Hayes’ Tattoos In ‘The Idea Of You’ Hold A Clue To His Character

2 May 2024, 08:00

Nicholas Galitzine purposefully picked tattoos with meaning for his character, Hayes, in The Idea of You.

The Idea of You, starring Nicholas Galitzine and Anne Hathaway, is all anyone can talk about after it was released on Prime Video, following Hayes and Soléne, who share a 19-year age gap.

Hayes is a member of August Moon, a band giving the audience One Direction vibes, while Soléne is an art gallery owner and single mum to a teenage daughter.

The couple fall for each other at Coachella and embark on a whirlwind relationship that takes them around the world and sees them face intense scrutiny over their age difference, something Anne described as ‘a point of self discovery’ for her character.

• Read more: Where To Watch The Idea Of You Movie
• Read more: Nicholas Galitzine Paints The Idea Of You's Hayes Campbell

But with Nicholas' character Hayes, a 24-year-old international pop star, fans were surprised to discover a lot more depth to his portrayal than what was maybe first expected to be a casual romcom hunk, something clear in his tattoos.

Ahead of the film’s release Nicholas stopped by the Capital studio to chat to us about the new movie and we grilled him on how he built up the idea of Hayes – something he said he ‘really worked on’, even giving meaning to all the fake tattoos.

Nicholas told us: “I think Hayes is his own person in a way. He feels so textured on the page to me. Something I really like to work on is I usually focus on the script first. Oftentimes If there’s a book I usually read it after the process.

“But I remember he just kind of jumped off screen for me because he’s very charismatic, very open, and sensitive and seems hot have a strong moral compass. He just felt so original to me and it was fun getting to build him out.”

When it came to the tattoos, Nicholas explained each one is actually part of Hayes’ back story that’s never even referred to on-screen, giving us mere clues to the depth of his character.

He continued: “I went on Pinterest and found some cool tattoos that reflected him or could be part of his back story that maybe we don’t ever even refer to on-screen.”

Nicholas explained how Hayes’ tattoo of a thistle was a nod to Hayes’ Scottish heritage, which is never actually touched on within the film but only adds to the depth of character.

He told us: “For me it was important to get a sense of who Hayes was. In building him out I’m thinking ‘what is his heritage?’ Maybe he has Scottish heritage; I’d like a tattoo of a thistle on his calf because that’s a natural flower of Scotland – at least what I associate with Scotland.

“So these things become very personal, you never reference it in the project but they help embed you into who you’re playing and they feel very original to you.”

However, once he picked out his tattoos, he realised he had to actually sit in the makeup chair and get them etched onto his body almost everyday, leaving him negotiating with the makeup team to only get the ones definitely in shot.

The Idea of You’s Nicholas Galitzine Paints A Portrait Of Hayes Campbell

“These ones were tricky, they would last a couple of days,” he explained. “I was in the makeup chair pretty early. I kind of regretted it early on, choosing so many tattoos. We’d go, ‘ok am I taking my shirt off today?’ Ok we only need to do those ones, we don’t need to do the calf tattoo. ‘Are they gonna see my hands?’ We’d negotiate with the makeup department so I could sleep a few extra minutes but I’m really happy with where we ended up with it.”

Nicholas credited the ‘talented people across the board’ who got involved in developing his character, saying it was helpful having such a collaborative team on the project, “from Annie to makeup to the crew.”

The Idea of You is streaming now on Prime Video.

Listen live to Capital, and catch up on any shows you missed, on Global Player.