Check on the Beach Read fans in your lives right now (me!), because we are in mourning. Mourning for the Gus Everett that could have been on our movie screens.
To catch you up: the best-selling novel Beach Read by Emily Henry is being adapted into a feature film by 20th Century Studios, alongside three of her other novels. Coming off of the success of Netflix’s People We Meet on Vacation, casual fans and avid readers alike were in agreement that Henry may have single-handedly resurrected the rom-com genre.
Beach Read, published in 2020, follows romance novelist January Andrews and her college writing rival Augustus “Gus” Everett. Following the grief of losing her father, January suffers from writer’s block and retreats to a family home on Lake Michigan, only to discover that there are some big secrets in her family. In an effort to gain inspiration, January and Gus swap literary genres and vow that they would never start their own summer romance — joke’s on them, this is a romance novel.
Phoebe Dynevor of Bridgerton fame was announced as our January earlier this year, and the general consensus was positive. One commenter on an Instagram post of the news wrote, “the emily henry cinematic universe is absolutely nailing the casting.” Dynevor is no stranger to being a romantic lead, especially one that is as multi-faceted as both Daphne Bridgerton and January.
No stranger to the Henry cinematic universe, Yulin Kuang, a romance novelist and screenwriter who co-wrote PWMOV, is set to direct the film. So, our beloved story is in good hands, right? All that’s left is to find the perfect Gus to star opposite Dynevor.
Well, the casting announcement heard around the world hit our timelines on April 14: Patrick Schwarzenegger is Gus.
In the caption of Kuang’s Instagram post about the casting, she said that she wrote in her notes, “Patrick is a slow burn.” In some lights, the caption reads with a defensive tone, like Kuang knew this decision would be a controversial one. She states that they spent an exhaustive amount of time looking for the perfect actor, “given how important this character is to readers.”
After viewing many tapes and making schedule checks, Kuang stated that once Dynevor became connected to the project, their objective narrowed down: “My efforts became more focused and specific – not on who would play the best Gus according to the text, but who would play the best Gus opposite our specific January.”
An in-person chemistry read between Dynevor and Schwarzenegger apparently sealed the deal for all-involved. There was magic in the room: palpable chemistry between the two actors.
Despite Kuang’s seemingly hard-pressed efforts to defend this choice in her caption, the comments were not very pretty and have since been turned off completely.
The comments don’t get any better on Schwarzenegger’s personal post, where he captioned,
“First – let me say thank you to @emilyhenrywrites for the opportunity! I will do everything possible to make the fans happy & proud and bring your brilliant writing to life.”
Some commenters are straight up telling him to drop out of the project altogether. While an unrealistic request, it’s indicative of the level of ire amongst fans right now.
To put this lightly, Schwarzenegger is not necessarily who fans had in mind when it came to casting this particular character. For starters, he is not physically consistent with how Gus is characterized in the novel: tall, rugged, “infuriatingly attractive,” with dark curly hair, and olive skin.
Some popular fan-casting picks that have circulated around the internet — some for many years — include Dev Patel, David Corenswet, Paul Anthony Kelly, and, famously, Logan Lerman (I am partial to Patrick Ball now, but he was not around when I first read the novel in 2021). This archetype of man just doesn’t describe Schwarzenegger; that is plain to see.
Another layer that may be contributing to this reaction is Schwarzenegger’s infamous role as Saxon Ratliff in Season 3 of The White Lotus. While he has acted previously in other shows such as Gen V and American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, it is an understatement to say that The White Lotus was a massive success with audiences and critics. And Saxon was quite the unsettling, controversial character, but well-received in terms of Schwarzenegger’s acting performance. Sex-obsessed, privileged douchebag is just a few words to describe him.
When an actor has a breakout role such as this one, it can be incredibly difficult for them to separate their public-facing identity from their character. They also run the risk of being type-cast in future roles. To me, it seems obvious that Schwarzenegger is making strong efforts to break from this mold, as he is also starring in the upcoming film Love of Your Life alongside Margaret Qualley. Ryan Gosling is set to produce, so I’m sat. Beach Read feels like an incredible opportunity for an actor in his position to re-introduce himself to the public in a more wholesome way.
However, it is also important to address many fans’ discomfort with Schwarzenegger’s potential political affiliations. As the son of one of the most famous actors of all time and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, it is no secret that being a Republican runs in that family. The younger Schwarzenegger has spoken in interviews about wanting to establish himself separate from his father, but it is unclear if that includes political values and not just his success in Hollywood.
Of course, fans’ concerns about openly supporting a film where the lead actor may have supported the Trump administration are entirely valid. But, maybe I can assuage some fears here: after the tragic deaths of Rob and Michelle Reiner late last year, Schwarzenegger responded to President Trump’s reprehensible tweet about them with, “What a disgusting and vile statement.” Maria Shriver, Schwarzenegger’s mother, had very close ties to the Reiners. This is seemingly the only evidence of Schwarzenegger speaking out against the president.
All of this to say, I am not here to tell you how to feel. Characters such as Gus in Beach Read mean A LOT to readers for a whole wide range of reasons. But I am hard-pressed to believe that the people making the decisions on who will bring him to life on-screen are not taking it seriously. Henry herself has been integral to the decision process (as she should be!), which is not always the case for authors when their work is being adapted by a major studio.
In her March email newsletter, “Emily’s Grocery List,” Henry spoke at length about this particular casting hurdle. She wrote, “I know that many of you, like I, hold Gus extremely close to your heart. I actually can say that across all the adaptations we’re working on, I’ve never felt more pressure to Get It Right than I do with this one. It’s so important to me that you know we’re leaving no stone unturned in this process. When we find our Gus, he WILL be the best possible Gus for this version of the story.”
We must remember that these are REAL people at the end of the day, not just images on a screen, and from all of the evidence we have, they want to get this right as much as we want it to be right. In an effort to create a space of catharsis for my fellow readers, here are some real opinions from our fellow Beach Read lovers:
- “#NOTMYGUS gus everett would HATE Patrick Schwarzenegger.”
- “I guess we can’t assume they didn’t go to Logan Lerman first but… HOW DO WE PULL UP”
- “I was holding out hope for my man Logan (a moment of silence) but I am INTRIGUED & will be sat for their chemistry bc beach read is vv important to me so I hope they deliver!!!”
- “I don’t like it. Neither of the leads feel authentic to the book characters”
- “That face is obviously a “finance bro/business man” face when it SHOULD BE english major face”
- “A disaster”
- “We failed Logan Lerman so badly…”
- “They got the wrong Patrick!!”
The good news is the book is not going anywhere, and Logan Lerman’s schedule will always be cleared to play Gus Everett in our brains.