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Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman teased their approach to adapting Ali Hazelwood‘s novel The Love Hypothesis — and hinted whether there would be major book changes.
“It felt — as much as it could — like a really timeless romantic comedy. Sometimes they feel a little bit too 2026. The ones that I respond to feel a lot more timeless or are from the ’90s and have just something to them that feels not so [dated],” Reinhart, 29, explained at Obsessed Fest on Saturday, June 27.
Reinhart, who plays Olive, addressed how the movie compared to the novel.
“That’s what the script was able to feel like for me — while still keeping the integrity of both characters and doing the book justice,” she noted. “Obviously, the importance of the book and the source material [is something we thought about].”
She continued: “We wanted to totally respect that and I think our writer Sarah [Rothschild] absolutely did. The heart of the book is in the film.”
Bateman, 37, couldn’t help but agree after bringing Adam to life, adding, “It’s really hard when you’re adapting something for a film because every single one of you that loves the book has your own idea of what these characters are gonna be like, what this world is going to be like and each moment of the story. You can only tell one.”
Based on Hazelwood’s debut novel, The Love Hypothesis follows a Ph.D. candidate and a professor at Stanford University who pretend to be in a relationship.
“Every single person involved with this had such a deep love for this book and for doing it justice for everyone that loves it, for the amazing characters and the world. The intention was always, ‘We want to make this the best it can be.’ And who better to tell it than a group of people who love it so much?” Bateman continued. “People were really fanning over it. The book was around set all the time. I remember, Lili gave me the book on set and we’d be reading bits of it before filming the scene.”
The actor said the source material “was always front and center” for the cast and crew, concluding, “We weren’t trying to get away from it in any way. We were just trying to do our very, very best to give everyone what they want out of this story.”
Before Hazelwood released The Love Hypothesis as a book, it was originally a fan fiction story about Rey and Kylo Ren from the new Star Wars movies. Bateman’s wife, Daisy Ridley, played Rey opposite Adam Driver in the sci-fi trilogy before serving as the inspiration for Reinhart’s character, Olive.
Ridley, 34, was later asked about the connection while speaking to Collider in 2023, to which she replied, “I mean, honestly, for anyone to just write a book is so impressive, let alone a New York Times bestseller, let alone something inspired by something I was part of. That’s very thrilling.”
She continued: “So, thank you, if anyone’s reading this. Whoever wrote The Love Hypothesis and The Hurricane Wars. Wow. F***ing cool.”
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