Exclusive Interview
Author V. E. Schwab on Casting Hopes for ‘The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue’ Movie (VIDEO)
Dream castings can be tough — especially when you need to find three actors who can flawlessly pull off chemistry with each other. That’s the goal for the upcoming film adaptation of V.E. Schwab’s bestselling 2020 fantasy novel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, at least, according to its author.
Beginning in 18th-century France, Addie LaRue follows a young woman named Addie, who is desperate for freedom. She makes a deal with a Devil-like figure called The Darkness/Luc for eternal life. The catch? Every single person she meets is destined to forget her after a day. But after 300 years of relative anonymity, a man named Henry remembers her name.
The standalone is intense and heartbreaking, and though it was her 20th novel, Addie LaRue is also Schwab’s biggest hit so far. A film adaptation was first reported in 2020, per Variety. Schwab’s upcoming novel, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, releasing June 10, 2025, has also been announced as taking place in the Addie LaRue world.
“The script for Addie has been a very collaborative process,” Schwab said when Swooon caught up with the author during New York Comic Con last year, calling herself more of an “overseer” on the project. “I’m somebody who set the ball in motion, and who paved the road for it, and then have watched other writers build on top of it.”
“I’m really superstitious with casting,” Schwab added. “I’ve been through the casting experience before with First Kill, and what I’ve learned is that it’s better to not have a vision in your mind for who can play the part, but to instead look for the heart of that character and see who brings that out.”
Chemistry plays a major role in that deciding it-factor. “There has to be just as much chemistry between Henry and Luc as there is between Luc and Addie, or Addie and Henry, so I think the thing I’m really looking for is the dynamic between the whole cast,” she said.
They might not have to look that far for the perfect Addie: Sarah Catherine Hook, who starred in Schwab’s vampire drama First Kill on Netflix, recently admitted to us that she’d love to play the role. “I loved the book,” she said. “I would die to play Addie LaRue.”
Check out the video above, and let us know who you see playing Addie, Henry, and Luc in the comments below.
