“The Love Hypothesis” stars address possible Reylo fanfic Easter egg — reveal their love for Shrek

Shelby StivaleSun, September 27, 2026 at 1:30 PM UTC

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Tom Bateman and Lili Reinhart at ‘The Love Hypothesis’ screening on Sept. 9Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImageKey Points -

Stars of the new Prime Video romance, The Love Hypothesis, chat about the story’s origins in fan fiction.

Lili Reinhart and Tom Bateman ponder whether the song “Head Over Heels” by the Go-Go’s, which is used in the movie, is an Easter egg.

The actors also share what kind of fanfic they’d write.

Was there a nod to Ali Hazelwood’s early days as a writer in The Love Hypothesis movie?

Before Hazelwood published The Love Hypothesis novel in 2021, the book started out as a “Reylo” fan fiction — featuring Star Warscharacters Rey and Kylo Ren — on Archive of Our Own. The story at the time was titled Head Over Feet. When the Prime Video adaptation premiered on Sept. 23, there appeared to be an Easter egg for Hazelwood’s earliest fans.

The film, starring Lili Reinhart (Olive Smith) and Tom Bateman (Dr. Adam Carlsen), features a falling-in-love montage — as all great rom-coms do — set to “Head Over Heels” by the Go-Go’s. Could the song choice be a reference to Head Over Feet? Reinhart tells Entertainment Weekly that “it’s a good question” — although she can’t answer it.

Tom Bateman and Lili Reinhart in ‘The Love Hypothesis’Credit: Philippe Bossé/Prime

The Riverdalealum recalls The Love Hypothesis music supervisor, Julia Michels, working “very closely” and “very intentionally” with the movie’s director, Claire Scanlon.

“Claire knew that it was going to be that song while we were shooting,” Reinhart says. “That’s a Claire question. I’m not sure. What a little link. What a little Easter egg that would be.”

Bateman also recalls Scanlon being “very sure” of “Head Over Heels” being the montage song. “She played it to us when we were shooting those scenes,” he says. Reinhart adds, “I feel like she told me she works out to that song. That’s why I remember it.”

Both Reinhart and Bateman (Daisy Ridley, otherwise known as Rey in Star Wars, is his wife) have discussed the fanfic origins of The Love Hypothesis at length. However, they’ve never discussed their own fan fiction preferences — which might surprise you.

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Bateman and Reinhart tell EW that they would be into writing Shrek and Donkey fan fiction.

“I bet it’s been done,” Bateman says, laughing. Reinhart responds, “You don’t think that’s been done a million times? Tom loves Donkey, so Tom’s reading fan fiction Shrek, probably every night.”

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Reinhart (and EW) went on to explain the formerly viral “Shrek Is Love” video from the early days of YouTube. Per Reinhart, it’s “hard to explain.” A pretty valid description.

“You’re going to go, ‘What the f--- is this?’” she tells Bateman, volunteering to “be there to hold your hand through it all.” He adds, “I feel like life would be divided up into pre-‘Shrek Is Love’ and post-‘Shrek Is Love.’ You can’t go back.”

The Love Hypothesis is now streaming on Prime Video.

on Entertainment Weekly

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”