'A very different character': Nicholas Galitzine plays down Harry Styles comparisons in The Idea of You

Nicholas Galitzine has played down comparisons between his 'The Idea of You' character and Harry Styles.

The 29-year-old actor stars in the rom-com as boyband heartthrob Hayes Campbell – who falls in love with 40-year-old single mother Solene Marchand (Anne Hathaway) – but denied that his character has been inspired by the 'As It Was' hitmaker's romances with older females.

Nicholas told Variety at Vanity Fair's Oscars Party: "It's funny because it's not a comparison that I've ever made. But people really like to make it. Hayes Campbell, the man I'm playing, is a very different character and we want him to exist in his own world."

However, the 'Mary and George' star did invite Styles to attend the film's premiere at the SXSW festival later this week.

Nicholas said: "I don't know him personally. Harry, if you're in Austin, Texas, in the next week come along and chill with Annie and I."

'The Idea of You' is based on Robinne Lee's 2017 novel of the same name and the author denied speculation that the character of Hayes Campbell is based on the former One Direction star, although she did acknowledge that a "seed was planted" as she researched Harry's romantic history.

She told Vogue in 2020: "This was never supposed to be a book about Harry Styles. Nor was it ever intended as a classic, fuzzy romance.

"It was supposed to be a story about a woman approaching 40 and reclaiming her sexuality and rediscovering herself, just at the point that society traditionally writes women off as desirable and viable and whole."