This Reddit Post Went So Viral That Sydney Sweeney Is Now Starring In A Movie Based On It

A short story that went viral on Reddit four years ago is being turned into a major Hollywood movie with Sydney Sweeny set to play the starring role. Joe Cote, a Massachusetts-based educator, posted the story titled "I pretend to be a missing girl", on the r/nosleep subreddit where users post eerie, immersive first-person tales. The horror/drama story centres around a mysterious young woman who appears at a family's doorstep a decade after their 18-year-old daughter vanished.

Ms Sweeney will also produce the movie through her Fifty-Fifty Films, with Warner Bros securing the rights to it, according to a report in Hollywood Reporter. Oscar-winning Forrest Gump screenwriter Eric Roth is polishing the script, joined by producers Aaron Folbe and Trevor Engelson of Underground Entertainment, Steven Schneider of Room 101, and Roy Lee and Mira Yoon of Vertigo. Cote will serve as executive producer on the project.

"It's surreal, and it's so funny - just having the night that I had, the day that I had yesterday, and then this morning waking up and just, "All right, now I've got to go in and write bathroom passes and get these kids to do their study guides,"' Mr Cote was quoted as saying by Business Insider.

"My phone hasn't stopped. It's probably overheated. I can't keep up with all the support that's coming in,' he said. 'It's been incredible. People that I haven't spoken to since high school, people that I barely even spoke to in high school, have been super supportive and nice - and my head is still spinning."

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As per Mr Cote, he was approached by Mr Folbe of Underground Entertainment about the short story last year. Initially, he ignored the query but after some research, agreed to a Zoom meeting.

"It was almost exactly a year ago from now. We were on the phone for a couple of hours, and I don't think I breathed. I think I got off the phone call and I took a breath, like, "Holy crap. What is happening?"'

This is not the first instance when Hollywood has attempted to produce a movie based on a Reddit post. In 2018, Ryan Reynolds agreed to produce a movie based on a story called "The Patient Who Nearly Drove Me Out Of Medicine", posted on the same subreddit as Mr Cote's. However, the film never reached the movie theatres.