Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman interview: On ‘The Love Hypothesis’ and the science of romance

Much has been said about actor Lili Reinhart’s looks for the whirlwind press tour leading up to the release of the American rom-com The Love Hypothesis. From Kate Hudson’s butter-yellow slinky gown in How To Lose a Guy In Ten Days, to the iconic brown slip dress inspired by Jennifer Garner in 13 Going On 30, and the short lavender mini reminiscent of Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality — scores of Instagram reels and fashion blogs have been singing her praises and celebrating her for finally putting some respect on the rom-com genre. But when we sit down for a virtual roundtable, it is Tom Bateman’s t-shirt which is the standout fashion statement of the day. The British actor is wearing a white Notting Hill t-shirt, with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant emblazoned on it, a very fitting rom-com tribute from his side, indeed. An adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s eponymous smash-hit novel which helped pioneer the STEMinist romance genre (prominently featuring women in STEM as protagonists), the movie, directed by Claire Scanlon, has Lili and Tom play Olive Smith, a sweet, PhD student and Dr Adam Carlsen, a largely grumpy, young professor nicknamed Dr Evil by his peers and students respectively; who find themselves entangled in a fake, on-campus relationship. “I had read the book once before and I loved it. When I decided to do the film, it was always in my trailer and I had its essence and influence around me, but for me it was also important at some point to let the book simply just live in my subconscious, and do my job,” Lili says. After her breakout role as Betty Cooper in the CW series Riverdale, Lili went on to star in the films Hustlers, Chemical Hearts, Forbidden Fruits, and was more recently seen in the music video of ‘Swim’, by K-pop group BTS. Lili Reinhart in a still from ‘The Love Hypothesis’ | Photo Credit: Prime Video Two weeks into the press tour is when this roundtable happens, and Lili says it has been a revelation for her, to discover in real time as to how many people love the book. “I realise what an honour it is… to be able to play Olive.”She is almost glad, she says, of not having discovered just how beloved the book is, before and during filming. “I would have then felt a lot more intimidated. For me, it was simple; I am an actor, I was hired for a reason, and I showed up to play Olive as I want to play her. The excitement, joy and fun of playing a character far outweighs the fear of backlash for your casting.” The science of romanceFor her co-star Tom, starring in a rom-com brings with it a special sort of excitement and he laughs as he recalls his agent very hesitantly asking if he would be up for a romance like this one. “When I first read the script, I remember loving Adam Carlsen for who he is, how he starts out, and the journey he goes on, to reveal his true self.” There has been much debate about how cinema could do with more rom-coms and in Tom, The Love Hypothesis seems to have found a lead who approaches the genre with a rather philosophical, and reverential affection. “I think the reason I wanted to be a part of telling this story was something our director Claire (Scanlon) said to me; that we live in a world where everyone is so separate and no one is listening to each other. The story here too, is of two people who are so far removed from each other’s world, should never meet or get along, and yet you watch them go through all these different rom-com tropes, start to listen to each other, and be moved and changed by it,” he reflects. Tom Bateman in a still from ‘The Love Hypothesis’ | Photo Credit: Prime Video In the film, the contrasts are laugh-out-loud funny; Olive radiates niceness and heaps whipped cream on her sugary sweet drinks even as Adam is barely able to conceal his disapproval, dressed in starched, all-black shirts. He struggles to crack a smile to make their fake dating schtick even remotely believable, leaving Olive’s nosy group of friends largely suspicious.The actor wants people to laugh and have a good time at the movies, of course, but also wants them to wonder what would happen if they attempted to understand someone from the other side of the world. “ I hope that even in a small way, anyone who watches this might think there is more that we have in common, than what keeps us apart,” he augurs. The book’s origins are widely known as a Star Wars ‘Reylo’ fan-fiction, which was out on the internet in 2018 before it took shape as a romance novel and released in 2021. While Tom laughs and says he was initially quite unaware of its origins, he describes being hit by a ‘tidal wave of serenditpity’ when he did finally find out. For the unversed, Tom’s wife, actor Daisy Ridley, played Rey with Adam Driver playing Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequel trilogy; the characters that inspired Olive and Adam in The Love Hypothesis.“These were fantastic, well-drawn out characters with complexity and layers. brilliantly performed by by Adam and Daisy. Of course, that’s going to inspire people to write books!” Tom laughs.All things awkwardAdam and Olive inhabit a professional world cluttered with hard-to-bag research grants and faculty politics, but their journeys ultimately prove to be about so much more than the science that brings them together. The grumpy-meets-sunshine romance at the core of the book, with fake-dating thrown in for good measure, has made room for plenty of comedy in its film adaptation. Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman in a still from ‘The Love Hypothesis’ | Photo Credit: Prime Video “Before I got onto the set, I really wasn’t thinking about the comedy because I am more of a romance girl. It wasn’t until I started rehearsing these scenes that I realised how funny it could be. The script might have said something like ‘an awkward hug’, but it was really up to Tom and I to figure it out, and a lot of the laughs we get during screenings of the film are in reaction to the awkwardness of us trying to figure out where to put our hands,” Lili laughs. “The world is your oyster, and this genre is so wonderful because it allows actors to play around. You get to do the deep emotional things, but it also has these heightened, ridiculous situations. Given that these two people should never meet, we’re just going to see what happens when we cram them into a room together,” Tom says. The Love Hypothesis streams on Prime Video from September 23