Sydney Sweeney to Star in Psychological Thriller Based on Viral Reddit Story

From Reddit thread to the big screen, Sydney Sweeney is leading the next viral adaptation in a twisted tale of deception, identity, and survival.

Sydney Sweeney’s Latest Project Is Anything But Ordinary

Sydney Sweeney has lined up one of her most daring projects yet—starring in and producing the feature film adaptation of a viral Reddit short story titled “I Pretended to Be a Missing Girl So I Could Rob Her Family.” The psychological thriller, originally posted on the r/nosleep subreddit by high school teacher Joe Cote in 2021, follows a young woman who impersonates a missing person with plans to rob the grieving family—only to become entangled in something far more sinister.

This time, Sweeney isn’t just in front of the camera. The Euphoria and Anyone But You star will produce the project through her Fifty-Fifty Films banner. Warner Bros. is backing the film, and Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Dune) is set to adapt the script, elevating the project into one of the most anticipated genre films in development. Joe Cote, the original author, will serve as executive producer.

A Dark Premise with a Dangerous Edge

The story’s tension is built on a deceptively simple premise: a con artist shows up at the front door of a family that lost their daughter ten years ago, claiming to be the long-lost girl. She intends to stay one night—just long enough to grab valuables and disappear. But the situation spirals. The longer she stays, the harder it is to tell who’s conning whom. Is the family buying into the lie too easily? Is the girl exactly who she says she isn’t? The lines between truth, performance, and identity begin to collapse.

What makes this source material particularly compelling for adaptation is its bite-sized but cinematic storytelling. Reddit’s horror and thriller communities have proven fertile ground for adaptation in recent years—most notably with The My House Saga and We Used to Live Here—but pairing a viral short with Eric Roth’s emotional intelligence and Sweeney’s commanding presence signals a new level of prestige.

Building a Psychological Thriller Portfolio

This is just the latest step in Sweeney’s evolution as a producer and leading lady. She is also starring alongside Amanda Seyfried in The Housemaid, a psychological thriller based on the bestselling Freida McFadden novel, directed by Paul Feig. That project similarly toys with ideas of gaslighting, manipulation, and hidden identities, further positioning Sweeney as one of the most compelling new voices in genre filmmaking.

Additionally, she’s set to portray boxing legend Christy Martin in a biopic chronicling Martin’s rise to fame, survival of domestic abuse, and fight for recognition in a male-dominated sport. That film, too, balances physical intensity with psychological nuance—two traits that have come to define Sweeney’s growing body of work.

POPULAR ON THE CINEMA GROUP

The announcement is another sign of Reddit’s growing influence on Hollywood development. Short fiction from r/nosleep and r/shortscarystories has increasingly found its way into scripts and option deals. What sets this particular story apart is its emotional ambiguity—it’s less about monsters in the dark and more about the people we become when no one’s watching. The fact that an A-list screenwriter like Roth and a bankable star like Sweeney are on board only confirms that digital folklore has earned its place in the studio system.