Daniel Radcliffe’s Emmy red carpet comments about wanting to do more rom-com films, preferably alongside Weird: The Al Yankovic Story co-star Quinta Brunson, set the internet aflutter, and fans wasted no time determining the perfect property for the actors to star in: Emily Henry’s bestselling novel Beach Read.
After Radcliffe’s musings, X user @loveinextremes created a mood board that envisioned Radcliffe and Brunson as Beach Read‘s January and August. The novel, from juggernaut romance author Henry, follows two writers from opposing literary spheres who challenge each other to pen work in the other’s style. Naturally, the temporary beach house neighbors end up falling for one another throughout the process designed to break them out of their respective writer’s blocks.
The bookish mood board includes an excerpt from Beach Read, oceanside scenery, and images of the two actors. Not only do Brunson and Radcliffe have an established chemistry from Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, but Radcliffe proposed they’d make an ideal rom-com pair because of their “height match.” The internet enthusiastically concurred with Radcliffe’s assessment and doubled down on the excitement when the Beach Read fancast began to circulate on social media.
Both on-screen and behind the scenes at Abbott Elementary, Brunson is already responsible for one of sitcom fans’ favorite romantic pairings in recent memory. Her character Janine Teagues and Jesse Tyler Williams’ Gregory Eddie are beloved among Abbott Elementary‘s audience and prove that the Emmy-winning Brunson can deliver both the heat and the humor that Henry’s readers adore.
Beach Read has been optioned for a film adaptation alongside two of Henry’s other popular romance titles, People We Meet on Vacation and Book Lovers. Beach Read remains in development, with I Ship It‘s Yulin Kuang attached to direct the film. Though no cast has been announced, the virality of Radcliffe’s comments and X’s mood board suggest that the internet has already uncovered the perfect casting. Whether it’s an adaptation of Beach Read or an original screenplay, Radcliffe has inadvertently evoked a need among fans to see the duo’s height match realized in an on-screen fling.
