Anne Hathaway wants coming-of-age stories for older women: 'I keep blooming'
AUSTIN, Texas − Anne Hathaway was crying. Nicholas Galitzine was bashful. We were screaming for more. "The Idea of You," which closed out South by Southwest festival Saturday night, is a sexy, funny, and genuinely good romantic comedy that we can't wait to watch again.
Hathaway stars alongside Galitzine in the movie, which is based on a book of the same name by Robinne Lee. Directed by Michael Showalter, the romantic comedy also stars Reid Scott ("Veep") and newcomer Ella Rubin.
Seemingly pulled straight from One Direction fan fiction, "The Idea of You" follows the love story of 24-year-old boy band star Hayes Campbell (played by Galitzine) and Solene, a divorced 40-year-old mom (Hathaway).
The movie has all the makings of a classic rom-com: Solene works in an art gallery, a jealous ex-husband waits in the wings, the couple jet sets around Europe, and, of course, something comes between the two lovers to make them question everything. In "The Idea of You," that something is the age gap: Solene is 16 years older than Hayes. What will Solene's daughter and friends and family think?
But that only scratches the surface, because then there's Campbell's pop stardom. Women who date pop stars face intense hatred (think about Selena Gomez receiving death threats when she was with Justin Bieber)
The hate that women − especially happy women − receive, layered with the difference in age between Hayes and Solene creates a moving story. It also reminds audiences that women are still people with passion, sexuality, feelings and ideas even after they have children or get older.
"For some reason, we talk about coming-of-age stories as being something that happens to you in the earliest part of your life, and I don't know about you, but I feel like I keep blooming," Hathaway told the SXSW audience about why she wanted to take on the role of Solene.
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Hathaway stuns as Solene, but you surely already knew that. She's Anne Hathaway. No one is better at the "smile-cry" − when a character's eyes well up as they grin − than she is. No one is better at most things. You can tell Hathaway had fun filming this one, floating as Solene at Coachella, and in her character's California home with Galitzine at her side. The chemistry between Hathaway and Galitzine steamed up our glasses.
"Pop-star-and-regular-civilian-fall-in-love" is one of our favorite rom-com tropes. Is it not everyone's dream that an artist will spot them in a crowd and proceed to invite them into a movie-montage of love? "The Idea of You" was full of yearning and fun and dreams. We won't forget it anytime soon.
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And Hathaway won't forget SXSW.
"I love you so much," Hathaway told the crowd through tears on Saturday. "I will never forget this screening. Thank you so much."
The movie streams May 2 on Amazon Prime.