Amanda Seyfried are set to star in Frieda McFadden's Wildly Popular Thriller "The Housemaid." It's a read that has dominated New York Times charts and fueled tireless BookTok discussions, so it was only a matter of time before it got the Tinseltown treatment. 

In "The Housemaid," first published in 2022, the walls of a pristine suburban home are hiding something far uglier underneath the surface. Millie — a young woman recently released from prison and whom Sydney Sweeney is set to star as — takes a job as a live-in housekeeper with a wealthy couple. It's a bid for redemption, a chance to start again, but it soon reveals itself to be something far more sinister.

Her employers are Nina and Andrew, played respectively by Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar (who made his name in Blake Lively's "It Ends With Us"). The former character seems volatile and erratic, whilst Andrew stays calm, attractive, and composed. As Millie is drawn into the household's fraught dynamic, she discovers a cruelty that warps the notion of domestic bliss. In the hands of Seyfried and Sweeney (who has undergone an impressive style transformation over the years), this psychological rollercoaster is sure to hit even harder. 

At CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Sydney Sweeney — who, along with Amanda Seyfried, also serves as a producer — told audiences she finished all three "Housemaid" novels in under a week. "I could not put it down," she said, praising its morally murky characters and propulsive pacing. 

Seyfried, reflecting on the "life-affirming and career-confirming" experience playing Nina Winchester, revealed: "I will never forget the way playing her made me feel. I got to go to places I never thought I'd go to." She also teased, "The stuff that happened when the cameras were rolling was bananas for me," which bodes well for us cinephiles. 

Steering the ship is director Paul Feig — best known for his experienced touch with comedy in projects like "Bridesmaids," "Freaks And Geeks," and "The Office." He has, however, more recently gestured towards darker waters with films like "A Simple Favor." As for author Freida McFadden herself: she's a novelist preoccupied with mind-bending fiction (her psychological thriller "The Teacher" dominated the Kindle charts in 2024), but she's also a practicing physician specializing in brain injury. That she spends her time studying the mind by day, makes her ability to so deftly dismantle it on the page by night all the more tantalizing. She is also expected to play an active role in "The Housemaid" film's production.