For Anne Hathaway, ‘The Idea of You’ is a ‘feel everything’ film
MANILA, Philippines — Anne Hathaway professed that she became a fan of Nicholas Galitzine after getting paired up in Prime Video’s romance film “The Idea of You.”
“I, first of all, just want to say that I became such a fan of Nick Galitzine during this experience. And I think that if you don’t know the name Nicholas Galitzine before this film, you will 100-percent know it by the time the film comes out,” said Anne of her co-star, who previously made his mark as leading-man material in films like “Red, White & Royal Blue” and “Purple Hearts” during a recent roundtable chat.
Their sizzling chemistry is one of the, if not the most important aspect of this “sexy, funny, and a little steamy” movie, as director Michael Showalter described it in the press notes. Anne portrays Solene, a 40-year-old divorced mom who is happily single and independent while managing an art gallery in Los Angeles.
Though she initially has other plans for her 40th birthday, she finds herself chaperoning her daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) at the Coachella Music Festival, where her daughter has all access to her favorite boy band, August Moon, fronted by the 24-year-old lead singer Hayes Campbell (played by Nicholas).
An accidental meeting between Solene and Hayes leads to a story of two people coming together and connecting despite their many differences — the age gap, the literal distance, and the opposite worlds they move in, especially with Hayes’ fame and idol status. Thus, “The Idea of You” follows Hayes and Solene through a whirlwind of overseas dates, concerts, and clandestine rendezvous, until the secret is out, forcing them to face the biggest challenge to their relationship yet — the opinion of the public and even loved ones.
Showalter, who produced and directed “The Idea of You” from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jennifer Westfeldt, said, “It’s a great romantic story. It’s sexy, it’s funny and a little steamy. It’s about two people who wouldn’t likely be together but who really like each other. And, hopefully, you’ll want to go on this journey with them as they navigate their way into having a relationship against all kinds of obstacles: against public opinion and against their own ideas about who are the kinds of people they think they should or shouldn’t be with.”
For Anne, she came on board with this story, which is adapted from Robinne Lee’s 2017 book of the same title, because “I believed it.”
“I love making movies that have a bit of romance in them, but it can be hard to find ones that you believe and feel like they tap into something true. There was something about Solène and Hayes and their love that did feel true,” Anne said.
The STAR and other press got to talk to Anne more about the film where shared her thoughts about her chemistry with Nicholas and falling in love without fear of judgment.
On building electric chemistry with Nicholas:
“So, we had to do this chemistry read and, you know, sorry to talk about this part, but we didn’t… We met with more than just Nick for this. There was an audition process. And the question was, how do you figure out if you have chemistry with someone?
“Because you can read a scene, you can emote together, you can do things. But that essential thing where when you’re not talking and you’re just next to someone, how do you know if it’s there? And I suggested that we ask each actor to bring in a song that their character would play for my character and then try to get me to dance.
“And Nick and, I don’t know, he pressed play and we were just grooving and we were dancing and everybody in the room was enjoying watching us dance. And we realized, well, we had chemistry. And then in terms of developing that, we just started talking, and then we just kind of haven’t stopped.”
On ‘The Idea of You’ being more than a film about an older woman falling love with a younger man:
“I think that it’s a movie about being in love without fearing judgment. And, you know, the world’s the same in a lot of ways, but technology has changed it a lot. And I think we are confronted with other people’s thoughts, ideas, opinions and judgment a lot more. And I think the only answer is to be true to yourself and do what it is that makes you happy.
“Love is so personal and that’s one of the things about Solene and Hayes that I’m really happy for them that they found each other because it’s more than just this illusion.
“It’s more than just, you know, this kind of animal attraction. It’s more than just passion. They actually have something very real and very rare. We all know that in this life, people have to deal with stress, people have to deal with illness, people have to deal with grief, people have to deal with bills. I mean, there’s just a lot going on that pulls at us and keeps us kind of from feeling happy all the time.
“If you find someone that lights you up the way Solene and Hayes light each other up, I’m of the opinion that you should just be happy for them.”
On what makes ‘The Idea of You’ stand apart from her previous works:
“I’ve made a lot of different types of movies in my career, and a lot of them fall under the category ‘feel good.’ And the thing that I love about this movie, to me, it’s a ‘feel everything.’ You experience so many emotions in this movie. You experience joy, there’s humor, there is heartache, there’s lust, there’s longing, there’s pleasure. There’s so many things happening.
“And Michael Showalter, our director, was so bold in his desire to explore all of that and to kind of, I don’t know, create this extravagant offering that was really focused on beauty, pleasure, enjoyment, fulfillment.
“And for me, a really key part is a woman who has experienced trust, trauma and learns to live through it and enjoy what might turn out to be the back half of her life.”
On what makes a good romantic-comedy:
“I mean, one of my favorite rom-coms is one with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert called ‘It Happened One Night.’
“And so anytime you can get believable tension and conflict between the two characters — that’s very juicy. Anytime. Conflict is really important, but it has to be a pleasurable conflict. One of the things that I thought was really interesting about this movie is that our characters actually get along really well. It was funny enough, and what seemed very fresh to me was this is a relationship that is clearly working for these two people. It’s just outside the parameters of what society thinks a relationship should look like.
“And so the conflict actually isn’t between the couple. It’s between the couple and the world. And I just think it’s interesting that we can’t just be happy for people when they’re happy. We try to complicate it. And I love that these two people decide to keep going deeper into their love and not really care what the world has to say about it until they must.”
“The Idea of You” is now streaming on Prime Video.
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