Harry Styles age-gap 'fanfiction' film defended by Whoopi Goldberg (2024)

Anne Hathaway’s new film The Idea of You has sparked backlash over the depiction of an age-gap romance, which Whoopi Goldberg has now defended.

As the trailer dropped for The Idea of You the debate over acceptable age differences in relationships kicked off once again, with Harry Styles fans furious at the movie.

Anne, 41, stars as Solène Marchand, a 40-year-old single mum, who falls for a much younger pop star after a fateful meeting at Coachella.

A swoon-worthy moment sees the 24-year-old heartthrob wave to her in the crowd while on stage with his fictional band August Moon.

Whoopi, 68, weighed in on the debate on The View as she said: ‘I’ve gone up and down. I go from here to here, because your age is not what’s going to get me into your arms.

‘It’s not your age that I’m concerned about — unless you’re under 18, in which case I can’t.’

She then revealed: ‘Actually, I’m just gonna say this to you. One of the last relationships I had, he was 40 years older than me.’

Wish fulfilment to the maximum, The Idea of You is adapted from a novel of the same name written by Robinne Lee, which has long been likened to fanfiction.

The As It Was hitmaker, 30, does not star in the film but is said to be the inspiration for male lead Nicholas Galitzine’s fictional popstar Hayes Campbell.

While the author denies the direct comparison, the similarities between the tattooed boy band star Hayes and the former One Direction icon are hard to ignore.

Harry’s influence is hard to ignore as the author admitted the ‘seed’ of the plot was ‘planted’ by him ‘often dating older women’.

Robinne is likely referring to his rumoured relationships with the late Caroline Flack, then 32, when he was 17 or romance two years later with Nicole Scherzinger, then 35.

As she told blogger Deborah Kalbin 2017, she had been innocently surfing the internet and ‘came across the face of a boy I’d never seen in a band I’d never paid attention to… It was like art.’

In the story, Hayes is 24 while his love interest is 40, a maturity difference which many took issue with especially when inspired by Harry’s relationships as a teen.

While romanticising the age gap between a 24-year-old and a 40-year-old has proved contentious, there’s a deeper issue for One Direction fans.

The filmmakers are not hiding the similarities of their leading man to the former One Direction star, leaning into comparisons despite the fact he is not connected to it at all.

The Idea of You has long been deemed ‘fanfiction’, a genre of stories written by fans that takes existing people or characters and creates an alternative life for them.

Popularised by fandoms like Harry Potter, K-pop, and of course ‘Directioners’, most fanfics exist for free on websites like Wattpad or AO3, with authors unable to profit from the stories.

However, rather than post her Harry Styles-esque romance for free, Robinne’s The Idea of You was published as a steamy novel in 2017.

‘This was never supposed to be a book about Harry Styles,’ she revealed to Variety in 2020, as both the novel and the singer’s popularity skyrocketed.

While Robinne prefers to see her romantic hero as a nod to the British icon, the filmmakers are certainly leaning into the link with poses and outfits reminiscent of the star.

For August Moon’s singles, Carl Folk and Savan Kotecha are credited as songwriters, having previously penned One Direction’s hit What Makes You Beautiful.

Nicholas stated to Buzzfeed he wished to create a character ‘akin’ to Harry but not a ‘shoddy imitation’, while Robinne previously stated that ‘inspired’ was the wrong word.

As bizarre as it may seem, this isn’t actually the first time a Harry Styles ‘fanfiction’ has been turned into a film series — who could forget 2019’s After?

Originally published on Wattpad, After had reached 544million readers in the first months, leading to a publishing deal for the book series.

Supposed bad boy Harry and his bandmates were all named in the original fanfic but relocated to an alternative reality where they attended Washington State University.

The critically panned movie starred Cruel Intentions icon Selma Blair as well as Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Josephine Langford, and Dylan Sprouse.

The franchise even managed to get a sequel in 2020 and all five books have been adapted to screen, despite some instalments sitting at a 0% approval on Rotten Tomatoes.

Moving from the web to paperback meant After’s Harry became Hardin Scott but the likeness and nods to the band remained the same.

As for Robinne, she insisted to Variety: ‘I made him into my dream guy, like Prince Harry, meets Harry [Styles].’

The Idea of You lands on Amazon Prime on May 2, 2024, while After is available on Netflix and Prime now.

Metro.co.uk has reached out to Harry’s team for comment.

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