Without giving away spoilers, I physically jumped multiple times while watching Verity. Many of those scares happened because of Anne Hathaway’s titular character. So, when I interviewed the cast of the book-to-screen adaptation, I asked if she ever made them jump. In response, Josh Hartnett and Hathaway told me how the actress scared the heck out of him while he was filming a scene that involved him kissing Dakota Johnson. When I asked Anne Hathaway, Josh Hartnett and Dakota Johnson about jump scares on set ahead of Verity’s release on the 2026 movie schedule, the Oppenheimer actor was quick to recall the time The Odyssey actress got him good. Noting that he had been filming a scene that involved him making out with Johnson, Hartnett said: [Anne] scared me more than I've been scared in years. We were in the middle of the scene where we're kissing in the kitchen…Dakota and I are kissing in the kitchen, and then she sees Verity in the hallway. And we're just rehearsing it, walking off into the darkness.Hartnett, who plays Jeremy in the movie, went on to say that while he and Johnson, who plays Lowen, were kissing in the scene, Anne Hathaway was looking for a place to hide so she wouldn’t be caught on camera. That’s when the actress stepped in to tell the next part of the story and explain why she needed to hide during the scene: So it was very important that the camera, you know, Dakota and Josh are in the forefront of the frame, and then Dakota sees me, and then the camera goes back to them, and when the camera goes back in a single shot, I'm not there anymore. So the question was: where can I hide that you don't see me on camera? So I was trying to find like an alcove, and I was trying to like press myself back into it. Like, ‘I think this will work.’ And then I look up, and I saw Josh walking towards me, and he’s in Jeremy mode. A lot of Verity is built on the suspense of Johnson’s character, Lowen, thinking she’s seeing Hathaway’s Verity -- who is, as far as they know, incapacitated -- move. So, behind the scenes, The Devil Wears Prada actress had to scurry out of the frame on occasion so they could pull off these suspenseful moments. Before they filmed it, Hartnett thought that meant Anne Hathaway would just step off set and go to her chair. Or, in her words, “just be a normal person.” However, that is not what happened, as The End of Oak Street star explained: No, I was exploring the space. So anyway, so I realized Josh was coming towards me. [He] had no idea I was there. I looked like a ghost. I was in like one of my more terrifying outfits than this…And I also knew I couldn't scream ‘Boo!’ because there were too many people around and it would be too disruptive. So I was like, ‘What can I do that's just for Josh?’ And so when he went by me, I just went [hisses].Listen, if Anne Hathaway hissed at me, I’m certain she would scare the living daylights out of me. Well, that’s exactly what happened to Josh Hartnett too, as he explained to me: She hissed at me, and I was not expecting it. And that house is a little bit spooky too, and it was really dark. And then I jumped. Hathaway chimed in here to reiterate that her co-star was “so scared,” before he came back into the conversation to say: I froze, and I was like, ‘I don't think I've been that scared in years.’ I think I said. But it must have been [the worst I’ve been scared] since I was a child. What an iconic story. Now, I’m wondering if the actors Hathaway worked with on her other four 2026 releases (The Devil Wears Prada 2, Mother Mary, The End of Oak Street and The Odyssey) got spooked by her. Or, when she starts filming the Days of Thunder sequel with Tom Cruise, will she make him jump? Clearly, she has a knack for it, and really got Josh Hartnett, as she explained: But the thing that I loved was that Josh was clearly so scared, but also managed to be so articulate at the same time. And he just went, ‘You scared me. That's the worst I've been scared in years.’Well, along with Hathaway having great jump-scare skills, it sounds like Hartnett should get some appreciation for how he reacted. That’s because, while he got spooked worse than he’s been spooked in years, he still reacted in a cool, calm and collected manner. Now, if you’d like to see how Josh Hartnett and Dakota Johnson’s characters react to Hathaway’s Verity scaring them, you can catch Verity (which is getting mixed reviews, but I enjoyed it) in theaters now.