Anne Hathaway was left “shaking” after receiving a special video message from Arsenal FC winger Leandro Trossard.
Last week, the 41-year-old actor went viral after she was filmed celebrating Trossard’s opening goal against Chelsea on 23 April. At the time, Hathaway was on a remote video junket with her The Idea of You co-star Nicholas Galitzine, who is also an Arsenal fan.
The pair’s new romantic comedy is about an age-gap relationship between a single mother and a boy band star.
While promoting the film on The Today Show on Monday (29 April), host Savannah Guthrie told the actors: “We have a surprise for you.”
A pre-recorded video from Trossard then appeared on-screen. “Hey Anne, I loved your celebration the other day for my goal,” he said. “Keep supporting us and hopefully see you soon at the Emirates.”
Hathaway responded, “Are you kidding me?” before admitting: “I’m shaking.” Galitzine, 29, added that he was “star-struck”.
In last week’s video, Galitzine checked his phone before telling Hathaway: “One-nil.”
After being informed that Trossard had scored the goal, Hathaway shouted: “Ahh, I love you!”
Explaining her reaction to the reporter on the junket, she said: “Sorry, we are both fans of the same team and there is a match going on right now. It’s English Premier League soccer… yes… we don’t want to take up too much of your time.”
Galitzine first revealed that Hathaway was an Arsenal fan in an interview with NowTV last month.
“You know, a really fun fact: Anne Hathaway is a massive Arsenal supporter as well,” he said. “I’m in a group chat with her family, who are all Arsenal supporters. [They’re] obsessed.”
The Idea of You stars Hathaway as Solène a 40-year-old single mother who begins a love affair with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell (Galitzine) – the lead vocalist of the world’s hottest boy band – after meeting at Coachella.
The film is based on Robinne Lee’s 2017 Harry Styles-inspired novel of the same name. When asked by Vogue in a 2020 interview whether her romance book was inspired by the former One Direction singer, Lee replied: “Inspired is a strong word.”
However, she confessed that “the seed was planted” after learning that Styles “often dated older women”.
Styles famously dated his Don’t Worry Darling director Olivia Wilde, who is 10 years his senior. He also dated television presenter Caroline Flack in 2011 when he was just 17 and she was 31. Years later, he was rumored to have dated Rod Stewart’s daughter Kimberly Stewart when he was 19 and she was 33.