"Not the story I wanted to tell" — 'The Idea of You' author Robinne Lee reacts to differences in movie and book's ending

The Idea of You’s author, Robinne Lee recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly and shared her thoughts after seeing the recently released movie. Starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, the film based on the book of the same name was released on May 2, 2024, on Prime Video.

The movie is about a single mother in her early 40s who falls in love with the lead singer of a popular boy band who is in his mid-20s. During the interview, Lee stated that the movie has a different ending, but the book has a completely different tale to tell at the last.

Robinne Lee said:

"That's not the story I wanted to tell. I wanted to make a point about how, as women, we put others' happiness before our own."

Robinne also stated that she was not involved in the adaptation of the movie, as it was written by Michael Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt, and hence, the aspects of the book while converting it into a movie were changed drastically.

The Idea of You was Robinne Lee's debut novel which was released in June 2017. The movie adaptation was announced in 2021.

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"The book is a book, and the movie is a movie" — Robinne Lee reacts as she watches her novel’s adaptation into a movie

As The Idea Of You released a few days back on Prime Video, it garnered a lot of mixed reactions from the masses, and from the book’s author as well.

While the movie is an adaptation of Robinne Lee’s book, however, the author claimed that the movie’s ending is very different than what she wrote for her readers. Expressing the same, Lee said:

"The book is a book, and the movie is a movie. You have to step away and let the filmmakers do what they're going to do and not get too concerned with what it is you've created and when it stops because it's a completely different medium."

The author further talked about how she understands that when it comes to a movie, people usually do not like to see sadder endings, and hence, the makers might have changed the story a bit.

"It's America—Hollywood's going to do what they're going to do, and they're going to throw a happy ending on everything. I don't know why. You hope they'll keep to what you've written because it meant something to you, but you also have to think about the box office and viewers and what their audience is going to want to see," Robinne Lee said.

While the movie has been released recently, The Idea of You also premiered at the South by Southwest on March 16, 2024. Apart from Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, the movie also stars Ella Rubin, Annie Mumolo, Reid Scott, Perry Mattfeld, and Viktor White in the supporting roles. In fact, Hathaway is not only the lead star in the movie but has also been a co-producer.

On the other hand, apart from being an author, Robinne Lee is also an actress who made her acting debut with Hav Plenty in 1997 and was later seen in National Security, Deliver Us from Eva, Hitch, Seven Pounds, and Fifty Shades Darker.

Lee has also been part of many TV shows, including Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Big House, House of Payne, Being Mary Jane, NCIS, Superstition, and many more.

On the other hand, as the movie was released on Amazon Prime Video, many have been loving the change at the end of the film, while others are questioning why the makers have not kept the story as it was in the book. However, at the moment, the makers have not yet responded or addressed the matter.