The Idea of You: Cast, Plot, and More

Anne Hathaway is starring in “The Idea of You,” a movie that follows a 40-year-old divorced mother who embarks on a tryst with a musician she meets at Coachella, Deadline revealed on Aug. 25. Reps for the film did not immediately respond to POPSUGAR’s request for comment. The film will be based on the book of the same name by Robinne Lee originally published in 2017, which became a huge hit a few years later — Vogue calling it the “sleeper hit of the pandemic” in 2020.

Fans latched onto the story for its romance and globe-spanning intrigue — but the book has widely been characterized as Harry Styles fan fiction, since the musician who forms one half of the book’s central couple is part of an incredibly popular British boy band. Lee told Vogue that Styles did, in fact, provide the initial spark of inspiration for the project, saying she “was up late surfing music videos on YouTube” when she “came across the face of a boy I’d never seen in a band I’d never paid attention to. It was like . . . art.” When she learned that Styles often dated older women, the idea for the novel was born.

However, Lee spoke out against the idea that the book is Harry Styles fan fiction, telling the outlet that “The Idea of You” “was never supposed to be a book about Harry Styles.” Instead, she said, “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.”

Now, the story is headed for the big screen, with Michael Showalter directing and Gabrielle Union among the film’s producers. The movie doesn’t yet have a release date or trailer, but here’s what we know about it so far.

“The Idea of You” Plot

The movie version of “The Idea of You” follows Sophie, a 40-year-old newly divorced mom who takes her daughter to Coachella. There, she meets Hayes Campbell, the 24-year-old lead singer of an incredibly popular British boy band called August Moon. The pair embark on a fling that quickly turns into a whirlwind romance. They begin a globe-trotting romance that grows complicated when it goes viral, and Sophie finds herself facing the ire of Campbell’s legions of fans.

Fans of the book have already noticed differences from the movie; notably, in the book, Sophie is 39 and named Solène, and she meets Campbell at a concert instead of Coachella.