A Simple Favor made a couple of changes to the book it’s based on, among them Emily’s (Blake Lively) portrait, but changing it avoided spoiling the movie’s villain twist. Directed by Paul Feig, the crime comedy thriller A Simple Favor became a critical and commercial success in 2018, thanks to its tone, the performances of its main cast, and its plot twists. A Simple Favor is based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Darcey Bell, and as such, it went through a couple of changes to fit the format, and one, in particular, saved the movie from spoiling its biggest twist.

A Simple Favor follows Stephanie (Anna Kendrick), a widowed single mother who befriends the mysterious and elegant Emily, the mother of Stephanie’s son’s friend. One day, Emily asks Stephanie to pick her son up from school and babysit him, but it’s all part of an elaborate plan to disappear. After getting hints about Emily’s survival, Stephanie decides to investigate, leading her to make some disturbing discoveries about Emily and her past. A key part of Stephanie’s investigation was a painting Emily had in her living room, through which Feig avoided a major spoiler.

A Simple Favor Changed The Painting In Emily’s House & Avoided A Major Spoiler

Emily’s Portrait Isn’t In The Book

Stephanie is instantly fascinated by Emily and her lifestyle, and when she arrives at her house, she’s shocked to see a nude portrait of Emily in the living room. Emily briefly explains the context of the painting to Stephanie, saying it’s by an “almost famous” artist from the East Village who was obsessed with her. Emily stole the painting hoping it would be valuable enough to sell one day, but the artist never succeeded, so she kept it. The painting serves as a display of Emily’s confidence and strong personality, but it also avoids spoiling the reveal of her twin sister.

In the A Simple Favor book, there’s no nude painting of Emily in her living room. Instead, Emily has a painting of twins, which she also claims was painted by a famous artist. This ends up being a clue to the reveal of Emily’s twin and their dark past, but had it been kept in the movie, it would have been an obvious hint at its biggest reveal. Changing the painting of the twins for the nude portrait also made Stephanie’s investigation a lot smoother and more believable as it introduced the artist, Diana Hyland (Linda Cardellini).

The portrait was Stephanie’s first step in her investigation of Emily’s past and what could have happened to her. Hyland revealed to Stephanie that Emily was her lover and muse but her name was Claudia, and accurately described her as a con artist. Stephanie’s conversation with Hyland led her to the bible camp Emily attended when she was younger, which then led to the big reveal of Emily’s family backstory.

How A Simple Favor Changed Emily’s Family Backstory

Emily’s Backstory Is Different In The Book

The portrait isn’t the only element connected to Emily’s past that was changed in the film adaptation of A Simple Favor. Emily’s twin sister in the book was Evelyn, not Hope, and Emily’s real name wasn’t Faith. There wasn’t a third sister named Charity and the twins never burned their childhood home and killed their father, but Evelyn did struggle with substance use disorder. Evelyn called Emily as she planned to kill herself, prompting Emily to try to help her. Evelyn changed her mind but Emily realized she needed her twin’s body for her plan to work, so she pushed Evelyn to carry on with her death.

A Simple Favor’s changes to Emily’s family story made her a more dangerous villain in the movie, and without the change to the painting in Emily’s living room, these big secrets wouldn’t have come to life in a believable and intriguing way. A Simple Favor’s changes to the books were mostly justified, and, ultimately, contributed to the movie’s success.