Anne Hathaway receives awkward silence after asking audience members question during TV appearance

Anne Hathaway is the people's princess - but even the most talented and prolific actresses aren't immune to awkward moments on TV, it seems.

The Devil Wears Prada star appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday (29 April), to talk about her latest leading role in The Idea Of You, which is available to watch on Prime as of today (2 May).

Anne stars alongside Nicholas Galitzine in the film which tackles age-gap love, with Anne's character Solène turning 40, and embarking on a passionate, unlikely romance with a 24-year-old ultra-famous band member after meeting him at Coachella.

It has already gained almost 87 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics have piled on the praise.

Film critic Ella Kemp wrote for Empire that The Idea Of You is 'an intelligent and surprisingly level-headed study of stardom and desire that could only have been made in our passionate and judgemental Extremely Online era'.

Anne Hathaway stars opposite Nicholas Galitzine in The Idea of You (Amazon Prime)

The film is based on a book, written by Robinne Lee - and Anne asked Jimmy's audience about their experience with it.

"Has anybody here read the book?” Anne asked innocently.

Silence then filled the studio, signalling a resounding no.

Jimmy then quipped: "No, we don’t read.

"This is The Tonight Show.

"You want to go to Stephen Colbert if you want to get people to read books. Lame!”

Anne then began to laugh and Jimmy added: "We do Audible here."

Anne Hathaway's question was met with stony silence (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon)

The flustered actress covered her face while continuing to laugh.

She then joked: "What's a book?"

Naturally, the moment has taken social media by storm.

One person wrote on X: "This is seriously so funny I can’t stop thinking about it. Anne is fighting for her life up there and handling it like a pro."

Another added: "You can literally hear the air conditioning running lmao."

A third chimed: "Her actual shock in that moment. So good."

Jimmy Fallon came to the rescue (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon)

Despite people not having read the book (yet, at least), many viewers have already watched the film and are absolutely loving it.

One person wrote: "I just finished The Idea of You, oh my god. Nicholas Galitzine. Anne Hathaway. This movie is INCREDIBLE!!"

Another said: "IN THE LAST SCENE THE WAY THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER.. I'M CRYING."

Personally, we can't wait to watch it, and we might even read the book.