Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood’s Margaret Qualley stars alongside Love, Simon’s Nick Robinson, in STRANGE BUT TRUE, an intense, absorbing mystery thriller adapted from the acclaimed novel by John Searles. Searles’ book is the story of a young woman, played by Qualley, who, five years after the tragic death of her boyfriend, arrives on the doorstep of his family to tell them she is pregnant with his child.
Strange But True
The book had all the elements in place to make terrific, intriguing film: a tantalising premise, relationships in crisis, family dynamics turned on their head, unexpected revelations and a killer pay-off. Here are six more female-focused, unputdownable novels that were turned into equally gripping films.
Chapter 1: A mysterious stranger arrives (Labor Day, 2013)
The novel Labor Day, by Joyce Maynard, tells the story of a single mum who picks a wounded hitchhiker - who might just be the escaped convict the police are looking for. This was the second book by Maynard to be turned into a film - in 1995, her novel To Die For was filmed, starring Nicole Kidman as a TV personality who will stop at nothing for fame. In Labor Day, Oscar-winner Kate Winslet played the lead, with Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men) as the mystery man she becomes entangled with.
Chapter 2: A woman goes missing (Gone Girl, 2014)
Gillian Flynn’s deliciously gripping novel Gone Girl, about a husband being suspected of dark deeds when his wife goes missing, was published in 2012, and fast became the book that everyone was talking about. David Fincher’s film adaptation, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, was a huge hit. Continuing her winning streak, Flynn’s brilliantly dark novel Sharp Objects was turned into an HBO miniseries starring Amy Adams.
Chapter 3: A strange event is witnessed (The Girl on the Train, 2015)
British author Paul Hawkins twisty thriller became the must-read book of 2015, and sold 15 million copies worldwide. Hawkins quickly became a hot property, and a Hollywood film version of her book was released in 2016, starring Emily Blunt as a troubled commuter who witnesses a shocking scene from the window of her carriage. Hawkins’ follow-up book, Into the Water, is now being given the big screen treatment with Steven Spielbrg’s DreamWorks producing.
Chapter 4: A terrible thing takes place (Nocturnal Animals, 2016)
Austin Wright’s novel Tony and Susan, is an intriguing story of a book within a book - with the ex-wife of a writer reading his manuscript, the brutal story of rape, murder and vengeance. Wright’s thriller was initially turned down by all the major publishing houses, but, after being picked up by a small imprint, it went on to be a bestseller in the early 1990s. Following a successful re-issue in 2010, it caught the attention of director Tom Ford, whose film adaption, featuring A-listers Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal, was released in 2016.
Chapter 5: Seeing something you shouldn’t (The Woman in the Window, 2019)
No doubt spurred by the success of The Girl on the Train, producers snapped up the rights to A.J. Flinn’s hit novel The Woman in the Window, about an agoraphobic woman in New York who witnesses something that puts her life in danger. Sharp Objects and Nocturnal Animals star Amy Adams takes the lead, with Gary Oldman and Julianne Moore in supporting roles, in what promises to be a nail-biter.
Chapter Six: A tragedy unfolds (The Rhythm Section, 2020)
Blake Lively stars as Stephanie Patrick, in this forthcoming adaption of Mark Burnell’s sensational bestseller from 2011, about a woman seeking revenge after her parents are killed, when a bomb goes off on the plane they are travelling in. If the film proves a hit, there are three more Stephanie Patrick thrillers in the series - showing that putting pen to paper can often prove very lucrative indeed.
STRANGE BUT TRUE is released on digital on 27 September 2019 from Vertigo Releasing