In the lead-up to its release, One Direction fans online have pulled images from old concerts and compared them to stills from the movie.
Others have praised August Moon’s singles “Closer” and “Dance Before We Walk,” because they sound reminiscent of old One Direction songs.
There’s now even an August Moon band Instagram page.
Many said they feel like the interest in the fake boy band in “The Idea of You” is demonstrative of the void fans have felt since One Direction went on hiatus.
“Things are so different now with all five members of One Direction and they’re very different,” Mack said. “And looking back at it, maybe this wasn’t the best situation for them. Maybe it wouldn’t be good if they stayed together or wouldn’t be good to have an actual reunion. Maybe all of that would be very unhealthy for everyone. So like this is kind of the closest we can get to that without it being bad for anybody.”
Michael Showalter, the film’s director, told NBC News that he enlisted Savan Kotecha, a songwriter who has written hits for numerous pop stars including One Direction, to write the August Moon songs. He also said he watched behind-the-scenes videos of One Direction on tour when crafting the August Moon and Hayes Campbell.
Showalter said that he wasn’t aware of the online chatter about “The Idea of You” among fan communities, but he got an inkling of fans’ relationship to the film when he showed it at a college film festival.
“It was all 18 to 20 year olds, mostly female audience,” he said. “They really liked the movie, but they also were laughing and reacting at certain things that surprised me.”
The reason for the laughter, viewers told him afterward, was that it was a strange experience to watch fan fiction get “elevated into a serious movie.”
For some of the viewers, Showalter said reading fan fiction used to be a “dirty secret” and watching an adaptation felt “bizarre” to them.
“There are these moments that sort of feel like, I guess, fan fiction tropes in the movie,” he said. “Those were the moments that elicited those reactions. And it was a sort of a nervous laughter rooted in some deep seated connection that they have to it that I genuinely had no concept of.”
Still, not all Directioners are on board with the adaptation. Some chafed against fan fiction adaptations in general because they view them as disrespectful of the real person they are drawing inspiration from. The “After” movies in particular were controversial among Directioners, who felt as though the toxic main character based on Styles shouldn’t be associated with the singer.
Howell said that she thinks “The Idea of You” will be a more respectful portrayal of Styles because the Hayes Campbell character wasn’t written to be a manipulative or bad guy.
“I hope for Harry’s sake, this is the last series,” Howell said about Styles fanfic getting adapted. “But I think, at the end of the day, it’s obviously bringing attention towards Harry. It’s bringing the attention towards One Direction. … Everyone is kind of benefiting from it.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
