Fanfic friends, don’t let your dreams just be dreams. Anne Hathaway is set to star in a Harry Styles fanfic-inspired film – yes, that is a real sentence. And, real Harries will know, it's not the first time this has happened (see: After). The film is a cinematic adaptation of a 2017 book with a strangely specific storyline. Allow us to explain. 

Watch the trailer for The Idea of You

Wow, we're really doing this whole Harry Styles fanfic film again, hey? No matter. Go on stans, your wish has been fulfilled. We hope it's everything you imagined and more. Although, they can't be serious about that artwork...

What is the plot of The Idea of You film?

The plot of the film is pulled from 2017 book The Idea of You by Robinne Lee, wherein a 39-year-old gallery owner, Solene, unexpectedly falls for a boy band singer in his twenties, named Haynes Campbell. Solene falls for Haynes when she takes her daughter to a concert for his band, August Moon. The film will have a few differences to the original plot: Hathaway will star as Solene, who takes her daughter to Coachella when her ex-husband last-minute cancels on taking her to the festival. The film will be directed by Michael Showalter, who also worked on The Eyes of Tammy Faye and The Dropout. 

Now, before we all start debating whether or not this is actually about Harry Styles, there are a few things to consider, one of which the below comment made by Lee to blogger, Deborah Kalb, in 2017: 

“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."

Allegedly, following this revelatory moment in Lee’s life was a conversation with her husband where she jokes she was “leaving him” because she had found the perfect man, to which her husband commented it would make a great book. 

Lee, however, denied the book is about Styles when questioned in 2020, saying, “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."

We’ll leave it up to audiences to decide. 

Cast

Anne Hathaway will take the lead of Solene while Nicholas Galitzine will star as Hayes Campbell. Ella Rubin will play Solene's daughter Izzy, while Annie Mumolo and Rashal James are also involved.

Is there a release date for The Idea of You?

The film will drop on Prime Video on May 2, 2024.

Image: X