It was in 2018 when the online publication of Head over feet appeared, a fan fiction set in the universe of Star Wars that imagined the love story between Rey and Kylo Ren, written by Ali Hazelwood, a novelist and neuroscientist writing under a pseudonym.
Adapted later for publication with a publishing house, the title, plot, and characters underwent changes: the romance arrived in American bookstores in 2021 under the title The Love Hypothesis in the Berkeley Books edition (while the Italian edition was published in 2024 with Sperling & Kupfer).
Now, the film adaptation of the bestseller, titled the same, is coming to Prime Video: on September 23 the movie adapted from the book will be released, featuring Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman in the lead roles.
The film’s director, produced by Amazon MGM Studios and MRC, is Claire Scanlon (who in 2018 directed How to Drive Your Boss Crazy).
An Unprecedented Promotional Campaign
Reinhart, who is also an executive producer, during the summer of 2025 carried out a new promotional campaign on social media, posting content as if it were the character herself and thereby giving the protagonist a life of her own on her profiles.
Thus, a short video in which the two characters are depicted quickly became a simple yet highly effective advertisement for a film that would come out more than a year later, helping to capture a possibly additional audience segment beyond those who would have chosen to watch it anyway.
Furthermore, during the film’s press tour for the release, the actress, wearing outfits borrowed from the characters they play, paid homage to the characters portrayed by Drew Barrymore, Kate Hudson, and Keira Knightley, respectively in Ever After (1998), How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) and Atonement (2007)—three films that embody the romantic imagery and aesthetics of the 1990s and 2000s.
The Plot of The Love Hypothesis
The story follows Olive Smith, a 26-year-old researcher. After a short relationship with Jeremy, she realizes she isn’t genuinely interested and ends it. When she learns that Anh, her best friend, has fallen in love, Olive does everything she can to convince her that with Jeremy she has complete freedom to pursue him.
