‘Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’ Sets Maggie Betts as Director After Leslye Headland Departs Netflix Adaptation

Rebecca Rubin

11 February 2025 at 1:54 pm·2-min read

Filmmaker Maggie Betts has been tapped to direct “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” for Netflix after Leslye Headland’s departure from the project.

Betts, whose credits include Amazon MGM’s Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones-led legal drama “The Burial” and Sony Pictures Classic’s 2017 drama “Novitiate,” will also co-write the screenplay with Liz Tigelaar (“Tiny Beautiful Things,” “Little Fires Everywhere”).

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Adapted from Taylor Jenkins Reid’s best-selling 2017 novel, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” follows a fictional Old Hollywood star who gives a final interview to an unknown journalist. During her tell-all, the fiercely private celebrity pulls back the curtain on the true story of her infamous seven marriages and other wild tales of showbiz scandals, betrayals and woes.

Netflix picked up rights in 2022 but the project has yet to get off the ground. Fans of the novel have been vocal about wanting Jessica Chastain to play the title role of Evelyn Hugo, but the actress has revealed there’s “zero possibility” that’ll happen. Casting, in any case, has yet to be announced.

Reid will executive produce “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” with Margaret Chernin. Liza Chasin for 3Dot Productions, Brad Mendelsohn for Circle Management + Productions (“Daisy Jones & The Six”) will serve as producers. Deadline Hollywood first reported the news of Betts’ hiring.

Headland, the co-creator of “Russian Doll” and director of “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte,” revealed to Variety in January that she’s no longer involved with the adaptation. “I remain a huge, huge fan of the book and of the people working on it,” she said. “It’s one of those things where you know it’s going to be a huge success. I thought, ‘Damn it. It’s not going to work out with me involved in it, but it is going to be wildly successful.'”

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