Anne Hathaway

ANNE HATHAWAY unambiguously named Hath-haters? The truth is, the 39-year-old Oscar winner probably is too nice for Hollywood, but it is this combination of steeliness and vulnerability that make her such a compelling performer. Anne Hathaway just doesn’t add up. Firstly, how can someone so supremely talented and beautiful also be so down-to-earth and charming? And what is it about her kindness and warmth that evokes such fury in a small number of online individuals – the

With a career that has involved playing roles such as a Disney princess, Catwoman and a 19th century French pauper, we ought to think twice before trying to place the mercurial star in a box.

“I think versatility is probably the most important thing when it comes to surviving in the movie industry,” she begins. “I am lucky in the sense that I’ve been offered roles that move across various different genres, but also the fact that I’m perhaps too easily bored when it comes to doing the same things all the time.

“I couldn’t ever imagine being one of those actors who is happy to stay as one type of character over the course of a career.”

Versatility in recent years for the New York-born actress has also meant embracing motherhood. Since son Jonathan arrived in the world in March

2016, followed by brother Jack three years later, Hathaway has become regarded as a

passionate and caring soul whose greatest role yet is as a mum. By her own admission, it seemed that for someone who had endured more than her fair share of setbacks on the road to building a family with actor,

producer and jewellery designer husband Adam Shulman, the end destination was finally worth the journey.

“I did feel as if it was in some way a reward for some of the nasty stuff I had been through,” she says. “Of course, we all have setbacks and challenges, and the world doesn’t differentiate these on how many social media followers you have or how much money you’ve got.

“Yet, for once, I felt like I had something that was totally and completely mine, was flawless and perfect, and that no-one else had a claim on, apart from my partner! My son was beyond the realms of the industry noise and that has been such a perfect, reliefgiving feeling.”

With the arrival of children, you immediately sensed that none of the fog that accompanied Tinseltown was ever going to matter again for the actress. In bringing her boys into the world she had discovered purpose and importance far beyond learning lines on a script. ›

Professionally though, Hathaway cannot stop. In 2022 she has no fewer than three films out – Armageddon Time (as Esther Graff, in a coming-of-age story about the strength of family and the pursuit of the American dream), Sesame Street (a brave reworking of the iconic kids’ TV show) and drama/mystery Eileen – as well as well-received TV mini-series We Crashed. And with a flurry of other cinema releases in production, the amiable Hathaway looks set to be reaching her most creative point yet, despite the rigours of home life… and that’s saying something for someone who has clocked up more than 60 movies across a 20-year service to the industry. How are your current projects shaping you? I feel I am being as ambitious and as broad as ever despite having so much else going on in my life.

Covid and the various lockdowns have created a situation where so many movies have ended up being concertinaed together, but that’s okay… providing people don’t get sick of the sight of me! What’s your process these days for choosing and assessing a script? There is no set process, per say, but I think the best scripts are those that I read and really can’t work out.

It’s about choosing stuff that, in whatever way, pushes the boundaries of filmmaking… so trippy, totally left of centre – the sort of thing that will make me fall back in the love with why I do this… something that teleports me to another, visceral experience. Esther is that in its entirety – it’s a very strong and engaging story. It’s real people in real places in real situations, and that feels very exciting for me. Do you find it easy to portray dark, challenging characters, as well as the funny, light ones? Certainly, because we’ve all been to dark places as people. That’s inevitable – it just is. We all get down, despair, wonder will it get better, and it inevitably does. I’m making it sound much worse than it has been in the past, but we’re all the same, life’s a rollercoaster.

Do you reprioritise when you have children? Being a mother has certainly made me reassess so much of what is important – and what isn’t – in my life. Alcohol and hangovers are strictly out – it just feels so wrong now to leave that mark.

With both of my pregnancies it took so much to go through fertility and pregnancy issues, so when you emerge out the other side there is a feeling of really wanting to protect everything you’ve invested so much in. Any bad side? Certainly, as a parent, you realise it’s a hard life with a lot of guilt and self-loathing thrown in there. I try not to beat myself up about things I did or didn’t do, about the way I have lost my temper… but it is very difficult, and I think I am improving. It’s a journey. › What has parenting given you? There is just something about having a child that makes you go ‘I don’t care, I’m going to be happy, and I’m going to make choices that make me happy’, and that goes right the way through to the movies I choose to make. I don’t think I necessarily knew how to be happy, or I was trying too hard to be happy. Having a child gives you that perspective, and I am so grateful for that.

Fight scenes are my favourite because I’m such a tomboy. Any time I get the chance to do them, I’m into it! Even when I was pregnant with Jonathan, there was still so much I wanted to do, but I knew I had to hold back.

