“The Housemaid” Director Paul Feig Reveals How Closely the Movie Follows the Hit Book (Exclusive)

Paul Feig is giving fans some new details about his upcoming adaptation of The Housemaid.

The filmmaker spoke to PEOPLE at the premiere of Another Simple Favor while attending the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival in Austin, Texas, on Friday, March 7, where he said the team behind The Housemaid "did a really good job" at translating Freida McFadden's hit thriller novel for the screen.

"We had a great writer, Rebecca [Sonnenshine]," says Feig, 62. "Because it's nerve-wracking — like, it's easy to make something out of a book that's not good; when a book's really good, it's like, oh boy."

"So I was very attentive to it, [star] Sydney [Sweeney] was very attentive to it, and I think we hit just the perfect balance," he adds.

Asked what adjective he'd use to describe The Housemaid, Feig teases to PEOPLE, "I don't wanna say harrowing. ... It's surprising. Let's just say surprising."

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In the upcoming film, Sweeney, 27, plays Millie, the protagonist in McFadden's bestselling tale that marks the first in what has since become a three-book series, as well as a recently published short story that takes place between the second and third novels.

Also in the cast are Michele Morrone as Enzo, the sexy groundskeeper with a mysterious past who works for Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried) and her husband Andrew Winchester (It Ends With Us star Brandon Sklenar), as Millie arrives to work as the couple's new housemaid.

In the novel, Millie develops a close relationship with Enzo while working for Nina and Andrew, cooking, cleaning and tending to their daughter Cecilia. But things soon begin to unravel inside the Winchester home, with Millie, who has a marred past of her own, discovering more than she bargained for — and a twist ending that readers have buzzed about since The Housemaid was published in 2022.

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Related: Sydney Sweeney 'Babysits' Her The Housemaid Costar Indiana Elle, 11, at Brooklyn Nets Game

Erin Westerman, president of production for the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, previously described actresses Sweeney and Seyfried, 39, as “perfect” for their opposing roles. "They’re both mysterious, nuanced and incredibly skilled at becoming characters who don’t reveal everything right away," she said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.

According to NorthJersey.com, The Housemaid began filming in January at a local supermarket and the popular hot-dog restaurant Rutt’s Hut in Ridgewood, N.J.. The latter was also used as a setting for the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

Other filming locations for The Housemaid, which takes place in New York City in the novel, include Cresskill and Montclair, two small New Jersey boroughs.

The Housemaid debuts in theaters on Dec. 25.

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