Lionsgate has finalized a deal with Sydney Sweeney and is in advanced discussions with Amanda Seyfried to star in the thriller The Housemaid, based on the popular novel by Freida McFadden. Paul Feig has been tapped to direct the film, with a screenplay penned by Rebecca Sonnenshine.
Todd Lieberman from Hidden Pictures will produce, alongside Carly Kleinbart Elter, who will supervise the project. Feig and Laura Fischer from Feigco are also on board as producers, with Sweeney and Seyfried serving as executive producers alongside Alex Young and McFadden.
In this upcoming film, Sweeney portrays Millie, a woman looking for a fresh start as a housemaid for an affluent couple, Nina (Seyfried) and Andrew. As she delves deeper into her new environment, she uncovers that the family’s secrets are far more perilous than her own struggles.
Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, expressed excitement about the film: “I’m thrilled to have The Housemaid join our upcoming slate. A great filmmaker and a great cast with a great script from a great book is a terrific place to start. My previous collaborations with Paul and Amanda have been outstanding, and Sydney is remarkably talented.”
The novel has been a staple on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year, consecutively ranking for 75 weeks, and has also achieved impressive recognition on Amazon’s bestsellers list for 98 weeks. It holds a record with half a billion pages read on Kindle and is the second most-read title on Kindle, following the Harry Potter series. To date, the book has sold over 3.6 million copies in English and has been translated into 40 languages.
Erin Westerman, co-president of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, stated, “Part of the fun of the book was imagining the cast while we read it, and Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried are perfect for Millie and Nina—they’re both mysterious, nuanced, and incredibly skilled at portraying characters who don’t reveal everything right away.” Westerman also highlighted the successful collaboration with Paul Feig, known for his work on A Simple Favor.
Chelsea Kujawa and Erin Jones-Wesley are overseeing development for Lionsgate, with Robert Melnik managing the deals for the studio.
Sweeney, recognized for her Emmy-nominated performances in Euphoria and The White Lotus, recently starred in Sony’s hit film Anyone But You alongside Glen Powell and the thriller Immaculate. She also debuted her film Eden at the Toronto Film Festival. Sweeney is represented by Paradigm and Stewart Brookman and Hansen Jacobson Teller Hoberman.
Seyfried, who recently won an Emmy for her role in Hulu’s The Dropout as Elizabeth Holmes, is represented by Innovative and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.
Feig recently directed and produced the successful Amazon film Jackpot!, which maintained the No. 1 spot on Amazon globally for four weeks. His next project, A Simple Favor 2, is set to release in Spring 2025, reuniting him with stars Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick from the original film. He is represented by CAA and Sloane, Offer, Weber, Dern.
McFadden is represented by Christina Hogrebe of Jane Rotrosen Agency, Angela Cheng Caplan of Cheng Caplan Company, and Allison Binder of Goodman Genow Schenkman Smelkinson + Christopher. Sonnenshine is represented by Circle Management + Production and UTA.