EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is developing a feature adaptation of None of This Is True, the psychological thriller novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell, sources tell Deadline. Eleanor Burgess (Perry Mason) has been tapped to pen the script.
Netflix won rights to the book in a competitive situation that involved multiple offers out of the U.S. and UK. Actress and producer Molly Sims (Kinda Pregnant) and Modern Magic are attached to produce, with Jewell exec producing. Gaby McCormick, who brought the project in, will co-produce through Modern Magic.
Published by Simon & Schuster last July, None of This Is True follows popular podcaster Alix Summer, who while celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her 45th birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast.
Slowly, she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life — and into her home. But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.
Seeing her works published in over 25 languages and sell over 10 million copies worldwide, Jewell’s first novel, Ralph’s Party, emerged as the best-selling debut novel of the year upon its publication in 1999. Since then, she has published another 21 novels, with a recent focus on dark psychological thrillers, as with Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs and None of This is True. Up next, she will release Breaking the Dark: A Jessica Jones Marvel Crime Novel, the first book in a brand-new Marvel Crime fiction series for adults.
Best known for writing on HBO’s Perry Mason and Apple TV+’s WeCrashed, Burgess also wrote on and served as co-producer of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire.
Most recently coming aboard to produce Netflix comedy Kinda Pregnant starring Amy Schumer, Sims has previously been seen in shows like Las Vegas and films like Yes Man. Additionally, she co-hosts the podcast Lipstick on the Rim alongside best friend Emese Gormley, there covering topics ranging from beauty and wellness to the navigating of personal challenges.
Founded in 2021 by Oscar winner Rodney Rothman (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) and former MGM Co-President of Production Adam Rosenberg, media company Modern Magic is focused on creating event entertainment across animation and live-action. Since its launch, the company has set up projects with Columbia Pictures, Fox, Sony Pictures Animation, Illumination, Interscope, Warner Brothers, Skydance, Picturestart, FX, Sony Pictures Television, and 20th Television. Additionally, it has a first-look animated broadcast deal with Fox and a first-look live-action feature deal with Sony Pictures.
Burgess is repped by CAA, Entertainment 360 and Rob Szymanski at Eclipse Law Corporation; Jewell by UTA and The Curtis Brown Group; Sims by UTA, Linden Entertainment, and Schreck Rose; Rothman by UTA and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; and Rosenberg by UTA.
