The Percy Jackson and The Summer I Turned Pretty stars will play Liz Buxbaum and Wes Bennett in Netflix’s upcoming young-adult romantic comedy.
What might one think is better than the movies? It’s none other than Lynn Painter’s New York Times bestseller, Better Than the Movies, which has been in its early stages since May of this year. However, fans of the young-adult romance novel can rejoice as Netflix has finally found its leads for its adaptation.
Today, Deadline exclusively announced that Beatrice Kitsos and David Iacono will be joining Netflix’s adaptation of Better Than the Movies. Kitsos will be playing Liz Buxbaum, the book’s main character, with Iacono playing Buxbaum’s love interest, Wes Bennett. The story sees Liz, a rom-com cinephile, using Wes, her annoying, but cute, neighbor, to attract her crush. However, fate has other ideas in mind for Liz and Wes as they form a new relationship.
Fans may know Kitsos from her role in Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 as Allison Simms, a daughter of Apollo who betrayed Camp Half-Blood in favor of Luke Castellan. Additionally, fans might know Iacono from The Summer I Turned Pretty as Cam Cameron, one of Belly’s middle school friends that grew up alongside the Fisher brothers.
For rom-com lovers, Better Than the Movies shouldn’t be an unfamiliar title. Although the story was published in 2021, Painter’s story took off thanks to TikTok, garnering millions of viewers online and generating interest from studios. When Netflix announced that an adaptation was in the works, many began fancasting who they’d love to see play Liz and Wes.
Who Did Fans Want to See In Netflix’s Better Than the Movies?
While the casting process was still occurring, readers got to experience a different way to enjoy Painter’s story. On Audible, Painter’s book was turned into an audiobook, which was narrated by Jesse Vilinsky. Additionally, Charlie Bushnell, another Percy Jackson star who plays Luke Castellan in the Disney+ series, voiced Wes, creating another fancast for the live-action adaptation.
Ever since the casting calls for Liz and Wes went up in May, fans have pushed for several fancasts to happen. Many fans chose different stars to play Wes, including Avatar: The Way of Water‘s Jack Champion and The Black Phone‘s Mason Thames. However, now that Liz and Wes have been officially cast, fans can expect this modern-day love story to come to life very soon.
Better Than the Movies will be directed by Don’t Say Good Luck‘s Julia Hart, whose Sadie Sandler-led film also releases on Netflix on August 14. Hart will also write the script alongside Heather Flanders and Jordan Horowitz.
Better Than The Movies is now in development.
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Chris Gallardo
Christopher Gallardo is a New York City-based freelance entertainment writer and critic. He is currently writing for Tell-Tale TV, Nerdtropolis, Popternative and Eulalie Magazine with previous contributions to The Hollywood Handle and CoveredGeekly. He has been featured other sites including Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Direct, Collider, IGN, and much more. He is also a massive fan of animated shows and movies, ranging from Princess Mononoke to Invincible and Arcane, as well as a big Greek mythology fan who loves Percy Jackson, God of War, and the Hades games. You can find him on X and Instagram (@chrisagwrites)!
