Author Robin Lee your thoughtsI regret initially saying the story was inspired by Harry Styles.
In a new interview, Lee explains why fictional British boy band member Hayes Campbell was not inspired by the former One Direction member after many people compared him to writing fan fiction.
“I don’t consider it fan fiction at all,” Lee said in an interview. EW. “Harry was one of several people involved in creating Hayes Campbell. He seems to have been the only one in a British boy band at the time. So people are fascinated by this. “It’s a shame it’s being used as clickbait, and Harry Styles isn’t on my mind when I write about Hayes.”
Lee said the fictional character played by Nicholas Galitzine in the Prime Video film is a combination of many people from our reality.
“He looked a lot like JFK Jr. when he was dating Daryl Hannah and they were hanging out in the Hamptons. It was definitely Hamptons Hayes,” she said. “And there was a sexiness to Michael Hutchence when he dated Helena Christensen. And when he was young he was obsessed with Duran Duran. So there’s a lot of Simon, a lot of John, and a lot of actual Duran Duran Easter eggs throughout the book.”
Lee's debut novel was published in 2017 and was adapted into a film by Michael Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt starring Anne Hathaway as a 40-year-old woman who falls in love with a boy band member played by Galitzine.
The author said Styles was the inspiration for the character because he was still popular at the time and it resonated with people. “”Some of the other guys are still in the band and alive and touring, but they're not. Get a name. And I'm fine. You create your character and make him into what you want him to be. He strikes me as very real and I think people are attracted to Harry. But he wasn't Harry in my head while I was writing for him. He is not Harry and he is not living Harry's life. “That person is very precious to me.”