Gavin Leatherwood Joins 'It Happened One Summer' as Filming Begins
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- Gavin Leatherwood joins the cast of 'It Happened One Summer' as Fox Thornton, a 'charismatic ladies' man whose easy charm masks a deeper loyalty and vulnerability,' with filming now underway in New York.
- 'It Happened One Summer' is adapted from Tessa Bailey's New York Times bestseller and viral BookTok hit, with the source novel translated into 25 languages and two million copies sold in the U.S. as the first installment in the Bellinger Sisters series.
- Nina Dobrev, Tyler Hoechlin, and Virginia Gardner were already cast alongside Leatherwood, with Dobrev, Hoechlin, and Gardner also serving as executive producers alongside Frolic Media.
- Peter Hutchings directs from a screenplay by 'The Hating Game' scribe Christina Mengert and Joseph Muszynski, with BCDF Pictures producing and Embankment handling worldwide sales after 'extensively pre-sold' the title.
- Leatherwood most recently starred in Netflix's 'It's What's Inside,' which premiered at Sundance and was acquired by the streamer for $17 million.
- Bailey said finding someone with the 'charm and swagger of Fox Thornton' wasn't easy, while Hutchings called Leatherwood 'the missing piece' whose arrival lifted the cast.
Why it matters: The Tessa Bailey source novel has sold 2 million U.S. copies and been translated into 25 languages, giving the production a pre-validated BookTok-driven audience before a single frame is shot. Embankment's pre-sales indicate international distributors are also betting on that demand. For Leatherwood, the role builds on the $17 million Sundance acquisition of his last project, positioning him for a wider romantic-lead profile beyond Netflix's 'Sex Lives of College Girls.'
