Sydney Sweeney is set to star in and produce the film adaptation of viral short story I pretended to be a missing girl, first posted on Reddit by English teacher Joe Cote in 2021.
The Massachusetts-based high school teacher’s story follows an unnamed homeless woman, who decides to impersonate an 18-year-old girl who went missing a decade ago so she can rob her family. However, her plan to stay one night goes awry as she realises this is no ordinary disappearance.
Sweeney is producing the film adaptation via her production company Fifty-Fifty Films, and has reportedly brought on board Oscar-winning Killers of the Flower Moon writer Eric Roth to work on the script.
Underground’s Trevor Engelson and Folbe, Room 101’s Steven Schneider, and Vertigo’s Roy Lee and Mira Yoon are also on board to produce, while original story author Cote will be executive producer.
No director has been announced yet.
Sweeney, who rose to fame playing high school student Cassie Howard on the transgressive HBO drama series Euphoria, has talked about producing the projects she’s in, saying it allows her a “say over decisions that would help benefit the project”.
“I love being able to have a seat at the table, have creative say over decisions that would help benefit the project, whether it be the character or budget or time frame, anything that I can do that can help the project succeed. I love to help brainstorm and problem solve because it’s a puzzle – you’re constantly trying to have all these moving pieces put together,” she told Vanity Fair last year.
In the same interview, the 27-year-old criticised the hypocrisy of people publicly espousing feminist values, while privately “trying to bash and discredit” younger peers.
“It’s very disheartening to see women tear other women down. Especially when women who are successful in other avenues of their industry see younger talent working really hard – hoping to achieve whatever dreams that they may have – and then trying to bash and discredit any work that they’ve done.
“This entire industry, all people say is ‘Women empowering other women.’ None of it’s happening. All of it is fake and a front for all the other s*** that they say behind everyone’s back.”
The White Lotus star was an executive producer on 2023’s hit romantic comedy Anyone But You, which also starred Glen Powell, and went on to make $220.3m at the box office after being made on a $25m budget. Sydney also produced the 2024 horror film Immaculate, which premiered at SXSW and opened to mostly positive reviews.
Sweeney will soon be seen in The Housemaid, based on the 2022 novel of the same name by Freida McFadden. The film, which is directed by Paul Feig and also stars Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar, is set to release in December this year.
She will also reprise her role as Cassie Howard in the third season of Euphoria, and star in Apple TV’s Echo Valley opposite Julianne Moore.
