Anne Hathaway has just been cast as the lead in the adaptation of The Idea of You by Robinne Lee. She will play Sophie, a 40-year-old divorced mother whose husband has left her for a younger woman. After going on a trip to Coachella with her 15-year-old daughter, Sophie meets 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer in the hottest boy band on the planet, August Moon. Pretty soon, Sophie’s weekend trip turns into a whirlwind, life-changing romance. Lee told blogger Deborah Kalb back in 2017:
The person in that boy band was Harry Styles. And when Lee’s husband Eric returned home a couple of days later, she joked that she was leaving him and their two kids because she found the perfect guy, “oh, and by the way, he’s half my age.” Her husband laughed but then said that would make a great book. No sooner had he said it than she knew it was true.
“A few years ago, my husband was away on business, and I was up late surfing music videos on YouTube when I came across the face of a boy I’d never seen in a band I’d never paid attention to, and it was so aesthetically perfect it took me by surprise. It was like…art. I spent a good hour or so Googling and trying to figure out who this kid was, and in doing so, I discovered that he often dated older women, and so the seed was planted."
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However, when asked about the similarities between Hayes and Styles by Vogue, Lee said, “Inspired is a strong word.” Previously she spent six years on a semi-autobiographical novel that never sold. Still, she borrowed some of the old material for her male lead, who was mature, sophisticated, worldly, and intelligent, making him her dream guy. Hayes is Prince Harry, meets Styles, a couple of ex-boyfriends, a little of her husband, and a bit of Eddie Redmayne. Lee told Vogue:
“This was never supposed to be a book about Harry Styles. It was supposed to be a story about a woman approaching 40 and reclaiming her sexuality and rediscovering herself, just at the point that society traditionally writes women off as desirable and viable and whole."
The Wrong Side of 40
Lee, now 46, knows what it feels like to be marginalized. After working in Hollywood for over 20 years, appearing in movies such as 13 Going on 30, Hitch, and two of the Fifty Shades movies, Lee found herself waning auditions and roles shifting. In her words, you’re no longer the hot one, the girlfriend, or even the hot wife.
The Idea of You will be directed by Michael Showalter, who will join Hathaway and Lee in producing the film. Other producers include Cathy Schulman, Gabrielle Union, Kian Gass, Eric Hayes, and Jordana Mollick. Jennifer Westfeldt will executive produce and serve as the scriptwriter. Production of the film is supposed to begin in October.
“It really broke my spirit, and I was angry about it, and so a lot of that went into this book.”
