The Idea of You actor Nicholas Galitzine has opened up about his ‘immediate connection’ with co-star Anne Hathaway – revealing how the pair formed an ‘amazing’ bond during their ‘chemistry read’ for the age-gap rom com.
The 29-year-old star plays the part of musician Hayes Campbell, who falls in love with 41-year-old Anne’s character Solène Marchand, a woman 16 years his senior, in the on-screen adaptation of Robinne Lee’s 2017 novel.
And while the duo has sparked some controversy with their age-gap casting for the flick, many viewers were quickly captivated by their on-screen chemistry in the trailer – something that Nicholas has now revealed was very apparent to all from the moment they started reading the script together, a process he described as being ‘something almost spiritual’.
Speaking at SXSW on Saturday, Nicholas opened up about the ‘chemistry test’ that he and Anne did to ensure that their on-screen dynamic would be as realistic as possible.
‘The chemistry read was kind of transformative. As an actor you oftentimes go into those rooms with so much trepidation, and it was so open,’ he told People.
Nicholas Galitzine said ‘something almost spiritual’ happened when he first auditioned to be the onscreen leading man of Anne Hathaway for Michael Showalter’s rom-com The Idea of You, which premieres May 2 on Amazon Prime Video
In real life, the 29-year-old Red, White & Royal Blue actor (L) and the 41-year-old Oscar winner (R) have a 12-year age gap, but their characters Hayes Campbell and Solène Marchand have a 16-year age gap in the adaptation of Robinne Lee’s 2017 novel
‘And I kind of remember leaving the room going, “You know, if this doesn’t work out, I am really proud of the work that I did, even in this space.”‘
In a Q&A held after a screening of the movie at the festival, Nicholas went on to share more details about the ‘chemistry test’, explaining that he was asked to suggest a song that he could sing to convince Anne’s character to dance with him.
‘Someone came up with this idea that the actors doing this chemistry test should bring a song that they wanted to use essentially to convince Soléne to get up and dance with him,’ he recalled.
‘And again, [for] someone like me, who is not a dancer, this was incredibly intimidating.
‘But in all seriousness, I remember – these rooms for actors they can be extremely intimidating at times and extremely unnatural in a lot of ways – but there was something almost spiritual that kind of happened there where I felt this immediate connection to Annie, and we had a simpatico and a shared sense of humor and it was just very easy.’
The Idea of You centers on a budding May-December romance between a divorced mother of a teenage girl and a famous boy bander, who cross paths at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA.
Solène gets a taste of a jet-setting, sexually-charged lifestyle while simultaneously being horrified about their portrayal in the tabloids, and the trailer included one shot of her crying to her teenage daughter about the backlash.
Anne recalled one moment on the Atlanta set in 2022 when they shot a swimming scene despite freezing temperatures.
‘At at one point we just looked at each other and we were holding on to each other for dear life for warmth,’ Hathaway – who was also a producer – recalled during the Q&A.
‘From that moment on – till the last moment some 20 hours later – I just looked at him and I was like, “I am in good hands on this one. I’ve got a great partner. We could not have landed better.” And I still feel that way.’
Galitzine and the Brooklyn-born former child star warmly embraced on the street outside The Paramount Theater in Austin, TX before the event.
In real life, Anne has two sons – Jonathan, turning 8 next Sunday; and Jack, 4 – from her 11-year marriage to James Banks Design co-creator Adam Shulman.
The half-Greek Englishman attended a ‘boy band boot camp’ to learn how to perform the song Dance Before We Walk as part of fictional boy band August Moon in the R-rated, 115-minute film inspired by ex-One Direction member Harry Styles.
![Nicholas recalled during the post-screening Q&A Saturday at SXSW: 'Someone came up with this idea that the actors doing this chemistry test should bring a song that they wanted to use essentially to convince Soléne to get up and dance with him. And again, [for] someone like me, who is not a dancer, this was incredibly intimidating'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/03/18/05/82582733-13208583-Nicholas_recalled_during_the_post_screening_Q_A_Saturday_at_SXSW-a-51_1710738791052.jpg)
Nicholas recalled during the post-screening Q&A Saturday at SXSW: ‘Someone came up with this idea that the actors doing this chemistry test should bring a song that they wanted to use essentially to convince Soléne to get up and dance with him. And again, [for] someone like me, who is not a dancer, this was incredibly intimidating’
Galitzine continued: ‘But in all seriousness, I remember – these rooms for actors they can be extremely intimidating at times and extremely unnatural in a lot of ways – but there was something almost spiritual that kind of happened there where I felt this immediate connection to Annie, and we had a simpatico and a shared sense of humor and it was just very easy’
The Idea of You centers on a budding May-December romance between a divorced mother of a teenage girl and a famous boy bander, who cross paths at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA
Solène gets a taste of a jet-setting, sexually-charged lifestyle while simultaneously being horrified about their portrayal in the tabloids (pictured), and the trailer included one shot of her crying to her teenage daughter about the backlash
Anne recalled one moment on the Atlanta set in 2022 (pictured) when they shot a swimming scene despite freezing temperatures
Hathaway – who was also a producer – recalled: ‘At at one point we just looked at each other and we were holding on to each other for dear life for warmth. From that moment on – till the last moment some 20 hours later – I just looked at him and I was like, “I am in good hands on this one. I’ve got a great partner. We could not have landed better.” And I still feel that way’
The half-Greek Englishman and the Brooklyn-born former child star warmly embraced on the street outside The Paramount Theater in Austin, TX before the event
In real life, Anne has two sons – Jonathan, turning 8 next Sunday; and Jack, 4 – from her 11-year marriage to James Banks Design co-creator Adam Shulman
‘We didn’t perform in front of 80K people, but 500 supporting artists [were] there watching us so it was kind of like doing a mini-concert in a way,’ Nicholas told People on Saturday.
‘It’s like embodying the confidence of a pop star.’
American audiences can soon catch Galitzine as George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, in D.C. Moore’s period drama Mary & George premiering April 5 on Starz.
