Anne Hathaway on if 'The Idea of You' is based on Harry Styles
Is Anne Hathaway's new film The Idea of You based on Harry Styles fanfiction?
And more specifically-is it about the singer's relationship with Olivia Wilde?
By Ella Sangster and Hayley Peppin
IT IS SAFE TO say that Anne Hathaway starring in a film reportedly inspired by Harry Styles fan fiction was not on our bingo cards-but when her role in the project was announced in 2022, you'd best believe it caught our attention.
The acclaimed actress took on the leading role of Solne in the screen adaptation of the 2017 novel The Idea of You by Robinne Lee, with a trailer having officially dropped along with a streaming release date of May 2, 2024. And now that the trailer is here and the release is in sight, the rumours of the source materials inspiration have resumed again-with everyone on the internet wondering whether or not the story was inspired by Harry Styles, or more specifically, his relationship with Olivia Wilde.
Below, discover everything we know so far-including what Hathaway and Galitzine have had to say about the rumours.
Related: Everything to know about 'The Idea of You'
What is The Idea of You about?
The plot of the cinematic version of The Idea of You is inspired by the 2017 novel of the same name-which you can purchase here. In the novel, the story centres around a 39-year-old gallery owner named Solne. She falls in love with a twenty-something-year-old boyband member, Hayes Campbell, when she takes her daughter to see his band August Moon perform live.
The film will differ slightly from the plot of the book, with Hathaway's character seeing the band at Coachella, having taken her daughter to the festival after her husband cancelled on chaperoning.
Is The Idea of You Harry Styles fanfiction?
Whether The Idea of You is really about One Direction alum Harry Styles is up for debate-but author Robinne Lee has admitted that he provided at least some inspiration for the character of Hayes.
Back in 2017, Lee opened up to blogger Deborah Kalb about what inspired the original plot. She divulged: A few years ago, my husband was away on business, and I was up late surfing music videos on YouTube when I came across the face of a boy I'd never seen in a band I'd never paid attention to, and it was so aesthetically perfect it took me by surprise. It was like art. I spent a good hour or so Googling and trying to figure out who this kid was, and in doing so, I discovered that he often dated older women, and so the seed was planted."
Reportedly, Lee later joked to her husband that she was leaving him as she had found the most perfect man, and her husband retorted that it would make for a great story.
From there, the idea for the story was sparked, with Lee concocting Hayes as her sort of dream man-inspired by like Prince Harry, meets Harry [Styles], with a few others (ex-boyfriends, her husband, and even Eddie Redmayne) peppered in for good measure.
In the film adaptation, Hayes is played by Nicholas Galitzine-a British actor who's well on his way to heartthrob status himself, after swoon-worthy performances in Red, White & Royal Blue and Purple Hearts. Despite the actor himself insisting that he's not just playing Harry Styles-"Hayes Campbell, the man I'm playing, is a very different character and we want him to exist in his own world," Galitzine said at the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscars Party-new pictures from the film certainly aren't quashing the rumours. With the tattoos, tank top and British charm, Galitzine's Hayes still has Styles written all over him.
Is the Idea of You based on Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde's relationship?
There's also speculation that the Idea of You may loosely recount Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde's relationship-with the central character being just a year older than Wilde, and also a divorced mum.
But despite those apparent similarities, the timelines don't match. The original novel was published in 2017, with Lee taking inspiration from watching videos of a boy band singer who "often dated older women" (presumably Styles). Meanwhile, Wilde and Styles began dating in January 2020 while Styles was starring in Wilde's film Don't Worry Darling, after Wilde's separation from ex-husband Jason Sudeikis.
Furthermore, in 2020 author Robinne Lee denied reports her story was specifically about Styles.
This was never supposed to be a book about Harry Styles," she said in an interview. "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."
Now, Hathaway herself has jumped into the fray, giving her two cents on the rumours. When asked by Extra about whether the story was inspired by Styles and Wilde's relationship, she replied "no, just no," adding that to her, it's a film about "what it takes to recover from a broken heart".
My character had her heart just absolutely smashed by her ex-husband, and it wasn't just that her heart that got broken. She invested so much in her family. You know, there's a line in the piece about how she's a former people pleaser, and I think she made a lot of kind of grown-up choices throughout her life," Hathaway further explained. "She got pregnant really young and she's like, 'I'm gonna raise this baby,' and she took it really seriously. And you know what? She did great. She's raised a great kid, she's built a business… She's doing like a lot of things right, and then when her husband does this awful thing to her, she has to wonder if she was ever really loved in the first place, and so that's a long time to live with that question.
Solne's relationship with Hayes then requires her to take stock of her life, Hathaway continues, saying: And so, in this relationship, I think she begins thinking it's just gonna be a bit of fun… and then she realises it's something more, and if she's gonna actually participate in it, she's gonna have to let some other things go.
Related: Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde's full relationship timeline
The post Anne Hathaway on if 'The Idea of You' is based on Harry Styles appeared first on Harper's Bazaar Australia.
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