In March 2024 Robinne Lee’s “The Idea of You” released on Prime video starring Anne Hathaway, a mom freshly in her 40’s (Solène), and Nicolas Galitzine, a 27-year-old member of hot boy band ” August moon”(Hayes Campbell). When the two meet at the bands meet and greet, sparks fly. The film follows the couple as they navigate the trials and tribulations of being in a relationship with a questionable age gap and a difference in societal status.
The Idea for a Novel
In Springtime of 2014 Robinne Lee was set on writing a romance novel that would become, “The Idea of You” and 3 years later in 2017 she was celebrating the release of her new romance novel. After reading it, readers began to question, “who inspired Hayes?”, “Who is Hayes in real life?”. Readers started calling it fanfiction after an interview where Lee claimed to have said the character was “Inspired by Harry Styles, but he is not the only source”, Which she later relieved she regrets admitting to that in the interview because of people going as far as to call it One Direction fanfiction.
The Idea for a Movie
While the novel was successful and Lee hustled for over 7 years to sell each copy, the new movie on Prime Video has blown up… and maybe not in the best way. In the movie Solène (Anne Hathaway) faces major backlash for dating someone almost 16 years younger than her whilst Hayes (Nicolas Galitzine) seems to out of the ordeal scotch free.
What may not be as publicly known is Hathaway experienced the same online bullying and harassment, from the movie and just from being a figure in the public eye. “The Idea of You” attracted nearly 50 million worldwide viewers in its first two weeks on Prime Video, becoming Amazon MGM’s No. 1 romantic-comedy debut of all time.
More views could equal more opportunities for criticism and scrutiny. Hathaway having dealt with the hate and criticism before was used to it and even came up with a term for it, calling it “Hathahate.” That being said, this was a new type of hate. Hathaway was being called ” A Pig”, ” A Cougar”, and just plain ole’ disgusting by viewers and “fans.”
The Response to the Criticism
Anyone in the industry can tell you, you will face criticism no matter what you do or who you are. That being said learning how to respond is the magic key in the industry. Director Micheal Showwalter comments about some of the comments, “I get to feel like Hayes, I get to feel like Solène, I get to feel like everybody in this movie. To be called a cougar is so derogatory and hurtful.” He comments after some of the hate Hathaway had received.
Producer and President of Women in Film Cathy Schulman also comments, “And, of course, it’s a total double standard in terms of men and women, where nobody in a million years would be worried about such a thing [if the roles were reversed]. It’s the whole reason I wanted to make the movie.”
Hathaway shut down criticisms over her age-gap romance by stating that age is a personal journey that can be interpreted in different ways, “It’s kind of fun to be in a film where we talk about it, where we don’t dance around it, but we actually embrace her point of view on it. It’s funny, it’s OK if 40 is old, it’s OK if 40 isn’t old, it’s OK whatever it is because it’s personal.”
About the Author:
Payton Jaymes is currently an undergraduate at the University of Iowa pursuing degrees in Cinema and Screenwriting. She’s passionate about Movies and TV, not only because of her majors but because how many different genres and worlds there are within the entertainment industry. When she’s not screenwriting, directing, or editing, Payton loves listening to music, hanging out with her friends and family, playing the drums, and reading 🙂
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