The Hating Game movie, an adaptation of Sally Thorne’s same-named 2016 novel, casts Lucy Hale and Robbie Amell. The Hating Game is the latest big screen adaptation of a romantic novel to be put into development. Considering the popularity of The Kissing Booth and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before on Netflix as well as the theatrical success of Crazy Rich Asians, Hollywood has seen a massive rom-com revival in just the last few years. Since its success in 2018, Netflix has released a host of other rom-coms, including The Perfect Date (another adaptation, this one from Steve Bloom’s The Stand-In) and Someone Great among others.
But romantic comedies are also making a major theatrical comeback thanks in part to Crazy Rich Asians. Directed by Jon M. Chu and based on Kevin Kwan’s 2013 book, Crazy Rich Asians proved rom-coms can find success in terms of critical reception and box office gross. As such, Hollywood studios have seemingly been more eager than ever before to develop new romantic comedy movies, whether based on original premises or adapted from books. One such adaptation is now taking a major step forward by casting its leads.
Today, Deadline reports The Hating Game has cast Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale as Lucy Hutton as well as The Flash actor Robbie Amell as Joshua Templeman. The story of The Hating Game follows kind-hearted, but lonely Lucy who’s dedicated both to her job and hating her work nemesis, the cold and efficient Josh. Deadline reports the logline of The Hating Game movie is as follows:
Peter Hutchings (Then Came You) will direct The Hating Game from a script by Christina Mengert (Peace, Love & Misunderstanding). Claude Dal Farra, Brice Dal Farra, and Brian Keady of BCDF Pictures will serve as producers while Mister Smith Entertainment will co-finance the film and handle sales. No other roles in The Hating Game have been cast, though the film will likely need to cast Lucy’s parents, who are strawberry farmers, as well as Josh’s parents and older brother, all of whom are doctors. Additionally, the movie will need to cast the co-CEOs of the publishing house where Lucy and Josh work as the executive assistants to the disparate heads of the company.
Resolving to achieve professional success without compromising her ethics, Lucy embarks on a ruthless game of one-upmanship against Josh, a rivalry that is impossibly complicated by her growing attraction to him.
Given the critical success of The Hating Game novel, the movie adaptation has quite a bit of potential itself. The premise features the classic romantic trope of enemies-to-lovers, which has won over book readers since Thorne’s novel released in 2016. Since Hale and Amell both have experience playing romantic leads, they’ll no doubt be able to do The Hating Game justice. Of course, whether The Hating Game will find success on either the big screen or streaming platform remains to be seen (it’s unclear as of yet which kind of release the film will get). But thanks to the rom-com revival, now is perhaps the best time for The Hating Game to make the leap from book to movie - and Hale and Amell will be the ones tasked with bringing it to life.
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Source: Deadline
