Hathaway Broke Down’ on A24’s ‘Mother Mary’: ‘I Apologize Because I Think What’s Going to Come Out of Me Will Hurt You’
Oscar winner Anne Hathaway talked in a new Vogue cover story about the making of Mother Mary, David Lowery’ upcoming music drama.
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Co-starring Michaela Coel, the film stars Hathaway as pop diva who flees her tour during existential crisis and seeks out the old friend who helped craft her public persona.
Not much else is known about the movie, though Lowery said “it felt like shooting ‘Apocalypse Now.’”
“At one point Annie broke down: ‘I have to apologize, because I think what’s going to come out of me will hurt you.’ And Michaela took her hands and said, ‘I love you, I trust you,’ ”
Lowery remembered about shooting a climactic scene. “We were in various stages of that for about a week, shooting that scene.”
Mother Mary plot remains under wraps, though Hathaway signed up for vocal and dance training in order to transform into the title character.
“What struck me right away, reading the script, is that you can’t ‘perform’ Mother Mary,” Hathaway told Vogue. “If I got the part, I would have to become material David could craft with. … I had to submit to being a beginner. The humility of that — showing up every day knowing you’re going to suck. And it has to be okay. You’re not ‘bad.’ You’re just a beginner. Getting to that mindset — I had to shed some things that were hard to shed. It was welcome. But it was hard, the way transformational experiences can be hard.”
“Mother Mary” features original songs written by music heavyweights Jack Antonoff and Charli Xcx, but none of them were actually written before Hathaway started filming.
Hathaway has been recording songs with Antonoff while Lowery has been in post-production on the movie.
“It was so confusing,” the Oscar winner said. “I had to learn. Because if I’d had the music a year before we ever turned a camera on, I would have tattooed every note of it on my soul, and there would have been a whole process, very specific. That was not available to me. In the end, I am very grateful I could not take control.”
“Mother Mary” does not yet have a release date from A24.
