Cast explains why The Love Hypothesis hotel scene was changed, as it’s steamier in the book

Since The Love Hypothesis film was announced, people have been waiting for that chapter 16 hotel scene, but Lili Reinhart has explained why it couldn’t fully match the book, as it was way steamier.

If you’ve read Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis, you probably know exactly which scene we’re talking about. Olive and Adam’s hotel-room scene is one of the biggest moments in the book. And while the Prime Video film does include an intimate scene between them, it was never going to recreate everything from the book.

So, what happens in the book?

In the novel, the hotel-room scene starts in Chapter 15, when Olive and Adam are at a science conference in Boston and end up sharing a room. Their fake-dating rules include “no s*x”, but Olive’s feelings for Adam are getting harder to ignore.

Things get very steamy from there. After they make out, Adam gets a little more hands-on and starts exploring a bit more. There’s also that very famous scene where Adam puts his whole mouth on her breast. They do a lot more after that, but I won’t spoil all the fun by giving away every detail. You’ll have to read it for yourself.

But it’s not just about the spice. Adam notices that Olive is getting tense and stops to check she’s actually comfortable. She tells him she’s only had s*x a few times. And that she only feels attracted to people she genuinely trusts and likes. And, well, Adam definitely makes the list.

From there, things obviously escalate, with the full scene stretching across Chapters 15, 16 and 17. Chapter 16 is the book’s only full-length s*x scene.

So, why was the film version different?

Lili Reinhart addressed the scene in an interview with Elle, calling it “arguably the heftiest s*x scene I’ve ever done.”

“I don’t want people to think they’re about to see Blue Is the Warmest Colour, because they’re not,” Reinhart said.

She explained that having an extremely explicit scene “would not have fit within the confines of the rest of the film” and that it “just wouldn’t have made sense.”

Lili then said, “When you have a s*x scene that’s two chapters long [in the book], some people could have expectations of what it will be. I actually probably felt the most pressure with the s*x scene just because of how much people love it. That’s a very big draw to the book, and I understand that.”

She added she and Tom Bateman “felt” that pressure. “I really pushed to be as sexy as possible while still making sense in the movie.”

Tom Bateman had a similar view of the scene. “When [a s*x scene] is gratuitous, it can be an uncomfortable thing for both actors and audience members,” he said.

He added, “But when it is so deeply necessary to the characters’ arc, and it really was, it’s the moment where language stops being enough.”

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