Jessica Alba to Star In & Executive Produce Netflix’s Film Adaptation of “Confessions on the 7:45” Novel

Jessica Alba is headed to the confessional

The 40-year-old half-Mexican American actress and entrepreneur will executive produce and headline a series based on Lisa Unger’s international bestseller Confessions on the 7:45, currently in development at Netflix.

Jessica AlbaCharise Castro Smith, co-writer and co-director of Disney’s Oscar-winning amimated film Encanto, is attached to adapt Unger’s novel. She’ll also serve as showrunner and executive produces with Alba and 3 ArtsMichael Rotenberg and Oly Obst.

Confessions on the 7:45 is a psychological thriller in which a working mom (Alba) meets a stranger on a train as she’s commuting home who upends her life. As her life unravels and betrayals are revealed, she questions whether we can ever truly know the people closest to us.

Alba, a working mom herself, had a strong reaction when she read Confessions on the 7:45, leading to her involvement in the project.

“I could not put this book down. The moment I read the line, ‘If you want to keep a secret you must first hide it from yourself,’ I was hooked,” Alba said. “This book is about trying to bury secrets and the shame we carry until the truth exposes us. I can’t think of a more exciting person to partner with on this project. Charise is so ridiculously talented and truly gets every nuance under the skin of these characters and their web of lies.”

This would mark the second project Alba is starring in and executive producing for Netflix.

She also has the upcoming action thriller Trigger Warning. In the movie directed by Mouly Surya and produced by Thunder Road, Alba plays an active-duty Special Forces officer who takes ownership of her grandfather’s property after his sudden death.

Alba, a Golden Globe-nominated actress, advocate, bestselling author and founder of The Honest Company, has made more than 25 feature films that have earned a combined box office total of $800 million-plus, including Fantastic Four and Sin City.

In television, she and Gabrielle Union recently headlined and executive produced the action drama series, L.A.’s Finest, which has performed well on Netflix following its original run on Spectrum and Fox.

Alba is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book The Honest Life and co-author of A Bear to Share.