In Colossal she plays a drunk drifter. Which will make good preparation for her Plan B in life
Hi, Anne. Your weird new monster film, Colossal, sees you playing another drunk drifter. You got an Oscar nomination for a similar character in Rachel Getting Married. What is it about them that appeals?
I have met a lot of addicts in my life who I have a lot of tender affection for.I love when stories present the opportunity to take groups that have been stigmatised or judged and then show the human side. I always look at them and think, Thats me in there, on some level.
Some reviews have picked up on this theme of toxic masculinity, something that seems to be on the increase since Ghostbusters (1). What do you think the film has to add to the debate?
Im glad that you used the word toxic, because its very important to say that its very different from male energy. Male energy is beautiful. Male energy is welcome. Male energy is necessary. Male energy is half the reason why were here. That said, therehas been a perversion of the beauty of male energy into this macho ideal that I dont think services anybody. In the case of Ghostbusters, the thing that made me so sad about that experience was that people seemed to be blaming the girls for the men who chose to hit the film that they were in, and I didnt think that was cool. In terms of my new movie, what our director was saying was that he thinks thisenergy really has no place in ourworld any more.
The movie jumps forward 25 years after its opening so where do you seeyourself in 25 years?
Underwater? No, Im just going to bestaring in awe at my son (2). Im amumfor the rest of my life.
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figcaption class=”caption” caption–img”> Watch Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis and director Nacho Vigalondo discuss Colossal.
The film also feels like a response tothe homogenised nature of blockbusters, taking the tropes weknow and subverting them. Areyou sick of seeing the same kindoffilm do well again andagain, and would you say that Colossal iskind ofa middle finger up to thoseblockbusters?
Wouldnt that be great if I did? Foryou?
Cant you just say that and I can use itas a quote?
Ha ha ha! No. But youre right that things are not working in the way thatpeople want them to and theres aneedto reassess. I dont take it personally when bad movies get made. It takes so much work to make anything. I dont know where its going to lead to, and I dont know if this movie is going to have an impact. Id like to think it might empower people to takerisks (3), but I dont think we needto diminish one in order to celebrate the other.
What do you think about the new DCuniverse? Because it has not been as well-received as the one that you were involved in (4)
I havent had a chance to see the filmsyet because Im feeding a child from my body, and that takes up allmytime, but I am aware of the reactions that various movies have had. I just think you gotta remember that no one sets out to make a bad movie and when people do, theyre aware of it.
You were surely aware of peoples reaction to your time in the spotlight during Oscar season when you won for Les Misrables (5). How do you look back on that?
I felt very uncomfortable. I kind of lostmy mind doing that movie and it hadnt come back yet. Then I had to stand up in front of people and feel something I dont feel which is uncomplicated happiness. Its an obvious thing, you win an Oscar and youre supposed to be happy. I didnt feel that way. I felt wrong that I was standing there in a gown that cost more than some people are going to see in their lifetime (6), and winning anaward for portraying pain that still felt very much a part of our collective experience as human beings. I tried topretend that Iwas happy and I got called out on it, big time. Thats the truth and thats what happened. Itsucks. But what you learn from it isthat you only feel like you can die from embarrassment, you dont actually die.
Did you ever have a plan B if this alldidnt work out?
I think I would probably have fourunturned chairs on The Voice. No,I think I would be a professional drunk. Or I would be a really inspiringcommunity leader. Oneortheother.
Footnotes
1) The backlash to the four female leads in the Ghostbusters reboot led to, among many things, a hate campaign aimed at star Leslie Jones that saw her getting hacked and cyber-bullied.
2) She gave birth to her son in March 2016.
3) Hathaway is set to star in The Shower, another offbeat B-movie, about a baby shower interrupted by an alien invasion.
4) Batman v Superman has a 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compared with 87% for The Dark Knight Rises, where Hathaway played Catwoman.
5) Hathaways demeanor and reaction to winning was criticised by many, leading to the term Hathahaters and Amy Schumer ridiculing her in Trainwreck.
6) Her Oscar dress cost $80,000 (65,000), and it was accompanied by a necklace that was worth $10m (8m).