<i>The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue</i>: What We Know So Far About the Movie Adaptation

V.E. Schwab’s bestselling fantasy novel, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, blew up on BookTok during the height of the COVID pandemic—and is now officially being adapted for the screen.

Here’s everything we know about the forthcoming film, produced by Schwab herself.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, originally published in October 2020, follows a young woman in 1714 France who makes a deal to become immortal. But she soon discovers that she’s been cursed to be forgotten by everyone in her life. That is, until 300 years later, when she meets a man who remembers her.

The film adaptation was first announced ahead of the book’s release in 2020 by Variety.

Although Schwab drafted an earlier version of the script, she will now serve solely as a producer for the adaptation. Augustine Frizzell (Never Goin’ Back, Euphoria, Sweetbitter) is set to direct, according to Variety. She’ll also be penning the script with her filmmaker husband, David Lowery (The Old Man & the Gun, The Green Knight).

Schwab celebrated the writer-director duo on Instagram back in 2021, saying, “The news is out! The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue has found its director!!! Augustine (Euphoria) is brilliant, and she and her husband David Lowery (The Green Knight) are penning the latest version of the script that she will direct.”

In the same caption, she also included a note to fans who may be nervous about how the adaptation might differ from the book. “I have said this about books I love, and I will say it about my own adaptations in the works: I see so many messages that amount to ‘they better not change/ruin/fuck up this thing I love.’ And I get it, I do. But please remember, no one can change/ruin/fuck up my book. Because my book is my book. It is not undone. It is not erased. It is not a palimpsest, written over by a new iteration. The book will always be the book. The film will always be the film.”

Yes! Back in September 2022, Schwab posted a photo of the script on Instagram with the caption, “When I read the script, I knew I was in good hands. It’s phenomenal. A love letter to the book, and a feat in its own right. I’m beginning to think these two made a deal with Luc, to do this story justice.”

Yes, the author provided an update about the much-anticipated film in a recent interview with Variety, saying that, of all her adaptations currently in the works, the Addie film is the furthest along. “Addie is definitely the closest,” she said. “It’s been a really weird journey because when I first sold [the film rights for] Addie LaRue, I hadn’t written the book, and then I spent like five years essentially being a living story Bible at the screenwriters’ disposal. And then it went through many, many iterations.”

She then mentioned that eOne (the production company that had initially acquired the rights for the film) was then acquired by Lionsgate. “So now Addie is at Lionsgate,” she said. “And Lionsgate is so invested in making it the best version of itself. I am really heartened by that, because there is a way to make Addie faster, cheaper, put it on streaming, and be done. And I just went out and met with Lionsgate in LA, and they’re so aware of what it is and of what they have. It’s one of the reasons they wanted eOne. So they’re very, very intentional about, let’s move slow and measured and make sure that we have the perfect version of this script so that we can do exactly what we want with it. It’s not there yet. I am a deep skeptic of all things Hollywood, but I’m really, really excited by where it’s at and how it’s moving. And I cannot wait to see the next step of it.”

This story will be updated.