'The Idea of You' Author Explains Why She Regrets Ever Saying Harry Styles Inspired Hayes Campbell

The new movie The Idea of You is based on the best-selling book by Robinne Lee and it has often been considered to be “Harry Styles fan fiction,” something that she doesn’t feel is an accurate way to describe her work.

The Idea of You tells the story of a 40-year-old single mom who starts a romance with the 24-year-old lead singer of a popular boy band.

Robinne once mentioned that she drew inspiration from Harry Styles for lead character Hayes Campbell, which led to fans labeling the book as fan fiction.

Now, Robinne explains why she regrets ever bringing up the Harry inspiration.

Keep reading to find out more…

“I don’t consider it fan fiction at all,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “Harry was one of multiple people who went into creating Hayes Campbell — he was the only one in a British boy band that was current at the time, I guess, and so that’s what people have latched onto. It’s unfortunate because it’s being used as clickbait, and when I’m writing for Hayes, I’m not picturing Harry Styles.”

While writing the book, Robinne also drew inspiration from Prince Harry and Eddie Redmayne, as well as people in her personal life.

She added, “He’s very much like JFK Jr. when he was dating Daryl Hannah, and they were hanging out in the Hamptons — that was definitely the Hamptons Hayes. And then there’s some Michael Hutchence sexiness when he was dating Helena Christensen. And I was obsessed with Duran Duran when I was young, so there’s a lot of Simon, and there’s a lot of John, and there’s a lot of actual Duran Duran Easter eggs throughout the entire book.”

Robinne explained why she regrets the Harry comparisons.

“But I think people were going to put that on it anyway because he was the only one of my inspirations that was currently in a British boy band that was popular at that time,” she said. “Some of the other guys are still in bands and alive and out there on tour, but they don’t get named ever. And that’s fine with me. You create your character and you make him what you want to make him. He feels very real to me, and I think Harry’s just what people gravitated to. But he’s not Harry in my head when I’m writing for him. He is not Harry and he’s not living Harry’s life. He’s very much his own person to me.”

Read what Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine had to say about the comparisons.