“The message at the end is that women shouldn’t be put in boxes”: Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine, Ella Rubin, Reid Scott and Cathy Schulman on The Idea of You

The Idea of You hits Prime Video this week, and it’s not one you’ll want to miss. With Anne Hathaway at its helm as lead actress and producer, Nicholas Galitzine at the start of a blazing career and Michael Showalter on a run of well-loved movies, The Idea of You is a recipe for magic. The Upcoming were able to hear insights from the cast and crew at its global press conference.

Showalter was asked what had excited him about this project. For him, working with the actors is what it’s all about. It’s about the “journey together into these stories” and, luckily, he said that he “couldn’t have asked for a better cast”. He describes directing a film like this as getting to “play”, and goes on to wax lyrical about everyone involved: Hathaway “set the bar”, Galitzine was “incredible”, and he repeats that he “love[s] their performances so much”. “It’s been a great joy for me,” he concludes.

The Idea of You is very much Hathaway’s movie, and producer Cathy Schulman reveals that she was the first choice. No one else even read for Solène. “It was a dream come true that that happened,” Shulman says about the actress saying yes to the role. “We wanted to take the character from the book and continue to personalise her in a way that she felt like she could be any of us,” she goes on to say, “I believed that Annie could bring that aspect of Solène’s character, and she really did.” 

Hathaway is no stranger to the rom-com, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen her in this type of role. She reflects that she received many romantic scripts in her 20s, but barely any in her 30s. She says she was “so focused on [her] family life and motherhood and trying to find whatever [her] path was going to be” that she didn’t notice the lack of romantic scripts being sent to her as she headed towards 40. For Hathaway, getting this script brought up questions of “Where had these stories gone? Why do they stop?” The script also answered these questions. She tells us: “I just thought, woah, what an unbelievable meta-exploration all of this can be. One of the first conversations I had with Cathy was that, if we hit our targets, I’ll turn 40 when we’re filming. Without any of us designing it, it became so personal to me.”

Galitzine, playing Solène’s counterpart Hayes, was asked if acting opposite Hathaway was intimidating. “Annie and I felt a connection between us immediately,” he explains. He has nothing but good things to say about this working relationship, and confesses that he was “filled with a sense of excitement coming into work every day”, which isn’t always true and can be such a blessing. Hathaway adds to this, reiterating that they “struck gold with this cast”.

The cast is completed by Ella Rubin and Reid Scott, who both say that making this feel like a real family felt “easy and natural”. Rubin particularly described Hathaway as “not just an interesting person, [but] interested” and that this willingness to listen fostered a comfortable environment that allowed for mistakes. Reid’s understanding of Daniel as a character is particularly interesting; he points out that, although Daniel may be considered a villain by some, he doesn’t see him that way and, at some point, neither did Solène. “They must have connected,” he explains, and so there must have been something redeemable about him. Showalter calls Scott’s performance “compelling” and says that it’s a “testament to Reid that people want to boo him”.

On avoiding feeding into stereotypes and creating chemistry, Hathaway and Galitzine both agree that the relaxed set added to their performances. “It has worked the way friendships work, it doesn’t feel like work at all,” Hathaway says, adding that it was a “really beautiful, very vulnerable experience”. Galitzine includes that there was an “open channel of communication” between them that really helped.

Schulman then spoke about the messaging of the film. One thing that was important to them was ageing up Solène’s daughter – in the book, Izzy is 13. “We wanted Solène to have someone to speak to and be able to be open about the changes that were happening,” she says. For her, “the message at the end is that women shouldn’t be put in boxes. […] You can be more than a mother, more than a grandmother.” She goes on to say that, “it was really important that we could look at what it was like to be going from one phase of mothering and a first marriage, into the possibilities of more happiness, while also bringing a young person into her womanhood.

“I think that, for women, you hit a certain age where it’s easy to say ‘Hey, I did it, I’ve been a mum, I’ve had a job, and now I’m happy to just shut everything else away.’” The Idea of You shows that this is a valid option, but it’s not the only option. It’s important to know that there is so much more left to explore, and that life doesn’t stop after you’ve raised a child.

Talitha Stowell

The Idea of You is released on Prime Video on 2^nd May 2024.

Watch the trailer for The Idea of You here: