Verity viewers left in utter disbelief over surprising Gen Z detail in new film

Warning: this article contains spoilers for the film adaptation of Verity.

Quite a number of people who’ve seen Verity have been left baffled by an unexpected bit of modern internet culture, which has somehow found its way into the new psychological thriller.

The film, based on Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel of the same name, stars Dakota Johnson as struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh, who is hired by Jeremy Crawford (played by Josh Hartnett), to complete his wife’s unfinished book series.

Anne Hathaway takes on the role of Verity Crawford, who is unable to continue writing following a car accident. From there, things quickly become increasingly sinister when Lowen moves into the family home, where disturbing secrets begin to emerge, and the lines between reality, fiction, and fantasy start to blur.

Anne Hathaway stars as Verity Crawford in the new psychological thriller (Amazon MGM Studios)

However, amidst everything unfolding on screen, viewers have been completely thrown by one particularly unexpected addition to the adaptation.

That would be Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper making an appearance in Verity as herself.

In the scene, Cooper is hosting a fictional episode of her podcast, interviewing Hathaway’s character, Verity, as a guest on the show.

As shown in the comments of a TikTok video with footage of the scene, though, fans who’ve either seen the film or had the reveal spoiled for them aren’t happy about the fictional film-to-real-life podcaster crossover — given that Cooper’s involvement was not in Hoover’s original book.

Lowen is hired to finish Verity Crawford’s bestselling book series (Amazon MGM Studios)

One social media user admitted in the comments: “I literally looked around the theater, like, ‘are we deada*s right now?’”.

Another viewer particularly honed in on the increased dissatisfaction with the incorporation of recognisable online culture into movies, writing: “Movies will never be the same as the 2000s. They all include Insta/TikTok references and even Love Island. Like, why is there a clip of Love Island in a romcom? [In the new film adaptation of The Love Hypothesis] Or Alex Cooper in VERITY?????????”

There are plenty more comments from people wishing this film version would remain closer to the source material.

Another added: “I wish movie adaptations would stay true to the books. No hate towards her… ”, with another directly replying: “I couldn’t agree more! They left out important plot lines but added in podcasts, like, c’mon”

Fans are getting tired of seeing real-life pop culture getting thrown into book adaptations (Amazon MGM Studios)

Others seemed less concerned with the book and more stunned that Cooper had appeared at all.

One wrote: “Someone tell me it’s a joke,” whilst another questioned: “Why is she everywhere?”.

That’s more than likely because Cooper’s moved well beyond just staying on Call Me Daddy — popping up in other events and shows like hosting March’s Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special, being involved in Netflix’s Let’s Marry Harry series, and even her own two-party Hulu documentary series, Call Her Alex.

That success may be to Cooper's — or at least Verity's — detriment, as some even claimed the cameo had affected whether they wanted to see the film, with one admitting: “Supposed to see it tonight, but now I'm not too sure”