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Jimmy Fallon sweetly steps in to save Anne Hathaway from an awkward moment in resurfaced video

Jimmy Fallon gets praised for saving 'The Idea of You' actress Anne Hathaway during awkward interview

Jimmy Fallon is a pro at handling situations! Earlier this year, the 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' show host was seen interviewing Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway who came on his talk show to promote her movie 'The Idea of You.'  In the Amazon Prime Video's rom-com film, Anna plays the role of a 40-year-old single mother Solene who strikes up a relationship with a 24-year-old boyband vocalist Hayes Campbell, essayed by Nicholas Galitzine.

The movie 'The Idea of You' is based on the famed Hollywood actress and author Robinne Lee's novel of the same name which was published in 2017. In the last couple of years, the book has received immense backlash from readers and many have simply referred to it as "One Direction fan fiction." While having a conversation with Vogue, Robinne confessed that the popular boy band One Direction served as a source of inspiration for her when she was writing the book. Along with this, she also mentioned that she was very truly inspired by the 'Sign of the Times' hitmaker Harry Styles.

During her latest interview with Jimmy, Anne was caught in an awkward situation when she candidly shared her thoughts on Robinne's divisive book. At one point, Anna enthusiastically asked the studio audience, "Has anybody here read the book?” Soon after, Anne met with a deafening silence.

'The Princess Diaries' alum was surely expecting a good response from the crowd. However, she received no response from the people seated in the studio. In the blink of an eye, Anna's face went blank and she found herself in an embarrassing situation. 

Soon after, a shocked Anne covered her mouth with her hand while taking in the disappointing reaction from the live studio audience. Then, Jimmy entered the chat and decided to save the day. The standup comedian rescued Anne from that zone of awkwardness and discomfort by making a joke about himself as well as his fans. To lighten up the mood, Jimmy simply responded, "No, we don’t read.” Shortly afterward, Anne, Jimmy, and the studio audience laughed out loudly. We must say, that Jimmy was able to release the tension in the room with his self-deprecating joke. The former 'Saturday Night Live' comic continued to crack the ongoing joke by saying, “This is The Tonight Show. You want to go to Stephen Colbert if you want to get people who read books. Lame!” 

At one point, Jimmy went on to ask Anne, "We do Audible here, does that count?” Then, 'The Intern' actress breathed a sigh of relief as Jimmy had taken care of the situation in the perfect manner. Later on, Jimmy asked Anne a few questions about her movie 'The Idea of You.' He diverted the topic by asking her, “So, it’s based on this book?” In her response, Anne jokingly replied, "What’s a book?” Then, Jimmy was praised online by several fans for saving Anne on his talk show. One social media user tweeted, "Jimmy actually was a great host in this situation!"

Followed by a social media user who penned, “Fallon fully understanding his role in the moment and bailing out Anne Hathaway from the silence while gassing up Stephen Colbert is beautiful.” Another internet user wrote, "You wanna go to Stephen Colbert" is actually a very smart joke right off the cuff."

The film 'The Idea of You' premiered earlier this year at South by Southwest on March 16, 2024. At the moment, the rom-com is available for streaming on the streaming platform Amazon Prime Video.