Oscar winner Anne Hathaway, and “Purple Hearts” and “Red, White & Royal Blue” star Nicholas Galitzine are caught up in a whirlwind romance in the film “The Idea of You,” premiering globally on Prime Video on May 2.
Based on the novel of the same name by Robinne Lee, “The Idea of You” tells the story of 40-year-old single mom Solène (Hathaway) who starts a romantic relationship with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (Glitzine), the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet.
Anne Hathaway, and Nicholas Galitzine star in "The Idea of You" coming to Prime Video on May 2 (Photos from Amazon MGM Studios / Prime Video)
Presented by Amazon MGM Studios, “The Idea of You” also stars Ella Rubin, Reid Scott, and Annie Mumolo.
The main cast also includes Nina Bloomgarden, Raymond Cham Jr., Mathilda Gianopoulos, Jordan Aaron Hall, Chandler Lovelle, Cheech Manohar, Perry Mattfield, Meg Millidge, Jaiden Anthony, Viktor White, and Dakota Adan.
In an interview with Manila Bulletin, “The Idea of You” director Michael Showalter talked about helming the film, and working with Hathaway and Galitzine.
Showalter, who is an actor, also wrote the screenplay together with Jennifer Westfeldt, and produced it along with Hathway, Lee, Cathy Schulman, Gabrielle Union, Eric Hayes, and Jordana Mollick.
Director Michael Showalter at the Montclair Film Festival (Photo: Neil Grabowsky / Montclair Film Festival)
He co-produced the film "Wet Hot American Summer" and directed "The Baxter," "Hello, My Name Is Doris," "The Big Sick" (one of the top 10 films of the year selected by the American Film Institute), "The Lovebirds," "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" (which won best actress, and best makeup and hairstyling" at the Academy Awards), and "Spoiler Alert."
Showalter said he decided to direct “The Idea of You” because he loves the genre.
“I just love well…I love this genre. I love romantic movies and romantic stories and this felt like a story that was really interesting and really something I hadn't quite exactly seen before. And I love, I love Anne Hathaway and I really wanted the opportunity to work with her and so those things combined made me feel like there was something here that was exciting to me,” he said.
Showalter praised Hathaway and Galitzine.
“They're amazing. They're so…both of them are so fun to work with and passionate about what they do and the three of us had a really wonderful time working together on this movie,” he said.
In the film, viewers will be transported to different locations around the globe but the movie was shot entirely in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Well one of the things was that we shot this whole movie in Atlanta, which if you've seen the film it's actually set in Los Angeles. We also go to Europe, we go all over Europe. We're in Italy, we're in Spain, we're in Paris, London, we're in the south of France. And we shot the whole movie, we're at Coachella in the desert, and we shot the whole movie in the city of Atlanta, Georgia and so one of the challenges was to make Atlanta, Georgia look like all these other locations,” he revealed.
He added, “But I'm very proud of the fact that a lot of people see the movie and are shocked when they find out that that's what we did. In fact, there's a lot of people from Los Angeles who can't tell that we didn't shoot the movie in Los Angeles.”
When asked to choose among the roles of director, producer and writer, Showalter said he loves them all.
“Wow! I love all of them and they're all kind of part…you know they all work together. I like making a movie. I like every part of it. I like putting it together. I like shooting it. I like writing it. I like editing it when it's done so for me anything that I can do to help get to the finished product is something that I really enjoy and all of it is challenging. It's all very challenging,” he said.
On what audiences can expect from “The Idea of You,” Showalter said, “More than anything, I just want audiences to enjoy this story and enjoy these characters but hopefully too they'll see the movie and hopefully make the world a kinder, gentler place.”
“The Idea of You” will be released on Prime Video on May 2.