Make it a Movie: We’re All Lying by Marie Still
In our Make it a Movie section we play the role of movie producers and map out the movie production. We’re All Lying is a psychological thriller, packed with everything you look for: deception, violence, heavy-emotions, and of course lies.
There have been a number of psychological thriller books turned movies in the past. They’re hard to nail because it’s tough to get inside the head of the characters the same way books do, but We’re All Lying has enough plot and mystery to work well on the big screen. We actually got a chance to talk about what the movie would look like and who would be casted with the author Marie Still. Check out our podcast with author interview if you’re interested.
Plot: Cass has a seemingly perfect life. Head of a marketing agency, two kids, and chivalrous doting husband. That is until she gets an email that turns her life upside down. Jealousy, anger, and hatred fuel Cass as her life spirals ominously out of control.
Production Notes: Nothing on the production front, this book is pretty new (released March 14th, 2023), so we may not hear anything for some time.
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Logline: Girl on the Train + Chloe
Proposed Casting for We’re All Lying by Marie Still
Cass – The main character of the book and one that goes through a ton of ups and downs. Personally we would have left Ethan’s cheating-ass immediately, but we understand the long history and other variables at play. This would be a very emotional draining role for whatever actress took it on. Kate Winslet clearly has the acting chops to pull off this type of role, plus she just seems like the type of person who could be the head of a big marketing agency.
Ethan – Outside of Ethan coming to Cass’ defense when they were in college, he’s a pretty shitty dude. He is a serial cheater, liar, and someone that collects items from past conquests… A complete serial killer move. He seemed like more of a sociopath than Alice to me. I think for the movie they’d make him a bit more likeable, since he isn’t the villain of the story. A guy that plays the ambiguous good/bad guy character really well is Jon Bernthal. In real life he seems like a really stand up guy, but he seems to be cast in the noir roles frequently. Side note – his small role in Wind River was one of the most chilling scenes I’ve seen in a long time.
Alice – Maybe we’re a bit crazy, but we actually sympathized with Alice, the villain of this story. She’s had a rough up bringing and despite her efforts and importance, she still seems to be treated like a second class citizen by pretty much everyone she is in contact with, including Cass. Were her actions in the book justified… No but I do think she makes for a compelling well-rounded villain. Typically in these types of books/movies there really isn’t much ambiguity with who is bad/good, in this book there was a lot of that, which we appreciated. The person who I imagined the whole time while reading was Christina Ricci, who happens to play a very similar character in the show Yellowjackets (which had an awesome first season). Check out the show and tell us she isn’t the perfect casting for Alice.
Emma – Emma is a character we don’t really get in the head of much, but all we know is that she’s a bit of a wild card (yes, Cass made her out to be crazy, but conference appearance was as crazy as you can get). Sleeping with the bosses wife too? That’s an insane move. For this role we need some one good looking enough that you could imagine Ethan risking it all for, but also a little bit on the wild side. Sydney Sweeney makes a lot of sense. Between Euphoria and The White Lotus, she seems to already have this role down, and she’s easy on the eyes as well.
Plenty of other characters we could have casted but we’ll stick with those for now. Marie Still had a few characters in mind as well – so check out the podcast who she would want to be casted. Let us know what you think of who we casted and what roles we’re missing, reach out to us. Or check out our Book Club Questions on We’re All Lying. Here is a clip from our interview about CoVos.
