“No one saw it”: Anne Hathaway names the most overlooked movie of her career
Given the fact that Anne Hathaway has gone from success to success since her breakthrough role as Mia in The Princess Diaries when she was 19, you would presume there are very few films of hers that go unseen.
But then you might not actually realise how prolific she’s been, because along with her best-known roles in movies like The Devil Wears Prada, Interstellar, Les Misérables and Eileen, she’s starred in 39 films with five on the way this year alone. So there’s sure to be a few we’ve all missed.
Still, it might surprise you to find out she starred in a small-budget indie film called Colossal in 2016, which was sandwiched between Tim Burton’s Alice Through The Looking Glass and the all-woman Ocean’s sequel, Ocean’s 8, so it’s not shocking that this genre-hopping indie project flew under the radar. What might surprise you even more is that Colossal is a kaiju film, AKA a Japanese-style giant monster film à la Godzilla, and better yet, she was also the giant monster, or well, kind of.
Written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo, Colossal follows Hathaway as Gloria, an unemployed, alcohol-dependent writer who accidentally manifests as a giant reptilian monster in Seoul, but despite this outrageous concept and the opportunity to see the actor play a somewhat down-and-out character, the film was a box office flop.
However, the movie holds a special place in her heart, stating as much in a recent Instagram post announcing its launch on Netflix: “It is both one of my favourite movies I have ever been in and one of the best times I’ve ever had on set”.
More than this, Hathaway has spoken before about the film pulling her out of a creative slump, when creative and interesting projects weren’t coming her way. After watching Ben Wheatley’s A Field in England, she was so inspired that she asked her agent for scripts in a similar, weird, surreal vein, and lo and behold, along came Colossal.
Thankfully, it underperforming at the box office doesn’t seem to have shattered the actor’s love of the film, who even poked fun at its failure at the box office. “When it arrived in theatres in 2017, it shattered box office records and became the shining hope of all low-budget indies that if you stick to your guns, you can make it big and transcend it all,” she stated sarcastically, before adding, “Jk, no one saw it.”
Regardless, she’s hopeful that 2026 could be the film’s year with a new audience waiting on the streaming platform. It’s certainly Hathaway’s year with the much-anticipated The Devil Wears Prada 2 opening in cinemas in May, so perhaps everybody’s interest in the actor will lead them to this little indie gem.
For what it’s worth, the film was well received by critics at the time, so maybe it will find the right audience to appreciate it this time around.
