The infamous and fiery period novel The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid became one of the most well-read and popular books in recent years. And luckily for the novel's millions of fans, Netflix announced last year the platform is adapting the book for the big screen.
Videos by Wide Open Country
While the book hit shelves back in 2017, the novel's popularity skyrocketed in 2021, largely thanks to the community of book-loving TikTokers known as #BookTok.
Book influencers touted the book online, and their fans devoured the romantically twisted novel. The acclaimed book gained a ton of traction and was even named a New York Times bestseller.
The infinitely popular novel tells the winding and juicy life story of Hollywood legend named Evelyn Hugo. At nearly 80 years old, she decides to break her longstanding silence with the public and give one last interview about her life and all its secrets to a relatively unknown reporter, Monica Grant.
Evelyn tells the story of how she overcame her abusive childhood and propelled herself into fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1950s. Through stories of affairs, deception and heartbreak, Evelyn goes through each of the seven men she married throughout her life. She also uncovers astonishing secrets about herself, including a long-hidden love.
Now, diehard fans are eagerly waiting to see their favorite novel transformed into a movie. Here's everything we know about the highly-anticipated film:
The Story
It's still unclear how closely the film will follow the book. But Netflix has released a synopsis of the movie that - at least on face value - aligns with the novel's plot.
The synopsis reads: "In a long awaited interview with a young journalist, Evelyn Hugo, an aging Hollywood starlet, pulls back the curtain on her seven marriages and as she tells tales of Hollywood scandals, betrayals, and woe, she unveils shocking truths about her own life and the lives of everyone around her."
And the novel's author, Taylor Jenkins Reid, is also an executive producer for the series. So, there likely won't be too many massive changes to the film's storyline.
After all, another of her popular novels, Daisy Jones & the Six, was also adapted for the silver screen. That show was an instant hit on Amazon Prime and even won several Emmy nominations. Reid's novel Malibu Rising is also currently being developed into a series for Hulu.
Production
Production has yet to officially begin, but the people behind the film are definitely making moves. Pre-production is well underway, and several producers are already linked to the movie.
Along with Reid, Margaret Chernin - best known for producing the 2022 action comedy The Lost City - is also executive producing the film. Liza Chasin is producing for the studio 3Dot Productions and Brad Mendelsohn will produce for the studio Circle of Confusion.
Liz Tigelaar was tapped to interpret the novel into a screenplay, which is definitely one of her talents. Tigelaar was also previously the developer, showrunner and executive producer for other popular novel adaptations - Hulu's Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng and Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed.
Cast and Crew
So far, none of the casting for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo has been finalized or announced. For now, that means we'll just have to speculate who may bring the novel to life.
But we do know who will be behind the camera and creating movie magic on the set. Leslye Headland has been named as the film's director. She's best known for directing the Netflix hit show Russian Doll starring Natasha Lyonne. She was also behind the romantic comedies About Last Night (2014) and Sleeping With Other People (2015).
As for the cast, no news about who may take on certain roles has not stopped the #BookTok community from speculating wildly about their dream casts.
In fact, the internet drummed up so much support for Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain to play Evelyn Hugo's arch nemesis, Celia St. James, that she had to comment on it.
During an episode of Bravo's Watch What Happens Live, she told host Andy Cohen that she knew about fans' desire for her to take on the role and was open to the idea. The actress said, "Sure, send me a script."
Fans, of course, latched on to this comment, and it exploded on the internet. Then, a few months later, a video went viral of Chastain refusing to sign a copy of the novel and saying, "I can't sign that just because I'm not doing it." TikTok users speculated this meant she had turned down the project, but she denied that on X (formerly Twitter).
"I've been asked multiple times by fans, to sign books that I'm not attached to contractually," she tweeted on April 19. "Because it feels wrong, and like Im taking credit for someone else's work, I'll say I cant sign because I'm not doing it. That doesn't mean I've read a bad script."
She went on to say there is "no news about anything." So, I guess there's still hope that Hollywood's favorite redhead could take on the spicy and pivotal role of St. James.
As for the novel's main character, the Cuban Hollywood star Evelyn Hugo, fans have thrown out a few names they'd love to see on the silver screen. Ana de Armas of Knives Out fame and Sofia Vergara from the sitcom Modern Family have both earned a lot of fan support for the role.
But the author and executive producer, Reid, did tell the Associated Press in March that she's always thinking about who will play the titular characters of Evelyn and Celia.
"They're some of the most exciting questions that Brad (Medelsohn) and I deal with on a daily basis," she said. "But there is no definitive answer, there's just a short list of women that I am incredibly, incredibly excited about. And, you know, hopefully we will make that decision soon."
Release Date
The film is currently still in pre-production, so fans are a long way out from getting to see their favorite novel transformed for the big screen. No actors have been confirmed to be cast in the movie and filming has not started yet (as far as we know).
That means the earliest The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo might premiere would be sometime in 2024. Depending on how long production lasts, that timeline could easily stretch into 2025.
