For many movie lovers, rom-coms are something that should have been left in the past. How can you top the likes of When Harry Met Sally and Notting Hill if the genre is no longer fit for purpose? Thankfully, Michael Showalter’s The Idea of You offers an antidote. Based on the book of the same name by Robinne Lee, the story hones in on the unconventional love story between single mum Solène (Anne Hathaway) and global boyband star Hayes (Nicholas Galitzine).
FILMHOUNDS caught up with producer Cathy Schulman to find out more about what makes The Idea of You so enriching.
We’ve had a drought of good romantic comedies. Why do you think they are coming back now?
Because we’re making it come back. As a producer and filmmaker, I very much felt like it’s time to get back to romance-seeking. I was missing it as much as I think audiences were. I feel like we’re coming out of a bit of a darker time when, especially through the pandemic, we were all stuck at home imagining what love could be like, but not necessarily being able to live it. It would be natural that we would hop out of a period like that, not to mention the fact that it’s a difficult time in the world. I think we need to remember that human beings need to connect, that love is a possibility, as are second chances. All of these things rom-coms give. I think this is a newer brand of a romantic comedy. I keep calling it a “romance-seeking” movie. We tried to not follow every single trope of the more traditional romantic comedy and let it take its own route, and to be a little bit more modern and a little bit more natural in terms of the twists and turns that love affairs do take. It deep it digs deeper into connection before breaking that connection as a traditional rom-com would do.
We’ve got an age gap in The Idea of You. We’ve got a woman in her 40s having fun — who knew they could do that? Why is it so important to address these subjects in a light-hearted way?
I think women are compartmentalised. The expectation is that we should be one thing at a time. You can be a mother, you can be a grandmother, you can be a working woman, you can be a wife, you can be a one-night stand — but you can’t be all of those things all at the same time. Taylor Swift has that in Lavender Haze, right? “The only kind of girl they see is a one-night or a wife.” There are so many possibilities to be so many things, and we wanted to explore that in The Idea of You. Really underline the fact that there shouldn’t be an obstacle too big for love. Like you said, in this particular case, there’s an age gap. They live in different places. They have different sorts of lifestyles, and one is really famous, one isn’t… so it’s really stacked against them. I think that’s why it was the most fun to try to explore what it would take to pull them together.
Obviously we know how good Anne is in The Idea of You as an actress, but what does she bring to the table as a producer?
I think she really helped us find the balance between the character in the book and the character on the page. It was very much rested on her to promote a performance and an angle that would both bring in the book fans and allow a new character that you might not have imagined. She really brought the book to life in front of you, and I think she worked really hard and finding that balance.
The Idea of You is available to stream on Prime Video from May 2, 2024.