Anne Hathaway Stuns At ‘Mother Mary’ Premiere

Taking a break from her Prada-inspired global publicity tour, Anne Hathaway arrived at the “Mother Mary” premiere at the Metrograph theater in downtown Manhattan on April 13 in a mesh Lever Couture gown alongside her sunglasses-clad husband Adam Shulman, who looked on with pride.

The event marked just one of many high-profile appearances on deck for the in-demand Oscar winner. Her gothic melodrama by writer-director David Lowrey is the first of a pentad of films the actress will be releasing in theaters this year, along with Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and the highly anticipated sequel to a certain beloved 2005 fashion-comedy.

“I think five is maybe too much already, let’s save the sixth for 2027,” Hathaway joked of her jam-packed slate.

Lowrey described his genre-splintered film as “not a ghost story” and “not a love story,” though occupies some limbo space between the fictional pop star Mother Mary (Hathaway) and her fashion designer Sam, embodied by Micaela Coel, who reconnect when Mother Mary needs a showstopping outfit for her comeback tour.

“I felt like this is the kind of script I wish I wrote,” Coel told Access Hollywood about the surrealistic horror, “And I don’t often get that feeling.”

What followed was a series of hour-long meetings between Coel and Lowrey where they exhumed and consumed the script in all its esoteric parts, discussing quantum mechanics, communication, and the human mind, “we went in.”

Coel wasn’t sure if she was right for the part at first, though in hindsight the role fit her like a tailored corset. Not only has the British auteur become known for her singular style but her mother, who attended the screening with Coel, is a seamstress. Coel has worn some of her mother’s own creations to the BAFTAs and Olivier Awards back in 2021 and even designed a costume for Coel’s series “Chewing Gum.”  Beyond her genes, Coel studied the work of Alexander McQueen, and her let her research take her on a grand fashion tour of Europe, from the Schiaparelli Atelier in Paris to Germany, where the film’s costume designer Bina Daigeler (“Tár,” “Volver”) is based.

“I did a day in Berlin and I was taught how to drape,” she explained.

Coel was also quick to reiterate the short time span, adding, “It wasn’t much of a boot camp, unlike Anne’s boot camp through singing and dancing.”

Hathaway immersed herself into pop star “boot camp,” re-training her voice (the New York-native is an accomplished mezzo-soprano) and intense dance-lessons by famed choreographer Dani Vitale, who created trance-like movements that Hathaway practiced until her legs went numb. Pulling from Taylor Swift’s “reputation” era, Lowrey tasked the actress with finding her own version of a modern icon. Hathaway then analyzed the alluring presence of the pop greats – think Swift, Lady Gaga, or FKA twigs and Charli XCX, who both wrote original music for the film. Twigs also has a supporting role as Imogen, a woman who takes Mother Mary on a spiritual journey, complete with a mind-soul-and-body-bending Krumping performance.

“There is something that’s underneath it all some kind of like pop star beast-dom and so I wanted to study them all to see if I could pick out what it was,” Hathaway said of her approach.

And what she found was confidence.

“Genuinely [pop stars] just have this crazy self-belief they genuinely love the idea of writing something and performing it for tens of thousands of people and it’s just this special gear that very few people have that I do not have,” she said, breaking into a laugh. “I was happy to do it in a movie, and now it’s done.”

Hathaway as Mother Mary’s synth-pop track “Burial,” the first of seven original songs she sings for the film, is available now for streaming. As her for her burgeoning pop career, the 43-year-old asserted this will be the end. For now, at least.

Co-starring Hunter Schafer and Alba Baptista, “Mother Mary” is in select theaters on April 17 and nationwide on April 24.