'The Idea of You' Author Robinne Lee says it's "surreal" seeing her novel on the big screen at the film's red carpet premiere. Plus, she reveals who planted the seed in her mind to write this story.
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00:00What does it feel like to finally see your novel on the big screen?
00:04It is surreal. It's not at all, I don't know, I never expected all of this.
00:11I think when you sit down to write a book, it's just you and the book and those characters in your head
00:17and you're just getting it on the page and the last thing you expect is all of it.
00:22I mean even when I like, like with like Daydream, like oh what if this was a movie?
00:26Like you don't really, I'm looking at like the posters and like you don't really, it's kind of amazing.
00:33And thinking about who you would cast or who would be your dream cast.
00:36And I've been in Hollywood, I mean I'm an actress and I've been working for like three decades in this business
00:40and so, and I know how many steps it takes from like saying okay, I've written a script or I've written a book, whatever,
00:48to like, like a premiere and it's like, it's infinite steps. You never think it's going to make it.
00:54Like you might option it, whatever, but then it's like, even for it to get greenlit is a huge accomplishment
01:00and so it's kind of crazy being here. Yeah, totally surreal.
01:05And we hear the moon heads screaming right back there.
01:07How does it feel like, or what does it feel for you to kind of see all of this
01:11and see the reaction from the fans already before the movies even come out?
01:14It's a little overwhelming, I think. It's surreal. It's not anything I could have expected or dreamed of
01:21and it's, yeah, it's a little crazy.
01:24What sparked the initial idea for you to tell this story?
01:28This is my husband, Eric Hayes, hence Hayes Campbell.
01:32And you know what, we'd had a conversation and he was the one that planted the seed.
01:39I was joking one evening, we were at a political fundraiser and I was joking that I was going to run off
01:46and leave him and the kids and I'm going to run off with a guy in a band who is half my age
01:50and he was like, you're crazy, but that would make a great book.
01:54And then he kind of like laid it out. He's like, what if it's a divorce mom
01:57and she's got a daughter who's like in love with this boy band.
02:00And I just kind of knew that that was a story I could tell.
02:04I loved, in my youth I loved boy bands. I'd had the opportunity to, I'd managed a singing group
02:15and we were produced by one of the new kids on the block when they were at the height of their fame.
02:18And so I knew what it was like to be with a boy band, be around them, see their fandom up close
02:24and see the craziness of calculating when do we leave the hotel, when do we get back,
02:28you're in this van, you're in that van.
02:30All the insanity that most people are not privy to, I experienced it up close.
02:39And so I kind of knew I could write the story and make it feel very real.
02:43What was your reaction when you first read the book?
02:46I thought it was amazing. I thought it was definitely a home run
02:49and it was going to be super successful and she did it.
02:53Can you talk a little bit about your first meeting with Anne and Nicholas
02:56and bringing these characters to life?
02:58Not yet. Maybe it's going to happen.
03:00It might happen right here on the carpet.