When The Idea of You author Robinne Lee first heard a real song performed by August Moon, the fictional boy band at the center of her 2017 novel, the moment felt “surreal.” Lee first thought up the pop group nearly a decade ago, while crafting the story of a whirlwind romance between one of the band’s singers, Hayes Campbell, and a successful art dealer and single mom approaching 40, Solène. Now her novel has been adapted into one of the year’s most-anticipated movies, complete with a soundtrack that could be played through her home speaker. “I’d kind of dreamt this up, and now I could walk into my kitchen and ask Alexa to play the song,” she tells Marie Claire over Zoom, a week before the movie’s May 2 release on Prime Video.
Lee is no stranger to Hollywood; she’s a working actress who has appeared in beloved films like Hitch, 13 Going on 30, Deliver Us From Eva (in which she starred alongside her friend and The Idea of You co-producer Gabrielle Union), and the Fifty Shades trilogy. She has now earned her first producer credit on the Amazon Studios film, which stars Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine as the dreamy lead couple. Still, The Idea of You has introduced Lee to a new facet of fame, as her book about a middle-aged woman reveling in her sexuality has spawned both a passionate fanbase and notable controversy. “I feel like it's life imitating art. I wake up to messages and feel like, Oh my God, I'm Solène now,” Lee says.
