Despite citing Harry Styles as an inspiration in a recent interview, the author of The Idea of You admits she is tired of being compared to him.
Since its theatrical premiere last month, the much-awaited new romantic comedy The Idea of You—which is currently accessible on Amazon Prime Video—has generated a lot of buzz. But since it was just released on the streaming service, the excitement surrounding the movie has grown, arousing curiosity about the film that follows a convoluted romance between Anne Hathaway’s character, a 40-year-old single mother, and the lead singer of August Moon, a well-known boy band.
The film’s popularity has driven fans to look deeply into the story of its primary characters, which is based on Robinne Lee’s 2017 bestseller novel of the same title. The odd similarity between the fictional pop group in The Idea Of You and the real-life world’s biggest boy band, One Direction, appears to have piqued the audience’s interest.
Fans weren’t wrong in their prediction, as some publications, like GQ, stated the film is based on Harry Styles fanfiction.
The GQ article, published last month, appears to be based on a 2020 Vogue interview in which author Robin Lee, 47, stated that the Watermelon Sugar singer inspired the novel. In a 2017 interview with blogger Deborah Kalb, she revealed the story’s roots, claiming she came up with the concept for August Moon’s character while her husband Eric was away on business. Lee, who had just turned 40, was “up late browsing music videos on YouTube” when she “came across the face of a lad I’d never seen in a band I’d never paid attention to. It reminded me of art.” She recalls crushing on the boyband and picturing what her life would be like if she ended up running away with them on tour.
Shortly after researching the singer’s identity, which turned out to be Harry Styles, Lee discovered that “he frequently dated older women, and so the seed was planted.”
Here is the Trailer for The Idea of You Movie
While the author of The Idea of You revealed the basis for the character, in a recent interview with the Independent, the actor-turned-novelist stated that she is tired of people regularly mentioning Harry Styles’ name while discussing her book. She went on to say, “I thought it was intriguing at first, but it has taken on a life of its own. I am like, come on, guys! What happened to the 22 men I employed to create this character? It seems quite reductive.”
The novel is essentially about a forty-year-old single mother rediscovering herself in a society that seems to write about women of a specific age, although Lee confirmed that the singer did inspire the character in a little way. The majority of us are only starting to come into our own, she said. But since our youth is supposed to account for a large portion of our power, we are on the decline. Men continue to acquire status and influence after the age of forty, however. Therefore, I truly wanted to flip that.
In the meantime, the Guardian highlighted Anne Hathaway’s endearing main role and lauded her for it.
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