There Was One Thing The Idea Of You Director Wanted To Avoid [Exclusive]
Arriving on Prime Video today, "The Idea of You" (read our review) stars Anne Hathaway as Soléne, a 40-year old art gallery curator who finds herself in a surprising, romantic meet-cute with Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), a 24-year old who just so happens to be part of the famous (fictional) boy band called August Moon. But can their blossoming romance survive the hellish landscape of public judgment and media scrutiny that comes with life in the celebrity limelight?
"The Idea of You" (watch the trailer) is based on the best-selling romance novel of the same name by Robinne Lee, which many believe to be inspired by chart-topping singer Harry Styles, once a member of the boy band One Direction, and his well-documented romantic encounters with older women. With a filmmaker like Michael Showalter behind the camera — who made his feature directorial debut with the romantic comedy satire "The Baxter," wrote the romantic comedy parody "They Came Together," and directed the hilarious but heartfelt "The Big Sick" with Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan — you might expect a somewhat mocking approach to bringing a fictional boy band to life. But that's not the case.
Here, we have a film that leans much harder into dramatic romance with an occasional sprinkle of comedy, not unlike his films like "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" or "Spoiler Alert." Because the movie aims for an authentic and intimate romance with drama fueled by Anne Hathaway's own personal experiences with celebrity life and media backlash, Showalter made sure every aspect of the film felt genuine, and that includes the boy band August Moon and their songs, which came from songwriters who have been behind tunes for some of the biggest names in music, such as Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, One Direction, Nicki Minaj, Usher, and Maroon 5, just to name a few.
The Idea of You director didn't want August Moon to be cheesy
Leading up to the release of "The Idea of You," I spoke with Michael Showalter about making the romantic movie, where I asked about his approach to bringing August Moon to life and whether he had a hand in shaping their sound and style. The director explained:
"We have an incredible songwriter who wrote all those songs, Savan Kotecha, who is a very, very successful pop songwriter who's written pop songs for every single major recording artist out there right now. I would never be able to do that, so he was the perfect person for it. But we did know that we did want them to have good music. We wanted their music to be cool and fun. We didn't want August Moon to be cheesy. We didn't want to satirize the boy band. It was much more an embracing and a celebration of the boy band."
Here's an example of one of the catchy songs in "The Idea of You" from August Moon:
As far as inspiration for the musical style that Showalter wanted August Moon to have, he never honed in on any specific group. The filmmaker explained:
"For me, it wasn't a specific boy band, but it was more just paying attention to the current pop stars of our generation, whether it is a Harry Styles or a Billie Eilish or Dua Lipa or Taylor Swift or Frank Ocean. The way these pop stars express themselves, the way they look, they way they function in society as artists, as public figures — it was more about that for me."
A fake band for real romance
Indeed, while One Direction or Harry Styles might spring to mind, especially with Hayes Campbell being British and part of a boy band, that connection doesn't need to be made for the group to function as a believable group or for the story to work. Instead, the band merely has to be believable enough to function as the impetus for these two characters coming together in a chaotic environment that has the potential to upset their burgeoning romance as the spotlight around them tries to carve out petty, tabloid details from their lives. If the band feels like a mockery of that realm of the music scene, it would make it hard for anything else to feel genuine.
Thankfully, the result is a charming, disarming romance that Showalter has become quite adept at delivering, even as Hollywood seems to skew further away from these kind of movies. Even if you're on the fence after watching the admittedly cheesy trailer for the movie, you should give this film a shot, and then come back to listen to our discussion about it and my full interview with Michael Showalter on today's episode of the /Film Daily podcast:
"The Idea of You" is available to watch on Prime Video now.