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The Idea of You director on major book change: 'We wanted a hopeful ending'
The film takes a different path than the novel... **CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE IDEA OF YOU**
Amazon
- Patrick Cremona
Published: Monday, 29 April 2024 at 11:33 am
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**WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE IDEA OF YOU**
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After it was published in 2017, Robinne Lee's novel The Idea of You quickly became something of a sensation – and so there has been a fair amount of buzz about the soon-to-be-released film adaptation starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine.
But while book readers are extremely excited to watch the new movie, there is one aspect of the story many are hoping might depart from how things played out in novel: the ending.
In the book, main characters Sólene and Hayes do not end up together following their passionate and unexpected romance, which caused a degree of devastation among readers desperate to see them get a happy ending.
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But while the film is an otherwise fairly faithful adaptation, director Michael Showalter has teased that there could be more cause for celebration come the end of the drama.
"I think, for me, it was more just as the filmmaker, and as a fan of romantic comedy and romantic movies, this felt like the kind of movie where we wanted to give the audience a hopeful ending," he told RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview ahead of release.
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"And so, we certainly could have ended the movie in a different way. But for this story, we felt like a more uplifting ending was what would be most satisfying for our audience. And ultimately, the audience is what matters most when making a movie like this."
Read more:
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Meanwhile, producer Cathy Schulman explained that it's always challenging and "nerve-wracking" to adapt a novel for the screen, especially one that "has that sort of a audience frenzy behind it".
She added: "The way that I like to approach it is that you have to really capture the spirit of a book, but you can't get sort of stuck in the details of the format.
"A book and filmed entertainment are so completely different - one is internalised one is externalised - and so, you know, I always try to look at it like, what is the mood and the underlying kind of spirit... that comes out of the novel? And to take that and bring it forward."
The Idea of You comes to Prime Video on Thursday 2nd May.
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Authors
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
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