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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Jill Lupupa

Anne Hathaway set to star in film based on Harry Styles fan fiction

Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway is set to star in a film adaptation of a popular fan fiction novel that is loosely based on Harry Styles.

The film is based on Robinne Lee’s 2017 book The Idea of You, with a focus on the story of ageing and finding yourself again.

Hathaway’s upcoming film on Prime Video will see the 39-year-old star as Sophie, 40, a divorced mother whose husband leaves her for a younger woman.

When the husband cancels a trip to Coachella with his 15-year-old daughter, Sophie steps in to take her child to the festival when she meets Hayes Campbell, 24, from the hottest band August Moon, who is loosely based on Harry Styles from the group One Direction.

The author of the novel has insisted that the focus of the story should be on Sophie’s journey of “rediscovering herself”.

She has 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.”

On Styles being the inspiration for the novel, Lee said in a 2017 interview with blogger Deborah Kalb: “Inspired is a strong word…

“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 [Harry] 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.”

She added: “‘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.”

The film will be produced by the author alongside the likes of Gabrielle Union and the director of The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Michael Showalter.

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