Verity Movie Secrets: Why Team Letter Wins, Book Changes and Anne Hathaway's Headboard Rehearsal

The Verity movie makes it very clear that everybody should be Team Letter. As someone who had never read the book, but who is now more familiar with both the movie and the book, I think "it is 100% clear that Team Letter is the right answer."

Spoilers ahead if you have not seen the movie yet. Below I lay out my reasons for believing the letter, then go through the biggest differences from the book, the strange preparation behind the headboard scene, the house that looks like teeth, the shifting colour palette, and the scene Anne Hathaway shot on her day off.

Verity talking only to Crew is one of the biggest pieces of evidence for Team Letter

After seeing the movie, it just makes a lot more sense to me that the letter is the more truthful document. One of the biggest pieces of evidence is that Verity continually talks to Crew. Throughout the manuscript, it is mentioned that she hates her kids but loves Jeremy. The fact that she was only communicating with Crew makes me believe that she really wanted to get him out of there.

It does not make much sense to me that she would fake her condition because she wanted Jeremy's attention. It seems much more likely that Jeremy did something that made her have to fake it. If she really just wanted to have another accident, she could have gone and done that if she was that distraught.

Jeremy's violence and the money from Verity's books

Verity is known to be a genius in her writing and very sinister, so to me it makes a lot more sense that her editor would have her try a different technique. Jeremy's first reaction when he found out she was alive again was to choke her instantly, and to me that just shows that he is a very violent man.

Although the movie mentions that Jeremy does have money, it seems like he needed her more than she needed him. He probably liked not having to work that much while the money from the books kept coming in, and that, as I see it, was the reason he would keep her in that state.

Lowen's sleepwalking was filmed for Verity but cut

Several things from the book did not make it into the film. In the novel, Lowen is a chronic sleepwalker, which represents her fear of control and adds an eerie atmosphere to the house. Those scenes were actually filmed, but the filmmakers felt they were a little more boring than they had hoped, and they were cut for time.

In the movie there are two children, Harper and Crew, but in the book there were three, and the third was also removed for time. Just like in the movie, Harper drowned in the lake, and in the book the other child died from a severe allergic reaction, showing the trauma and tragic family backstory the characters carry. A dinner scene from the book, where Lowen eats with Jeremy and Crew and Jeremy introduces her a little more, was also taken out.

The Verity ending changes how Jeremy kills her

The ending is a little different from the book. In the book, Jeremy forces Verity to choke on her own vomit. In the movie, he suffocates her, and then they put her body into the lake.

Anne Hathaway rehearsed biting the headboard with balsa wood

While filming Verity, Anne Hathaway actually had rehearsals for biting the top of the headboard. The iconic headboard biting scene from the book required rigorous physical preparation, because it is a key detail and the production wanted to make it as perfect as possible.

Hathaway said she thought it was crazy that she was doing this for work. They did not make her bite onto something as hard as a bed frame. Instead they brought in a piece of balsa wood, a softer wood that makes it easy to leave bite marks. She found it hilarious because the director had to practise biting it himself to show her what he wanted. It is a hilarious detail, and it shows some of the weird things actors have to do to get into character.

The Crawford house was chosen because it looks like teeth

The house Jeremy and Verity live in looks a lot like teeth, and this was done 100% on purpose. I just got back from seeing the movie, and this was a detail I actually noticed myself. There are a few reasons behind it.

First, there is a very popular scene where both Verity and Lowen bite down on the back of a wooden headboard, which was meant to show passion during an intimate scene. The production designers deliberately chose this house because it looked like sharp teeth or fangs, creating a menacing mood. On top of that, its shapes almost look like Vs, which would stand for Verity. Just like her books, they wanted something unpredictable rather than a normal looking home. The house is located in Armonk, New York, in Westchester County, and it is one of my favourite details from the film.

Verity's colours shift with what happens to Lowen

The colours in Verity change based on what is happening to Lowen. Early on, in the New York City offices, the palette is very cool and flat. Once Lowen has her life changing experience and goes to the Crawford home, the lighting takes on very rich yellow and red undertones.

That soon changes too. When Lowen begins reading the manuscript, the house gets darker and darker, less light comes in, and fewer scenes are shot during the day. The shadows become much darker and harsher in every room, especially Verity's room, to add suspense and a psychological horror feel. At the end, when Verity is gone, they are back in the house during the day as they prepare to move, and the light returns to show that this evil is technically gone. I do not think she was evil, though. In my opinion, "I am 100% team letter."

Anne Hathaway came in on her day off after Dakota Johnson fell ill

Anne Hathaway came in on her day off and delivered a performance that shocked everyone. When Dakota Johnson fell ill one day during production, the filming schedule was suddenly halted and thrown into chaos. Hathaway was called in at the last minute, and the scene they shot was the one where Verity talks to the police officers after her daughter has died.

Hathaway is a brilliant trained actor, and she showed up on set that day without much preparation and delivered an insane performance, crying and emotional while also being manipulative, to fit the manuscript. In my opinion it is one of the best acted scenes in the whole movie, and "it's crazy how good of an actor she is."

So which side are you on: Team Letter or Team Manuscript?