Anne Hathaway almost quit ‘Mother Mary’ after reviewing early footage
Anne Hathaway is partway through perhaps the busiest year of her career, but she’s still found time to doubt her own skill, admitting that early footage of Mother Mary made her want to quit the David Lowery movie for good.
The Oscar-winning actor admitted that she confided in her husband early in the project that she wanted to drop out, after seeing footage of her dancing to original songs written by Jack Antonoff, Charli XCX, and FKA twigs.
“This is really bad,” she admitted to thinking when she reviewed the initial footage. “I don’t know that I can ask people to come to see this,” she told Elle.
However, the The Devil Wears Prada star decided to keep pushing through the embarrassment: “I came to the conclusion that there would be no shame if I was fired, but there would be if I quit,” she recalled.
From there, Hathaway became proactive, taking dance lessons and working on her vocals with a professional coach for an entire year in the post-production phase of the film.
When returning to the studio with Bleachers musician Antonoff, she recalls the difference he saw in her after the extra lessons: “He whipped his head at me goes, ‘You have been working,’” said Hathaway.
The Lowery movie follows Hathaway, who plays the titular popstar, as she confronts an old friend and former costume designer, played by Michaela Coel, before her all-important comeback performance.
Elsewhere, Hathaway reflected on the collaboration with Antonoff, sharing that he was critical, though encouraging, of her abilities.
“He just kept giving me notes,” she previously revealed. “We would go in and record, and then I would get to go meditate on what it was that Jack was talking about, slowly inch by inch, year by year, we got closer until finally the music’s what you listen to.”
In a glowing four-and-a-half-star review of the complex tale, Far Out observed, “Mother Mary is still a visceral, exciting sequence that it is impossible to look away from. It’s rare that there’s a piece of filmmaking that feels completely distinct from its influences and genuinely takes the form of something unprecedented.”
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