With any announcement of an upcoming book to movie adaptation, if I haven’t read the book but it was already on my TBR, I try to make an effort to read it before the release date. I love setting my own expectations for any upcoming film adaptation.
This was the case when I saw that they had cast Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney to play the leads of The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden. My preference is generally to read a thriller like this with no idea of what the plot is about. I had recently read The Boyfriend and truly enjoyed it. In fact, that book helped me out of my recent book hangover, so I figured I should finally read McFadden’s arguably most popular novel and boy, it didn’t disappoint.
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I won’t recap the story because if you’ve read it you know what happens, and if you haven’t read it then you should head on out and pick up The Housemaid without prior knowledge of the story. Trust me on this. All I’ll say is the novel follows Millie, a young woman in desperate need of a job, who takes a live in position as a maid for a wealthy family. The more time she spends with them, the more secrets she uncovers, and the shiny veneer of the wealthy begins to chip away.
Spoiler alert for The Housemaid
The Cast & Characters: Accurate or Disappointing?
After reading the novel, I finally googled some existing info on the upcoming adaptation, including the rest of the cast. I started to consider the casting choices given what we know about the characters and how they’re described. Here is how I predict the movie will need to be adapted to amend the characters.
Enzo: The Gardener
Enzo is being played by Michele Morrone, an Italian actor who played Massimo in Netflix’s infamous 365 Days series. I had originally imagined Enzo as a quiet and non confrontational character who tried mostly to do his work and keep to himself.
As I’m writing this and reflecting on the character description in the book, I am realizing that my image of him is inaccurate. Enzo is described as having a very large build and somewhat imposing in stature.
All the women in the neighbourhood fawn over him to get his attention, making it impossible for him to keep to himself. Because of this, perhaps Morrone will be able to accurately portray Enzo. Massimo did, after all, bring all the spice and drama.
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The other big change predicted in this adaptation would be in Nina’s character. Nina has gained a lot of weight over a short period of time due to her eating candy and overall neglecting her health with the goal of purposefully becoming unattractive to Andrew.
Would they aim to have a close character representation by Amanda Seyfried? What would the hair, makeup, and costume even look like for that character? As I analyze this conundrum and the possible answers, I can conclude that they will have to make some changes to the story around Nina’s tactics for ridding herself of her deranged husband.
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Andrew: The “Devoted” Husband
Finally, I’ll mention that Brandon Sklenar will be playing Andrew Winchester in the adaptation. For those of you who love a good book to movie adaptation as much as I do, you’ll remember he played Atlas in It Ends With Us.
Atlas was of course the good guy and the one Lily ultimately has her happily ever after with. With this in mind, Sklenar is doing quite the 180 by acting the part of Andrew, the ultimate villain in The Housemaid. I am looking forward to seeing his representation of a character I was actually shocked to loathe after initially feeling sympathy for him in early chapters.
Final Thoughts
I had a lot I wanted to discuss about this book after I finished reading it so I have successfully convinced my mom, best friend, and husband to read it and we can have a fun little book club night to chat about it.
If you haven’t yet read The Housemaid, maybe this is your sign to do so. It’s summer, who doesn’t love a little thrill to read while lounging on the beach.
If you have read it, what did you think? Do you agree with my scattering of thoughts? Either way, I’ll bet many folks are looking forward to the films’ release this Christmas 2025.
