Where Was Verity Filmed? Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson Go Toe-to-Toe In and Around New York

Author Verity Crawford’s imposing Vermont home is described as a supporting character in the production notes of Verity , a twisty new thriller starring Anne Hathaway as the titular lead and Dakota Johnson as struggling author Lowen Ashleigh. Based on The New York Times bestselling novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover, the film follows Lowen from New York City to the woods of rural Vermont , where she takes on a ghostwriting project for Verity, who has been gravely injured. “A writer’s words should be honest and bloody and a little bit terrifying,” Verity announces from her desk, speaking directly to the camera. Bloody and terrifying are very much to come.

The secluded Vermont property immediately sets the tone for the film’s haunted feel, despite the efforts of Verity’s husband, Jeremy Crawford (Josh Hartnett), to show Lowen around and make her feel welcome. Inhabiting Verity’s former life, first from her office and quickly all the way to her former marital bed, Lowen becomes obsessed with the mysterious author’s life and work. She also discovers what seems to be a sinister autobiography and is forced to reckon with the real-world implications of this possible truth, or rather, verity (ha!).

The Vermont mountain house is actually located in Weschester County, New York.

In place of locating an actual property in Vermont, the film’s location manager Elizabeth Krekel and production designer Amy Williams found the perfect villain’s lair in Westchester, New York. "I was looking for something modern and ominous because that's how it's written," Krekel says in the production notes. Despite the general vibe of the home being described, the actual design details were less clearly laid out. “There was a lot of conversation about what the house looks like, 'cause it's not really described in the book,” Williams explains. “We were a little bit nervous that the fans might have imagined something more traditional,” but ultimately, this big swing made the movie what it is.

“The book is even more disturbing,” Williams says when asked about the fear factor of watching the film in a dark theater. The production crew worked across several seasons, filming in upstate New York as well as in and around Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

Below, Williams walks us through all the filming locations in Verity scene by scene.

Lowen sits in Verity's office, where she perhaps does not belong.

As Verity commences, before things take a turn toward the darkness, we meet our protagonist Lowen in New York City, where she is working as a relatively unsuccessful author and reading an excerpt of her book in the back room of a bookstore. The bookshop will be very familiar to Brooklyn residents who like to read and shop locally: it's Books Are Magic in Carroll Gardens . While you might not actually be able to purchase any titles by Lowen Ashleigh, you can pick up a few volumes of Hoover's work there.

After getting a promising call from her literary agent Corey (Ismael Cruz Córdova), Lowen heads to Midtown Manhattan for a mysterious meeting at the Hachette Book Group offices. En route, she witnesses a fatal car crash. Right after, she locks eyes with a handsome stranger who she’ll soon come to know as Jeremy Crawford. The intersection setting of this tone-setting devastation is where Park Ave meets East 41st Street, just a block from Grand Central Station. Williams explains that they chose one of the busiest and least film-friendly spots and “we instantly attracted paparazzi, so it was a very well-documented scene, but it was the perfect location for texture and just to really feel that Midtown hustle and bustle.”

Moments later, cleaned up from the incident and now wearing Jeremy’s oversized crisp white button-up, buttoned all the way to the top, "it’s fashion,” Lowen says, the two enter the offices of the Hachette Book Group. “That was actually at Colleen Hoover's publisher,” Williams tells me, “which was kind of incredible that they gave us access. Her story editor facilitated everything for us.” The production team temporarily took over the publishing offices, redecorating and covering the walls in framed book jackets of fictional Verity Crawford works. And there’s a little Easter egg in this scene for true fans, Colleen Hoover makes a cameo as the office receptionist!

New York foodies will recognize the restaurant where Lowen takes a meeting with Corey as Rolo’s in Ridgewood, Queens . The dining establishment, famous for its wood-fired polenta bread, homemade pasta, and limited-availability burgers, makes a short but sweet appearance.

As Lowen pours over Verity’s apparent autobiographical writing, some scenes are brought to life through flashbacks. One of these scenes is Verity and Jeremy’s initial meet-cute at a chic Manhattan bar with Verity wearing her signature color red. The bar, a part of the historic Beekman Hotel , is Laissez Faire , a high-end cocktail lounge in the Financial District, which crucially has a back-alley exit for them to slip out of and into a waiting limousine.

The majority of the nearly two-hour film takes place in the Crawford family home. Created by Danish sculptor and designer Jens Quinsgaard, the Beckoning Path house is a sprawling modern property in Armonk, New York, that serves as a private wellness retreat. It contains a swimming pool and a tai chi studio. Williams had previously worked with Showalter on two of his other films, and when Verity first came up, she wasn’t sure her schedule would allow for her to work on the project. But then Showalter’s assistant slipped her some photos of this home they were considering, “And as soon as I saw [them] I was like okay, clear my calendar! I was sold instantly.”

The grand home seemed meant to be with its angular architecture and V-shaped windows, V for Verity. The owner of Beckoning Path was receptive to the film crew redecorating the space for the shoot, so the crew added walls and bookshelves to make it feel more like an actual author’s home. They also used the real kitchen and several rooms, while some of the other spaces, like the office, were recreated on a sound stage.

The office was a critical location that was designed with input from both Showalter and Hathaway, who also served as a producer on the film. “We wanted to hit a very specific note with it,” Williams says. “Michael wanted it to feel very womb-like and feminine, but also kind of glammy.” The space is part Hollywood dream office, part villain’s lair, and it is rife with mirrors. Williams selected pink hues for the carpets and desks, ensuring that they popped with Hathaway’s complexion. At first, Williams was put off by the notion of an author’s writing hideaway having so few books on display, but the fact that the mirrors open up into bookcases made sense for the secretive Verity.

Not only was the house a perfect find, but the property also gelled with the storyline. The house was “like a shipwreck at sea,” Williams muses, which, for those who know the full story, holds more than one meaning. In one scene (no spoilers), Verity takes her children out on the lake, right outside their home, for a canoe ride. Fortunately, this property happened to have a lake, so the crew returned in the summer to capture that scene, much of the rest of the movie takes place during the winter months.

After mounting romantic and sexual tension, Jeremy takes Lowen out to celebrate her birthday in the nearby town. He brings her to one of her favorite spots, a local Bavarian restaurant. This scene was filmed at Zum Stammtisch , a pub serving hearty German fare in Glendale, New York. In the book, the scene takes place at an Italian restaurant, “but we found this really charming, historic Bavarian restaurant in Queens that was near our [sound] stage,” Williams says, “and our director of photography actually was a background waiter in lederhosen.” The crew ate at Zum Stammtisch a couple of times. Williams recommends the pretzels.