Harry Styles Fanfic Movie Gets A Screenwriter: Who Should Play Hardin Scott In ‘After’?
Harry Styles is coming to the big screen — sort of.
As many One Direction fans know, a Harry Styles’ fanfic is in the process of being turned into a movie. Anna Todd’s popular online series After re-imagines Harry as a bad boy college student who begins a lust-hate relationship with a virgin named Tessa Young. After and its sequels have been compared to the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy because they were also born online as free fanfics loaded with explicit sex scenes. Todd’s Wattpad tales were later turned into a series of novels, and the Harry Styles character was renamed Hardin Scott.
According to MTV News, the After movie officially has a screenwriter, so it’s one step closer to coming to a theater near you. Susan McMartin is best known for her work as a TV comedy writer who has worked on Mom and Two and a Half Men, but now she’s mostly going to be writing scenes that involve lots of arguing and sex — there’s not much comic relief in the After series. Much like Christian Grey, the Harry Styles/Hardin character is extremely obsessive and possessive. He also has a violent temper and a serious substance abuse problem.
At the beginning of the After series, Tessa can’t stand Hardin’s horrid personality, but the polar opposites share a mutual sexual attraction to one another that they can’t resist acting on. As their feelings develop into something more, a shocking revelation threatens to ruin their relationship. The Inquisitr previously revealed what this revelation is, and it might make you wonder how anyone could root for Harry and Tessa to end up together.
Author Anna Todd talked about who she would like to see cast in the After movie, and she said that she understands that it’s highly unlikely that Harry Styles would sign on to play his renamed namesake. Her second choice for the Hardin Scott role is Romeo & Juliet star Douglas Booth, and her top pick to play Tessa Young is Secrets and Lies actress Indiana Evans. Hardin is not a singer, so whoever gets cast as the character doesn’t have to have Harry Styles’ golden pipes.
According to the Washington Post, After also features characters based on the three remaining members of One Direction and recent defector Zayn Malik. Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson were been re-imagined as minor characters named Nate and Logan, two of Hardin’s hard-partying pals. Anna Todd turned Liam Payne into Tessa’s BFF Landon, and Zayn Malik became Zed, another hot guy who catches Tessa’s eye (he’s the Jacob Black to Hardin’s Edward Cullen).
Anna Todd might think it’s impossible to score Harry Styles for the After movie, but there has been some interest in turning the One Direction star into an actor. According to the Daily Mail, Hollywood bigwig Harvey Weinstein is bound and determined to get Harry up on the big screen. The producer even offered the singer a role alongside Cara Delevingne in Tulip Fever, but Harry was too busy touring to squeeze in any movie work.
“He’s like Errol Flynn, he’s got that swashbuckling charm,” Weinstein said in response to a question about why he thinks Styles needs to be in moving pictures. “Definite star potential. I think he’d be great. No question.”
Once the remaining members of One Direction decide to go their separate ways, perhaps Harry Styles will have time to read the screenplay for After. Would you like to see the singer as Hardin Scott, or do you think a more experienced actor like Douglas Booth would be better for the part?
[Featured image credit: Jason Merritt/Getty]
