The Idea of You Similarities to One Direction and Harry Styles

Nicholas Galitzine and Anne Hathaway’s The Idea of You gives Us clear One Direction vibes — even before the movie officially comes out.

The Idea of You is based on Robinne Lee’s novel of the same name. In both the book and movie, Hayes Campbell (Galitzine) is the lead singer of popular boy band August Moon. During the band’s Coachella appearance, he meets single mom Solène Marchand (Hathaway) before they strike up a secret romance.

Lee told Vogue in 2020, three years after the book’s publication, that she researched One Direction while drafting the manuscript.

“Inspired is a strong word,” she told the magazine when asked if Harry Styles inspired her leading man. “I made [Hayes] into my dream guy like Prince Harry, meets Harry [Styles].”

Between promo images and trailer footage, it became apparent to Directioners (the fandom name for One Direction faithfuls) that Hayes seemed to be a complete doppelgänger of 1D’s Styles.

“We tried to create a character that was akin to Harry in a sense that he’s a younger man dating an older woman,” Galitzine told Buzzfeed UK in March 2024. “It was important to create someone who felt new and original, and not a shoddy interpretation of a person we know really, really well.”

While the British actor pleads the fifth about the similarities between Hayes and Styles, Us Weekly is breaking down how they compare: