Anne Hathaway was the cover star of a recent issue of Porter Magazine (net-a-porter’s in-house online mag), all to promote Eileen, the film adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel. You can see the trailer for Eileen here – it genuinely looks amazing and it feels like Anne could possibly be an awards-season contender. Anne is in her 40s and she’s years past the “Hathahate” era, yet she learned a lot from that era and she still chooses her words carefully and you can tell that she’s still quite guarded with how she presents herself. Or maybe this was just kind of a blah interview! Some highlights:
She was scared of making wrong moves for a long time: “I feel like I lived in a space for a really long time where I was so afraid of doing it wrong and so tightly connected to the idea of doing it right. It makes not a damn bit of difference if you do it right or wrong. The point is, are you having a good time? Do you feel like yourself? And is it working with you?”
The love she still gets for The Devil Wears Prada & other faves: “It is such a sweet feeling to know that you’re kind of woven into someone’s life. I can’t describe the honor of knowing that I’m involved in the moments where people need comfort. It makes me really excited that my journey as a performer has connected with people. I love [when] projects have a life beyond their initial release.”
Her family life: “It’s something I feel is not just essential for my health – I’m on a team, it’s my family, and it’s not just about me,” explains Hathaway, who lives in New York with her husband, actor-turned-jewelry designer Adam Shulman, and their two young sons. “My family has needs, and one of the needs of children is that they need to be able to define their own lives. It doesn’t even occur to me to link the two up, except through gratitude that they serve each other so beautifully. But they serve each other through me, and not through a space that’s outside of myself.”
Being a working actress in her 40s: “There’s really good seasoning on the pan in a lot of the relationships in my life, and I feel like I’m still growing,” she says. But, as established as she is, nothing is taken for granted. More than once, she mentions how grateful she is to “be invited back to the table” and have the chance to take new risks. “When I started out [in this industry] as a child, I was warned that my career would fall off a cliff at the age of 35, which is something I know a lot of women face. The thing that has evolved during [that time] is that more women are having careers deeper into their lives, which I think is fantastic. Obviously, it doesn’t mean we should have a ticker tape parade – someone said this to me the other day: ‘There’s so much to be proud of and there’s so much to fix.’”
Prioritizing sincerity over humor: “Being funny feels riskier than being sincere, because I think my sense of humor is different to what people think my sense of humor is going to be; I think it’s easily misunderstood, and sharper. Part of the reason I feel an extra pressure to make sure I’m very clear about what I say, and how I say it, is because I trust the sincerity. Also, the world has so many spiky things in it – do I really need to throw a barb out there? I don’t think so. I would much rather put my sweetness out, and lead with that.”
“Being funny feels riskier than being sincere” is it though? Maybe for Anne, but in general, people use humor to deflect, to avoid sincerity, to mask their pain. Sincerity is a risky business! But it’s interesting that she thinks she has a sharper, more prickly sense of humor. Maybe she’s right and people will take that sarcasm as anger or whatever. And I really love the projects Anne has chosen in recent years – I don’t know which scripts she’s getting and what she’s turning down, but she’s become such an exciting actress.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, cover courtesy of Porter’s IG.
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