Sydney Sweeney is set to star in and produce the upcoming Warner Bros. thriller I Pretended to Be a Missing Girl, an adaptation of a viral Reddit short story penned by Massachusetts high school English teacher Joe Cote.
The story, originally posted in 2021 on the r/nosleep subreddit, follows a drifter who impersonates a missing girl to rob her family, only to uncover unsettling truths about the girl’s disappearance.
Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Dune, Killers of the Flower Moon) is attached to adapt the screenplay. Sweeney will produce the film through her Fifty-Fifty Films banner, alongside producers from Underground, Room 101, and Vertigo. Joe Cote will serve as an executive producer on the project.
While no director has been announced yet, the film is in development with Warner Bros. Sweeney’s involvement in both starring and producing roles continues her trajectory of taking on complex, genre-spanning projects.
I Pretended to Be a Missing Girl joins a growing list of internet-originated stories making their way to the big screen, following adaptations like Zola and Slender Man.
Stay tuned for updates on casting, directorial announcements, and release dates as the project progresses.
