Anne Hathaway Explains Why One Sex Scene In The Idea Of You Was Their 'North Star' When It Came To Depicting Intimacy In The Movie

Rom-com fans, rejoice! Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine are set to charm in Amazon’s The Idea Of You, which adapts Robinne Lee’s novel of the same name about a 40-year-old single mother who finds herself in a love affair with a 20-something boy band member. Ahead of the new release heading to streaming in May, Hathaway spoke about how the production decided to approach the sex scenes.

The Idea Of You has earned an R rating for “some language and sexual content” ahead of it dropping on Amazon Prime Video. When Anne Hathaway was asked about how her and the director decided upon how “explicit” to make the intimate scenes between Solène and Hayes Campbell, here’s what she said:

In the book, Robinne describes intimate acts with the most unbelievable energy. In their first physical sexual connection, Hayes brings Solène to orgasm while [she is fully] clothed. That became our North Star in terms of expressing cinematic sex in a way that makes it about her pleasure, while also making the point that a huge part of pleasure is giving someone else pleasure.

When Hathaway and Michael Shoewalter spoke with Variety, the director shared that he never wanted to get “into Red Shoes Diaries territory,” which was an especially erotic ‘90s series, with The Idea Of You. Hathaway in particular turned back to the source material when making decisions about the sexual content.

Now, when Galitzine spoke about the sex scenes in The Idea Of You to Glamour, he said he felt “female pleasure is sort of a protagonist” in the movie before sharing they are not “salacious.” While it doesn’t sound like the romantic comedy takes its intimate scenes to a an intense or graphic level, it doesn’t shy away from some steamy sequences, especially in terms of prioritizing the importance of the satisfaction of Anne Hathaway’s Solène.

The Idea Of You follows Solène as she takes her teen daughter to an August Moon concert at Coachella. During the legendary California festival, Solène meets one of its singers, Hayes, and it leads to a budding romance. The movie has been compared by its actors and those who have seen it as a gender-flipped Notting Hill.

While the character of Hayes has frequently been compared by Harry Styles, Galitzine said his character is “a very different character” than the former One Direction singer. Check out The Idea of You trailer below:

Ahead of The Idea of You’s premiere on streaming, the movie has received positive reactions from audiences, with people calling Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine’s chemistry “amazing” and hitting “all the right notes” as far as what makes the rom-com genre great and entertaining. The movie also debuted with a 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes score before moving down only slightly to a 90 percent since.

You can watch Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine in The Idea Of You with an Amazon Prime subscription on May 2.