Never did we believe that we’d one day read the phrase “Acadamy Award winner Anne Hathaway” in the trailer for a book-to-screen adaptation of a Harry Styles fanfiction. Yet, this isn’t an imaginary reality written on the digital pages of Wattpad, but rather an actuality that Amazon Prime has brought into the cinematic universe through their upcoming raunch romance, The Idea Of You.
The movie sees Hathaway embody every former teenage girl’s fantasy in the form of ‘Solène’—a 40-year-old art gallerina and single mother who develops a relationship with the lead of the hottest boy band (and bona fide British bad boy) after a chance encounter at Coachella. Nicholas Galitzine, who has already made himself a mainstay in the canon of the romantic comedy genre through his performances in Red, White and Royal Blue and Bottoms, stars alongside Hathaway as ‘Hayes Campbell’, a 24-year-old popstar enamoured with the “cougar” (as a tabloid in the film’s trailer calls Hathaway).
“While sparks immediately fly, Solène is at first wary of starting anything with not only a much younger guy, but also one who is constantly followed around by paparazzi and screaming fans,” the film’s logline reads. “She ultimately leans in and enjoys a secret whirlwind romance with Hayes, but when their relationship gets exposed, the fantasy comes crashing down and Solène is forced to face the reality that not all love stories get happy endings,” it continues before asking, “Can Solène and Hayes defy the odds despite all the obstacles working against them?”
The answer will be postulated in an almost two-hour run time of steamy hotel room sex, on-stage flirtation and cross-continental frolicking come the film’s release on May 2nd. Consider us sat.
While Styles’ romance with Olivia Wilde (see: the pair’s publicised jaunt to Italy and street style snaps) has proved as the perfect source material, it’s not the first time a fictionalised version of his love life has gotten the film treatment. (As you might recall, the After film series imagines Styles as a tortured college student.) The erotic 50 Shades trilogy also proved adapting amateur material to be a commercial success. (The story originated as an NSFW reimaging of Stephanie Meyer’s characters from Twilight). But when you have an Oscar winner at the helm, new music to the style of late-2010s pop groups and an engaged fan base, it’s clear the project will only go in one direction—straight to cult status.
If you have two minutes to spare or are even in need of fodder for a retired group chat, we highly recommend watching the trailer below. Who knows who you’ll become after viewing? An adherent for the One Direction deep cut debut album Up All Night? A woman in her 40s who’s considering giving music festivals a second chance after writing them off entirely? Regardless, we hope Styles’ lawyers are on the phone negotiating royalties for him—this film, albeit slightly cringeworthy, is set to be everything. They’ve got that one thing.
The Idea Of You is out May 2 on Amazon Prime.
Watch the trailer for The Idea Of You below:
