Harry Styles Being Used As Clickbait: The Idea Of You Author On Comparisons With Popstar's Life

The Idea Of You starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine is based on a novel by Robinee Lee. Upon its release on Prime Video, several social media users claimed that the story is based on fiction written by the One Direction band member Harry Styles. Some netizens even pointed to easter eggs in the movies that point towards the Watermelon Sugar hitmaker. However, in a new interview, the novel author has categorically denied her book being based on any fan fiction. She asserted that while there were many inspirations for the story, she drew most from her personal experience for her book. 

‘When I'm writing for Hayes, I'm not picturing Harry Styles’, clarifies Lee 

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Robinee Lee clarified that The Idea Of You is not based on Harry Styles or any other fan fiction. Before the release of the film, the author had admitted that Styles was one of the many inspirations for her book including Prince Harry, Eddie Redmayne, some of her exes, and her husband for the characters Hayes Campbell, played by Nicholas in the film. She also expressed her disappointment with the movie being branded as fiction for the musician and said, “unfortunate because it's being used as clickbait.” 

Lee also shared other inspirations like JFK Jr, Michael Hutchene, and Duran Duran that helped her sketch the character of Campbell. She also revealed that she wanted to use British references to develop a “posh schoolboy from London.” 

The Idea Of You author reveals if the story will have a sequel 

The Idea Of You narrates the story of Solene Marchand, a 40-year-old single mother and Hayes Cambell, a 24-year-old vocalist in the boy band August Moon. The story explores how the characters fall in love and their whirlwind romance which is hurdled by societal judgement, paparazzi culture and their walls. Ever since the release of the movie, the demand for a sequel to the story has been increasing. 

Addressing the same the author told Today.com, “I have multiple files of multiple stories and characters written down and story ideas. Some of them I fleshed out a lot. I have documents of hundreds of pages of the next book if it's going to be a book.” She also recalled the hard time she had to go through while penning the characters of Solene and Hayes because of the complexities of the characters. She shared, “When the book came out and people said, ‘Sequel!’ I was like, ‘Do you understand what I have been through?”