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, “That’s 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?

I’m glad that you used the word “toxic”, because it’s very important to say that it’s very different from male energy. Male energy is beautiful. Male energy is welcome. Male energy is necessary. Male energy is half the reason why we’re here. That said, there has been a perversion of the beauty of male energy into this macho ideal that I don’t 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 didn’t think that was cool. In terms of my new movie, what our director was saying was that he thinks this energy really has no place in our world any more.

The movie jumps forward 25 years after its opening – so where do you see yourself in 25 years?

Underwater? No, I’m just going to be staring in awe at my son (2) . I’m a mum for the rest of my life.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Watch Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis and director Nacho Vigalondo discuss Colossal.

The film also feels like a response to the homogenised nature of blockbusters, taking the tropes we know and subverting them. Are you sick of seeing the same kind of film do well again and again, and would you say that Colossal is kind of a middle finger up to those blockbusters?

Wouldn’t that be great if I did? For you?

Can’t you just say that and I can use it as a quote?

Ha ha ha! No. But you’re right that things are not working in the way that people want them to and there’s a need to reassess. I don’t take it personally when bad movies get made. It takes so much work to make anything. I don’t know where it’s going to lead to, and I don’t know if this movie is going to have an impact. I’d like to think it might empower people to take risks (3) , but I don’t think we need to diminish one in order to celebrate the other.

What do you think about the new DC universe? Because it has not been as well-received as the one that you were involved in (4) …

I haven’t had a chance to see the films yet because I’m feeding a child from my body, and that takes up all my time, 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, they’re aware of it.

You were surely aware of people’s reaction to your time in the spotlight during Oscar season when you won for Les Misérables (5) . How do you look back on that?

I felt very uncomfortable. I kind of lost my mind doing that movie and it hadn’t come back yet. Then I had to stand up in front of people and feel something I don’t feel which is uncomplicated happiness. It’s an obvious thing, you win an Oscar and you’re supposed to be happy. I didn’t 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 an award for portraying pain that still felt very much a part of our collective experience as human beings. I tried to pretend that I was happy and I got called out on it, big time. That’s the truth and that’s what happened. It sucks. But what you learn from it is that you only feel like you can die from embarrassment, you don’t actually die.

Did you ever have a plan B if this all didn’t work out?

I think I would probably have four unturned chairs on The Voice. No, I think I would be a professional drunk. Or I would be a really inspiring community leader. One or the other.

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) Hathaway’s 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).