How Harry Styles Inspired ‘The Idea of You’

Prime Video’s rom-com The Idea of You has become a hit, and it may partially be because it’s inspired by Harry Styles. The Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine-led flick centers on a 40-year-old single mom falling for a 24-year-old, but viewers couldn’t help but notice that Galitzine’s Hayes Campbell looked and acted like the former One Direction member, and there’s a very good reason.

The Idea of You author Robinne Lee previously revealed that Style was one of the inspirations for the movie and Galitzine’s character. However, she told Entertainment Weekly that after the reveal, that’s all that people seem to focus on. “I don’t consider it fan fiction at all,” Lee shared. “Harry was one of multiple people who went into creating Hayes Campbell — he was the only one in a British boy band that was current at the time, I guess, and so that’s what people have latched onto. It’s unfortunate because it’s being used as clickbait, and when I’m writing for Hayes, I’m not picturing Harry Styles.”

Lee explained that Styles was just one of many inspirations for the film, specifically Hayes. “He’s very much like JFK Jr. when he was dating Daryl Hannah, and they were hanging out in the Hamptons — that was definitely the Hamptons Hayes,” Lee revealed. “And then there’s some Michael Hutchence sexiness when he was dating Helena Christensen. And I was obsessed with Duran Duran when I was young, so there’s a lot of Simon, and there’s a lot of John, and there’s a lot of actual Duran Duran Easter eggs throughout the entire book.”

As for Nicholas Galitzine, the Red, White, & Royal Blue star told EW that Hayes is his own person, even despite having striking similarities to one particular British boy band member. “He has his own style, his own sensibilities, his own taste in music, and I want Hayes very much to exist within his own world,” Galitzine said. “When it came to the performance style, there were many different kind of references we used. But I was much more interested in Hayes, the person — that was what I wanted to zero in on.”

The Idea of You is definitely not the first book-to-film adaptation that is more or less based/inspired by a celebrity, movie, or show, and it surely won’t be the last. Considering the After films were based on Harry Styles fanfiction, it’s not surprising to see that the singer is continuing to have inspiration on other adaptations, even if he didn’t fully inspire the film or character. The Idea of You is streaming now on Prime Video.