‘The Housemaid’ (2025) Adaptation Delivers Wild Third Act That Author Declares “Better Than The Book”

This interview has been edited for clarity. 

Hollywood’s obsession with adapting popular books continues, and while the majority of outings leave much to be desired, there’s something to be said about an effort where even the author describes as being superior to her book.

Ahead of the premiere of The Housemaid, based on the 2022 psychological thriller of the same name, author Freida McFadden believes that the film’s third act provides a far better ending than the one in her book. 

“I think it was better than the book!… They captured everything that readers love about the novel,” explained the author in an Instagram post.

“They made some changes to the end,” noted Freida in an earlier in an exclusive interview with E! News during the film’s New York premiere. 

“I actually think it’s better. It’s more action, which I think works a lot better on the big screen.”

Directed by Paul Feig (Bridesmaids), The Housemaid film brings to life the story of Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney, Euphoria), a struggling young woman with a troubled past who takes a job as a live-in housemaid for the affluent Winchester family. Her employers appear to be the picture of perfection: the elegant Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried, The Testament of Ann Lee) and her charming husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar, Drop). What seemingly began as a fresh start for Millie quickly turns sinister as she discovers that behind the mansion’s pristine white walls, the Winchesters are harbouring secrets far more dangerous than her own.

The novel spent 75 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and had sold over 3.6 million copies. The pressure to get the film right would be daunting for most directors, much less for Feig, who made his name in comedies like Bridesmaids, but the 63-year-old believes the book itself already has a strong foundation fit for Hollywood.

“The book is such a great jumping off point because the story works so well,” Feig tells us in an exclusive interview with Geek Culture. “So it’s really just, how do you pare it down?”

Screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine approached it by cherry-picking essential elements while also adding an exciting new ending that extends beyond McFadden’s original story. 

“Our ending kind of goes past the end of the book in a way that Frieda McFadden really loved,” Feig explains. “She’s very, very appreciative of what we did.”

But Feig didn’t stop with the screenplay. Drawing from his appreciation of the source material, he restored moments that initially didn’t make the cut. “It was fun for me to then go into the book and restore a few things that had fallen out because of time that I thought the readers of the book would really miss if they weren’t in there.”

At the heart of The Housemaid lies the complex dynamic between Nina Winchester and Millie Calloway, so understandably, getting the casting right for the film’s leading ladies would be crucial. The casting announcement, however, sparked immediate debate among the book’s fanbase online. In McFadden’s novel, Nina’s weight gain and deliberately unflattering appearance served as integral plot points — details that seemed at odds with Seyfried’s polished, glamorous image. 

Looking beyond physical appearance, it was Seyfried’s chameleonic ability and capacity to embody multiple facets of a character that made her the ideal Nina for Feig. “When I saw The Dropout, how that character has so many different personalities that come out throughout it, [Seyfried] just felt completely right for this,” the director explains. “Nina is so unpredictable and shifting the whole time, so it just felt like the perfect role for her.”

Sydney Sweeney’s casting as Millie drew from similarly compelling work. Her performance in Reality, where she portrayed a woman concealing her true identity and intentions, caught Feig’s attention. “That was such a nuanced performance of somebody hiding who they really were and what they had really done and how it slowly comes out,” he recalls. “It just felt very Millie-ish to me.”

When asked about taking on such highly anticipated roles, both actresses emphasised the sense of responsibility they felt — but framed it as energising rather than limiting.

“I don’t think it was pressure. We knew that there was a huge responsibility, but it was more like excitement,” Sweeney shares. “I was so excited to be able to bring this to life.”

Seyfried echoes the sentiment, highlighting the collaborative environment that allowed them to fully inhabit their characters. “We owned our characters. We had the privilege of bringing them to life. And we had a great director in Paul Feig, who is so wonderful and gentle, but so incredibly smart. I felt like, right off the bat, we were just in good hands.”

Both Nina and Millie are characters defined by their secrets, their survival instincts, and the masks they wear. For the actresses, the opportunity to peel back those layers proved irresistible.

Seyfried found particular satisfaction in portraying Nina’s most unsettling quality – her unpredictability. 

“I was most excited to play the gaslighting!” she exclaims. “I’m so terrified of people who are unpredictable. It was really cathartic for me to play somebody like that.”

For Sweeney, the appeal lay in Millie’s evolution throughout the story, particularly the flashback sequences that reveal her past. 

“I always love a good twist. But I really loved when I got to go back to being younger Millie,” she explains. “She fought for people. I loved that.”

While Nina and Millie command much of the story’s focus, Brandon Sklenar’s Andrew Winchester is far more than just the charming husband caught between them. In a film built on deception and hidden motives, the character of Andrew proves just as pivotal, yet Sklenar’s initial reaction to being offered the role was one of genuine surprise.

“I was initially shocked, because I was like, me? You want me to play this guy?” he chuckles. “I was actually thinking of like five actors off the top of my head that would crush this role.”

That uncertainty quickly transformed into excitement. Rather than feeling burdened by the book’s devoted fanbase, Sklenar embraced it as motivation to craft a performance that would meet their expectations while adding unexpected layers to the character.

The screenplay itself gave him confidence. “They could have taken it so many different ways, and there’s so much to condense from that book into that script,” he says. “I thought the way that it was adapted was just masterful.”

Over lunch with Feig, Sklenar found himself flooded with ideas about how to approach the character — a sign, he believes, that the role was meant to be. 

What drew Sklenar deeper into the character was discovering the vulnerability beneath Andrew’s polished exterior. “Just how wounded he is,” Sklenar reflects on what surprised him most about the character. “Ultimately, he’s just a deeply wounded guy, and there’s just a sad little boy in there, just needing the love he needed.”

While director Feig’s transition from comedy to psychological thriller might seem like a dramatic shift, he brought along a crucial element from his previous work: a refusal to let tension eliminate all traces of levity.

Drawing on his admiration for Alfred Hitchcock, Feig approached The Housemaid with an understanding that the best thrillers allow room for lighter moments. “He always had a sense of fun in his movies, even when they were tense and scary and all that, there was still room for a laugh and room for quirkiness,” Feig explains. 

“And I really appreciate that. I don’t like when a movie gets so serious that it doesn’t have a bit of a sense of humour about itself.”

As The Housemaid prepares to make its theatrical debut, the convergence of McFadden’s gripping story, Feig’s directorial hand, and compelling performances from the cast positions the film as one of the more anticipated thrillers of the season. And for Feig and Sweeney in particular, could The Housemaid be the movie to finally end their recent streak of flops? 

Whether it will satisfy the millions who’ve turned the pages of McFadden’s novel remains to be seen, but early reactions are leaning positive, with the film receiving praise as a campy yet dark thriller packed with shocking twists and relentless suspense. 

One thing’s for sure: viewers are in for a wild ride, especially when it comes to the explosive third act, which Feig is most excited for audiences to see. “It’s so fun because at all the screenings I’ve been to, people really interact with it,” he says. “That’s why we want movies in theatres, for people to have this group experience.”

The Housemaid sweeps into U.S. theatres on 19 December 2025.