Filming has been complete for The Love Hypothesis movie adaptation for months, but there is still no trailer or release date from Amazon MGM Studios.
Despite no official studio promo, we do know a lot about wardrobe choices for the film, thanks to the amazing personal promo Lily Reinhart did with co-star Tom Bateman on TikTok. Recently, I noticed a pattern of red clothes in her TikTok videos from on set, and I think she quietly revealed an intriguing book-movie difference about the characters she and Bateman play. In the movie, Olive Smith and Adam Carlsen will dress differently than their characters in the book.
Lily Reinhart’s seven TikTok videos show her character wearing red camis and tanks, a glittery red gown, and a cute red cardigan. All those red details do not come from the book. Olive Smith in the original text has a plain, sparse, and thrifted utilitarian wardrobe. For special occasions, she repeat wears a black wrap dress. In her graduate studies labs and classes, she wears leggings. Infamously, she also wears a very odd pair of rainbow unicorn socks in a spicy scene.
Adam Carlsen, played by Tom Bateman, wears a lot of black Henley’s in the book, but there’s not a Henley in sight in the videos of Bateman on set. The clips Reinhart posted show him in black t-shirts, black button downs, and a black suit, but again zero Henley shirts. No Henley’s is a big deal for Ali Hazelwood fans, who have gotten used to the author’s signature Henley schtick. Almost every male love interest she writes conspicuously dons Henley’s.
The Costume Choices Are A Good Change For Depicting An On-Screen Grumpy-Sunshine Dynamic
Costuming Olive in red and keeping Adam in black is a solid costuming choice. The color differentiation is perfect grumpy-sunshine visual messaging for the screen. Olive in bright red reinforces her quirky, vibrant character. Adam in black aligns with his character’s broodiness. Even though red is not Olive’s color canonically, the color feels necessary for the onscreen version of the story. On film, if Olive wore black as much as she does in the text, she’d match with Adam, a choice that would dull their grumpy-sunshine dynamic –and no fan of these characters would stand for a watering down of that dynamic.
Final, Hopeful Adaptation Thoughts
Although I’m really hoping for a faithful adaptation, it’s a good sign that these little changes (like no Henley’s but still dressing Adam in lots of black or red outfits for Olive) seem to be honoring the’ essence of the book.
Annotate With Sara 