Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine's new film The Idea of You debuted at South by Southwest this past weekend, and both were present to talk about the movie, their experiences making it, and to answer fan questions...including whether or not the movie is actually about Harry Styles.
The Idea of You follows Solène (Anne Hathaway), a 40-year-old single mother who becomes romantically involved with Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), a massively famous 24-year-old British boy bander, after they meet at Coachella. The film revolves around their whirlwind romance as Solène tries to find a place for Hayes in her life and learns to handle her sudden fame.
Naturally, there's been a lot of chatter online about this movie, and many fans have noticed the glaring similarities between Harry Styles's 1D days and the fictitious "Hayes" in the movie's promotional photos and trailer. Plus, Savan Kotecha, who produced the movie's original single "Dance Before We Walk," even wrote One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful," along with many more of their hits.
The direct comparisons are WILD.
Author Robinne Lee, who wrote the 2017 book that this movie is based on, also revealed that Harry was one of the people who inspired her when she was creating the character of Hayes. However, “This was never supposed to be a book about Harry Styles,” she explained. “It was supposed to be a story about a woman approaching 40 and reclaiming her sexuality and rediscovering herself, just at the point that society traditionally writes women off as desirable and viable and whole.”
As you can see, there are a lot of signs that point to how this story gives Harry Styles fanfic vibes (in a good way, obvi!). So, Anne and Nick finally took a moment to set the record straight. Is this movie actually about Harry Styles?
"No! Everyone needs to chill," said Anne at SXSW. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't be that reactive about it. I just think no."
"It's funny," Nicholas added, "just because it's become this thing in and of itself. We have tried to distance ourselves from that, and I think Hayes is such a wonderful character in and of himself. There were so many amazing references we used: BTS for a lot of the choreography, which was really great. There's so many references out there."
"The thing I kept focusing on is how lucky am I to have a character that can take this perspective," Anne continued, "because she's not lost. She's not in a tailspin about, 'Where's my life going, and how am I going to figure this out?' She's nurtured a lot of things in her life. She's raising a daughter. She's built a business. She made a great real estate call in the early aughts, and it was a good one. She's living in a really great neighborhood that she's connected to and has community with."
