Anne Hathaway I knew that producing a film based on a beloved book meant getting the details right.
In his new romantic comedy, The idea of youBased on the popular novel of the same name by Robinne Lee, the Oscar-winning actress plays Solène, a 40-year-old divorced mother who is forced to chaperone her teenage daughter’s trip to the Coachella Music Festival.
After a chance encounter with Hayes Campbell, the 24-year-old lead singer of the world’s most popular boy band – played by Red, White and Royal Blue star Nicolau Galitzine — Solène becomes involved in a turbulent romance.
For Hathaway, she knew that as producer of the film adaptation, The idea of you had to win over both the book’s devoted fans and newcomers looking to enjoy the unexpected chemistry between her and Galitzine’s characters.
“I just think Nick and I would have been friends no matter what,” she told ET’s Rachel Smith about the film’s production. “Sometimes in this life, you know people for, like, five minutes and you think, ‘Oh, I believe I would be friends with this person.’ But you really don’t have time.”
“Nick and I just hit it off from the beginning,” she continued. “We just started texting and then we started talking and then we were acting together and then we were talking in between… We kind of developed a really proper friendship and that’s really, I don’t know, special.”
However, Hathaway added that the creative team behind the adaptation made sure to include plenty of details for longtime fans of the story.
“I’ve never produced an adaptation like this before,” she reflected. “I read the script first and then I read the book. And what was so wonderful was when I read the book, I thought, ‘Oh, but I love the book so much and they can’t mirror each other. I think it has to go through a filter for it to be this version of the movie.'”
“As a fan of the book, I would be disappointed if TAG Heuer wasn’t there,” she noted. “I would feel so left out if (the painting) ‘Unclose Me’ didn’t make me feel like I was needed.”
Hathaway admitted that the production team searched for the perfect painting – which gallerist Solène sells to Hayes early in their relationship – for “so long”.
“Eventually, Sarah M. Johnson, who is an artist I know, was familiar with…it ended up being the one,” she recalled. “There were all these little details that I knew would work so well as a film – to make it The idea of you, we had to bring what the fans love about the book… I wanted to do right by them. They love it and I take their love very seriously.”
As for getting into her character, Hathaway noted that it was a new challenge to take on “this mother, as someone who is fulfilling her own desires and really, for a period of her life, putting herself first.”
But thanks to director Michael Showalter and the behind-the-scenes artists she’s worked with before – including We crash production designer Amy Williams – they were able to make creative decisions that everyone felt “passionately about.”
“I just think Solène was someone who didn’t have unlimited resources. And she was a young woman who had a child and still wanted to make a life for herself,” Hathaway added, noting that it was a “practical economic real estate decision” for the character to establish her life and work in the trendy Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. .
“We created a whole backstory and a life for her, and how grateful she was to have made such a great connection that aged her 20 years,” she shared.
“I love the idea of believing in a future. And I think it’s become more difficult to do that nowadays,” added the actress. “It’s scary to do, certainly, but I think sometimes there’s great joy in it. Especially that little thing called hope.”
The idea of you premieres on May 2nd on Prime Video.
RELATED CONTENT: