Love Hypothesis director unpacks its Star Wars past, from Kylo Ren to lightsaber colours
The intimidating professor at the centre of The Love Hypothesis started life as Kylo Ren.
Director Claire Scanlon has broken down the hidden Star Wars references, known as Easter eggs, left in the film in a feature published by Variety on Sept. 26. The romance premiered on Sept. 23 on Prime Video, starring Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman as its central couple.
The backstory sits off screen. Ali Hazelwood's 2021 novel The Love Hypothesis began as a 2018 fan fiction, a story written by a fan using characters from an existing series, titled Head Over Feet. It centred on Kylo Ren and Rey from Star Wars. Hazelwood later reworked it into a New York Times bestselling novel, stripping out the most obvious Star Wars links.
In the screen version, Reinhart plays Olive, a Ph.D. candidate, and Bateman plays Adam Carlsen, the most intimidating professor in her department, according to Prime Video. The plot turns on Olive impulsively kissing Adam. Adam is a Kylo Ren-inspired character who is nicknamed Dr. Evil.
Casting added its own coincidence. Bateman is married to Daisy Ridley, who originated the role of Rey. Scanlon said that connection played no part in casting Bateman as Adam.
The look does much of the work. Scanlon said Adam channels Kylo Ren through an all-black wardrobe and an office that is minimally decorated and almost entirely black. His colour palette softens from black to navy blue as he spends more time with Olive.
Some colour matches were an accident. Scanlon said Olive's red, blue and green outfits, which recall lightsaber colours, were unintentional. Olive's frequent all-red looks were coincidence, she said, because Reinhart likes the colour red.
What makes this stand out for fans is how the links keep appearing in small places. The opening song is Mess It Up by Gracie Abrams, whose father J.J. Abrams directed two films in the most recent Star Wars trilogy. The script is by Sarah Rothschild and the producer is Elizabeth Cantillon, according to Amazon MGM Studios. The film runs 1 hour 52 minutes and is streaming globally on Prime Video.
Scanlon gave the interview while filming her next project, the Netflix comedy series I Suck at Girls.
