Exclusive: Tom Bateman didn't know about unexpected Star Wars connection in Prime Video rom-com

Tom Bateman had no idea that his newest Prime Video rom-com had an unexpected Star Wars origin. Based on the novel by Ali Hazelwood, The Love Hypothesis follows Olive Smith, a graduate student who starts a fake relationship with her biology professor Adam Carlsen.

While the pair initially can't stand one another, the lines begin to blur between fake and real as they begin to develop true feelings for each other.

Bateman stars as Carlsen, while Lili Reinhart (Riverdale) plays Olive, and it was news to Bateman that The Love Hypothesis is actually started out as a Star Wars fanfiction named Head Over Feet with Kylo Ren and Rey as the central couple.

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This is especially interesting as Rey is portrayed by Daisy Ridley - Bateman's real-life wife.

Speaking to Digital Spy, the actor said that he was told about it after he'd been offered the role: " I just read the script, fell in love with it, fell in love with the role, fell in love with Lili as an actor and all of the creative people. I just thought everyone was so wonderful, I really wanted to be part of it.

"When they offered me the job, Claire our director called up and she said, 'There is this tenuous thing'. Even then I didn't think much of it just, 'Oh that's what inspired her to start writing books'. I didn't know that it was baked so deeply into the DNA and I'm still learning today. We're still figuring it out."

Director Claire Scanlon said she'd mentioned it to Bateman during the audition process, adding: " I was like, 'Just so you know, you might not know this book, but you should know it is based on fan fiction' and walked him through what that was.

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"He mentioned it to Daisy and she'd heard about Reylo, the ship and stuff, but he is so not social media savvy so he's like, 'Huh, okay'. But it was not on his radar at all."

Meanwhile, Reinhart revealed that she'd been told before she signed on, saying: "I was told before I signed on to the movie, but I didn't know how big of a thing it actually was. I was told way before we shot the movie, but I think after I read the script."

According to Scanlon, the unexpected connection resulted in a little fun during one scene where a bit of music plays as Carlsen walks into his first fake date with Olive, as she added: "We did a play on it. So when he walks into the coffee shop, that's kind of inspired by John Williams. That's really the only one."

The Love Hypothesis will be released on Prime Video on 23 September.

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Freelance film & TV writer, Digital Spy
Critic and writer Jo Berry has been writing about TV and movies since she began her career at Time Out aged 18. A regular on BBC Radio, Jo has written for titles including Empire, Maxim, Radio Times, OK!, The Guardian and Grazia, is the author of books including Chick Flicks and The Parents’ Guide to Kids’ Movies. 

She is also the editor of website Movies4Kids. In her career, Jo has interviewed well-known names including Beyonce, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Cruise and all the Avengers, spent many an hour crushed in the press areas of award show red carpets. Jo is also a self-proclaimed expert on Outlander and Brassic, and completely agrees that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.