PHOTO BY DANNA BERTEL Michael Showalter, director of “The Idea of You,” participates in a Q&A.
The Miami Film Festival hosted a screening of the romantic comedy “The Idea of You” starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine. The director of the film, Michael Showalter, attended the screening on April 8 and received the Art of Light award that night at Regal South Beach.
“It a very big honor. I’m very flattered and humbled by it and I am just excited to be here and for people to see the film,” Showalter said.
Attendees got the opportunity to watch the film before its exclusive streaming release on May 2 on Prime Video. After the screening, Showalter was part of a Q&A session where the audience was able to ask questions.
The film is based on a book by the same name, “The Idea of You,” and centers on Solene, played by Hathaway, a 40-year-old divorced mother who begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of a popular boy band. The film delves into the challenges of a relationship with an age gap and unwanted attention due to Hayes’s superstar status.
Showalter was initially interested in directing the movie because Hathaway was cast as the lead actress.
“I love Anne Hathaway. I was really excited to work with Anne and I also love romantic stories and it felt like this was a story that I haven’t seen before in a movie, so I was really excited to bring it to life,” Showalter said.
Showalter is no stranger to romantic comedies as he is both a fan of the genre and has directed other films in the genre before.
“Many of my favorite movies are romantic comedies, and I feel like they are, as a filmmaker, they can be funny, they can be dramatic, they can be romantic. I think they’re cinematic,” Showalter said. “At the core, this is just a very entertaining commercial story but we get to also say something about people and about the kind of people that we hope to be.”
Fans of the book attended the screening. Olee Fowler was excited to see the book come to life as she enjoyed reading it during the pandemic.
“I wanted to see the movie compared to the book and the movie deviated a little but the core of the story was still there,” Fowler said. “The movie was great. It was a really refreshing take on a romcom and a lot funnier than what I was expecting.”
Another fan of the book, Virginia Gil, liked the changes made in the movie.
“I thought it was good. It was faithful, the ending of the book was sad and kind of heart wrenching but this was more uplifting, which I appreciated,” Gil said
Madison Hurtado, NSU senior communication major, resonated with the relationships portrayed in the movie.
“Even though I have never dated a pop star, I can say that I have found love and there are highs and lows and she [Anne Hathaway] portrayed that really well,” Hurtado said.
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