The 'Red White and Royal Blue' star romances Anne Hathaway in the new rom-com, based on the book of the same name.
Nicholas Galitzine is no stranger to playing heartthrobs. From 2021's Cinderella to his breakthrough role in 2023's Red White and Royal Blue, the English actor has left viewers swooning in recent years..
But for his new film, The Idea of You, Galitzine, 29, took on a new challenge in his role as Hayes Campbell, the 24-year-old lead singer of the most popular boy band in the world.
In the movie -- based on the popular novel of the same name by Robinne Lee -- Galitzine finds himself in a May-December romance with Anne Hathaway's Solène, a 40-year-old divorced mother who is forced to chaperone her teen daughter's trip to the Coachella Music Festival.
When the two have an unexpected backstage encounter, an even more unexpected relationship starts to bloom. But for the actor, the real challenge came during his scenes on stage.
"I'm not a dancer," Galitzine admitted with a laugh while speaking with ET's Rachel Smith about preparing for the rom-com. He added that it was a challenge "having to learn that and also being beside four professional dancers."
Hayes's band in the film, August Moon, is rounded out with Jordan Aaron Hall, Jaiden Anthony, Raymond Cham Jr. and Viktor White, and the actor recalled joking with his onscreen bandmates that they "better not screw this up for me. Make me look good!"
Galitzine shared that he took inspiration from groups like K-pop megastars BTS -- "they have this amazing choreography, but sort of a nonchalance in their sort of performance" -- but emphasized that what really made August Moon come together was "establishing the chemistry with the other lads."
"We all stayed in the same hotel. We had a lot of game nights playing Mario Kart," he recalled of the filming experience. "It's just spending time with each other and creating that very sort of palpable friendship with each other. It's all those little moments on stage that you see between them that I think really sells it."
His chemistry with Hathaway was similarly crucial to the rom-com, and the Oscar-winning actress said that it came very naturally to both of them.
"I just think Nick and I would have been friends no matter what," she shared. "Sometimes in this life, you meet people for, like, five minutes and you're like, 'Oh, I believe I would be friends with that person.' But you don't really have the time."
"Nick and I just, we got along right off the bat," Hathaway continued. "We just started texting and then we started talking and then we were acting together and then we were talking in between... We just kind of developed a real proper friendship and that's just really, I don't know, special."
Galitzine actually sings on The Idea of You soundtrack, having already released two of the group's singles, "Dance Before We Walk" and "Closer."
So, would the actor ever entertain a real shot at a music career?
"I'm just very passionate about music and I always have been," he noted. "I think, you know, acting has been so nourishing for me in a lot of ways, but the extremely talented people I was able to meet and work with... have opened up so many doors. So we'll see what happens."
The Idea of You is streaming now on Prime Video.
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