The behind-the-scenes story of an upcoming romantic comedy could, on its own, be a pretty fascinating movie. Here’s the pitch. A young Star Wars fan writes a piece of Reylo (that’s Rey and Kylo Ren for the non-shippers out there) alternative universe fanfiction. The fan is approached about turning the story into a novel, only, it can’t be specific to Star Wars anymore. So the names change, but the intention and romance stay the same. That book becomes a smash hit bestseller, Hollywood comes calling, and when the movie version finally comes to fruition, the filmmakers cast the real-life husband of one of the actors who played the character who originally inspired the story. Roll credits.
It’s a little wild, a little convoluted, but exactly what has happened to author Ali Hazelwood with her debut novel, The Love Hypothesis. The story was originally published online as Head Over Feet, a an alternate universe collage romance between Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Adam Driver’s Ben Solo/Kylo Ren. Once it got picked up by an actual publisher, though, the romance stayed the same, but everything Star Wars was removed… save for the male lead being named Adam, after Adam Driver. And now, for the movie adaptation, Adam will be played by Tom Bateman, the British actor married to his Murder on the Orient Express co-star, Daisy Ridley. Yes, the same Daisy Ridley who played Rey in Star Wars. The other lead, named Olive, will be played by Lili Reinhart of Riverdale fame.
So was the casting intentional? We don’t know, but the wonderful harmony of it is impossible to ignore. And, frankly, it’s pretty damn delightful too. Sure, most people who read The Love Hypothesis during its 10-month run on the New York Times bestseller list didn’t know its Star Wars roots. And people who eventually see the movie, directed by Claire Scanlon and adapted by Sarah Rothschild, will never realize that either. But the people who do can certainly enjoy it on a whole other level.
The Love Hypothesis joins a growing list of stories that started as fan fiction and eventually made their way into the book market, and then beyond to the movie and TV adaptation. The most famous is probably Fifty Shades of Grey, which was inspired by Twilight, though Dakota Johnson isn’t married to Robert Pattinson in real life. At least not yet.
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