Sony Pictures and Olive Bridge Entertainment have officially tapped Sterling Point breakout Amélie Hoeferle and The Shards star Graham Campbell to lead the upcoming high school hockey romance film Fake Skating, set for theatrical release on July 16, 2027.
The Bottom Line
- The Leads: Amélie Hoeferle and Graham Campbell will star as Dani and Alec in the high school hockey romance adaptation.
- The Creative Team: Josh Boone directs from a script by Morgan Lehmann and Victoria Bata, with revisions by Boone and Knate Lee.
- The Source Material: Based on Lynn Painter’s bestselling novel, which won the 2025 Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult Fiction.
Casting the Core Duo of Lynn Painter’s Bestselling Romance
The cinematic universe of Lynn Painter is officially making the jump to the big screen. Sony Pictures and Will Gluck’s Olive Bridge Entertainment have locked in their lead actors for Fake Skating, tapping rising stars Amélie Hoeferle and Graham Campbell to anchor the project. The adaptation is built on Painter’s New York Times bestselling novel, which captured the 2025 Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult Fiction and has maintained a massive literary footprint since its September 2025 release.
In the film, Hoeferle and Campbell will portray Dani and Alec. The narrative follows two childhood sweethearts who experience an icy reunion in their hockey-loving hometown. To achieve their distinct personal ambitions, they hatch a calculated fake dating plot. Dani is an academically driven student aiming to stack her extracurriculars to catch the eye of Harvard admissions, while Alec is a talented ice hockey player working to rehabilitate his reputation and secure the attention of NHL scouts.
Behind the Camera and the Creative Pipeline
The path from page to screen has moved swiftly since studios began circling the property. The studio brought on Josh Boone to direct after recognizing his strong vision for the project. Boone spent the summer testing actors alongside studio executives before landing on Hoeferle and Campbell. The screenplay was initially penned by Morgan Lehmann and Victoria Bata, with Boone and his writing partner Knate Lee handling subsequent revisions.
For the two leads, the casting marks a major milestone following breakout television years. Hoeferle currently stars as Ramona Campbell in Prime Video’s coming-of-age drama series Sterling Point, with previous credits that include Eddington and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Meanwhile, Graham Campbell gained widespread attention starring in the Tony-winning play Appropriate opposite Sarah Paulson, alongside his role as Thom Wright in FX’s thriller series The Shards and his appearance in Magnolia’s Venice Film Festival selection Late Fame.
| Project Element | Details |
|---|---|
| Source Material | Fake Skating by Lynn Painter |
| Director | Josh Boone |
| Writers | Morgan Lehmann, Victoria Bata, Josh Boone, Knate Lee |
| Lead Cast | Amélie Hoeferle, Graham Campbell |
| Production Companies | Sony Pictures, Olive Bridge Entertainment |
| Theatrical Release Date | July 16, 2027 |
Building Out the Painter Cinematic Universe
Fake Skating marks the first book by Painter to secure a screen adaptation, but it stands as part of a much broader wave of literary adaptations hitting the market. Painter’s extensive bibliography—which includes titles like Better Than the Movies, The Do-Over, Betting on You, Maid For Each Other, First and Forever, and Nothing Like the Movies—has turned her into a powerhouse in contemporary young adult romance. Fake Skating alone has nearly 500,000 copies in print, translations in 16 languages, and has appeared on the New York Times YA Hardcover Bestseller list 48 times, holding the No. 1 spot for 15 of those weeks.
The momentum around Painter’s work extends beyond this hockey-centric romance. Netflix is actively developing an adaptation of her bestselling novel Better Than the Movies, directed by Julia Hart and starring David Iacono and Beatrice Kitsos. With Will Gluck and Jacqueline Monetta producing Fake Skating alongside executive producer Madison Jones for Olive Bridge Entertainment—with Painter herself serving as an executive producer—the creative team is positioning the film to arrive in theaters on July 16, 2027.
