The Idea of You starts streaming on Prime Video on Thursday. By Sunday I’ll probably have watched it again at least twice, if not more. And I’m so excited about this because the first time I saw the film was on a screener, which they watermark with my name across the screen for piracy prevention so it makes the experience a bit annoying, but also I was watching with my work brain, in preparation for the interviews I was doing on the junket, and work brain viewing is so not the same as pleasure viewing. The reason I’m telling you all this is to underscore, once again, how much I love this movie – I loved it in spite of the watermark and the fact that I wasn’t in the right rom-com headspace.
Most of it has to do with Anne Hathaway, because she is f-cking amazing in this movie and we’ve covered her a lot lately. But credit too to Nicholas Galatzine who plays Hayes Campbell, the boyband popstar who falls in love with Annie’s Solene, and this is a big job, since not only does he have to check off all the rom-com boxes for a romantic male lead, he also has to do it while being a popstar, and not just a popstar but a boyband popstar, which comes with its own unique set of qualities that are already so familiar to us culturally. From Backstreet to NKOTB to New Edition to One Direction to BTS and more, no matter what our boyband affiliation, no matter what fandom we belong to, we all know what we’re looking for in this performance. And this movie delivers on that. I squealed several times – which is exactly the intended reaction. Nick and the filmmakers do a great job recreating that energy, the vibe between the band members, and most importantly, the archetype that Nick’s character Hayes is supposed to represent.
And, by the way, you know who he modelled his performance after? Everybody keeps referring to One Direction because of the Harry Styles comparison but it actually wasn’t 1D, it was BTS! My worlds collide!
Nick studied BTS in preparation for the role. It was BTS’s choreography and dance skills, sure, but he specifically told me that it was their charisma and the charm they share, not just with the audience but with each other. Which, by the way, is one of the most vital factors behind BTS’s success. It’s their friendship, it’s the way they interact within the group, it’s the reason why there are millions of fancams zooming in on Jimin and V hugging, or sharing an inside joke, or Suga looking like he’s asleep while the other six are fighting over candy. JK making his “hyungs” (Korean for older brother) laugh on stage when he does a goofy dance. Nick is basically telling us that he watched this, at least some of it, and channeled it into his performance when he was on stage playing an idol. Which is probably why it worked so well for me, I BELIEVED it, all of it. And this is, frankly, a huge advantage that the movie has over the book. In the book, the boyband parts didn’t pop for me but onscreen? Seeing it onscreen made me an August Moon fangirl. (For the uninitiated, August Moon is the name of the band.)
Here are Annie and Nick at the New York premiere of The Idea of You last night. Anne is wearing Versace, spectacular. Styled by Erin Walsh and just a quick note on Erin because I saw her in Atlanta when I was there for the junket. She was popping in Anne’s room here and there to make sure the look stayed right. So that’s some insight or those who are interested on the work that goes into being a stylist at Erin’s level collaborating with a star at Anne’s level. She may not be on site for all her clients but for Annie, on this film, it was a necessity.
And that’s also why Erin just won a big award in her industry – she is Daily Front Row’s Style Curator of the Year recognising her work not just with Anne but also Selena Gomez, Elizabeth Banks, Alison Brie, and more.
I wrote a whole newsletter published today about my experience at The Idea of You junket in Atlanta and also about the viral moment from Challengers junket with Zendaya – you can read it at The Squawk.
