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Anne Hathaway Defends Age Gap Between Solène And Hayes In The Idea of You

30 April 2024, 15:15 | Updated: 2 May 2024, 20:36

By Sam Prance

How old are Solène and Hayes in The Idea of You? Here's what Anne Hathaway has said about her on screen age gap with Nicholas Galitzine.

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Ahead of the release of The Idea of You, Anne Hathaway has opened up about the age gap between her character Solène and Nicholas Galitzine's Hayes Campbell.

Ever since Robinne Lee's best-seller The Idea of You came out in 2017, there's been a lot of online discussion about the age difference between the love interests in the book. A divorced Solène takes her daughter to Coachella after her ex-husband pulls out, only to end up in a wild romance with Hayes, the lead singer of the world's biggest boyband August Moon.

Since the trailer for the film dropped, there have been comparisons to One Direction, Harry Styles and his relationship with Olivia Wilde but Robinne, the cast and crew have distanced themselves from those associations.

Read more: The Idea Of You Release Time: Here's What Time It Comes Out On Prime Video

Now, Anne has addressed the age gap and why she thinks The Idea of You's approach to ages gaps is important.

What is the age difference between Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine?

Nicholas Galitzine and Anne Hathaway in The Idea of You. Picture: Alamy

In real life, Anne Hathaway is 41 years old and Nicholas Galitzine is 29. As for their characters in Robinne's 2017 The Idea of You book, Solène is 39 and Hayes is 20. In the film, Solène is 40 and Hayes is 24 so instead of a 19 year age gap, there's 16 years between them and Hayes is a little older and wiser.

Discussing the age gap between the two characters on The Today Show, Anne said: "It’s kind of fun to be in a film where we talk about it, where we don’t dance around it, but we actually embrace her point of view on it. It’s funny, it’s okay if 40 is old, it’s okay if 40 isn’t old, it’s okay whatever it is, because it’s personal."

She continued: "For Solène, her point of view is, you know, she became a mom really young and she really wanted to have a career and so she doesn’t totally identify with her age. She feels like maybe she’s done things a little bit out of order. For her, 40 means it’s a time…of self discovery for her."

The Idea of You’s Nicholas Galitzine Paints A Portrait Of Hayes Campbell

Anne ended by saying: "And that’s what the movie says. How wonderful that she finds someone that she feels so supported by, seen by, embraced by, valued by."

Let Solène live!