Now in returning to work I feel I can look for roles once again that offer a physical side – I feel I am exploring new ground again, and that’s a great feeling for an actor. Who has been your favourite actor to star opposite? I’ve said it before, but Matthew McConaughey is just a very easy guy to be around. It’s so easy when you’re working with people who don’t take themselves too seriously. He is, of course, an actor of incredible stature, but he’s one of those people who expresses that stature in the roles he plays and the performances he turns in, not in his day-to-day demeanour.

What I also admire about Matthew is that ability to reinvent. I know a lot of actors talk about stepping outside of genres and playing about with different characters and different styles, but you watch some movies and you know the actor is really someone else much different to the person they are playing. With Matthew, I’ve always found him totally believable, totally absorbed, in whoever he is playing. ›

So is being an indemand star and a parent to two a tough juggling act? You seem to be making it look impossibly easy… I was so fearful that I wouldn’t be able to get pregnant, it wasn’t the easiest journey and it’s something I wanted for a long time, but it happened and my children are here, so everything after is a gift.

The experience has just made me want to push on and I would never dare complain about the workload. I feel incredibly lucky, as an actress and a mum, so I just go with it.” Someone told me the other day you were teetotal… that must help! No, god no. I am not [laughs]. Before I went to college, maybe, but then I went to Vasser, I let loose, maybe went a little further than I should have sometimes. It was never out of control but yeah, I think most people are shocked to learn I’m not teetotal, far from it. Emily Blunt said she used to un-focus her eyes to play drunk. What was your trick? I don’t know if she did the same but what I found very helpful in those scenes where I’m playing drunk, who’s trying to be sober [laughs], before they’d say action, I’d spin around in a circle as many times as I could and when they’d say action, I’d be in this very disorientated, wobbly space and I’d attempt to walk in a straight line. Which is impossible. It worked [laughs]. You seem happier and content, in yourself now? I’m very happy with how my life is evolving. I’ve figured out that I don’t have to stress myself as much and can just enjoy everything more by being true to who I am. Your honesty is very warming. It’s just I’ve realised over the years that you don’t ever want to look like you’re trying too hard, and I know I do sometimes, or at least, I did. But then I figured out that I don’t have to put on an act, and I can still be appreciated just for who I am in my own awkward, contradictory, messed-up self. I don’t try to hide behind some façade that isn’t me. Does being settled make you look back on past relationships and experiences? I do like to reflect because it proves to you how far you have come. I guess every relationship is different. Sometimes you fall in love very hard and sometimes it takes time to develop. I remember many years ago when I was at a low point and a stranger entered my life and we had this fairly intense time together even though it didn’t last very long.

Unfortunately we wound up going our separate ways and we no longer have any contact, but he had this incredibly positive impact on my life, and it was one of those relationships that changes you for the better.

In general, though, a relationship becomes real once the initial glow wears off and you each start to reveal yourself and become much more open. That’s when you’re going to find out if it’s going to last.

Ultimately, I am very lucky with who I fell in love with… a keeper, so I kept him. He was smart enough to know I still had a lot of demons to battle and gave me my own time and space. What’s next? A return to music? Music is a big part of my life and always has been. As a young girl I sang in choirs and trained as a soprano. I also sang in an acapella group in college. My mother also toured the country with Les Mis and music and musical theatre was a huge part of my upbringing. I would often listen to Evita in my room and imagine myself as Eva Peron singing on Broadway, but I always associate music with performing and acting and I realised a lifelong dream when I played Fantine [in Les Misérables, for which she won an Oscar].

And you can play the guitar, right? I know a few songs like Sea of Love that I can play on the guitar and feel pretty comfortable at it, but I don’t see myself ever becoming some sort of folk singer [laughs]! Also, songwriting is not one of my skills. What about comedy? Sure, I do love and will always love doing comedy. I’m a big fan of stories that explore relationships and try to understand what brings people together as lovers or friends. Humour is a great way of presenting those… of finding a way in. Is acting still as much fun now as in your teens when you were starting out? I don’t think it will ever not be fun – it is a constant journey, as much about yourself as it is the character you embody. I love that thrill, always have and I’m sure always will. For as long as people want to watch me then I will carry on performing, because it is such a pleasure and the most exhilarating thing I think I could possibly do.

What I will say is variety is important to me in how I move from one role to another, but to have the role in the first place is the ultimate thing for me, and despite the things I have been through I do always consider myself very fortunate.

Bringing my children into the world and sharing all those magical experiences with them has been the best story I’ve ever told. It has been a pleasure in almost every way.” e

“I’m very happy with how my life is evolving. I’ve figured out that I don’t have to stress myself as much and can just enjoy everything more by being true to who I am”

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