Anne Hathaway is back on the big screen this weekend in The Devil Wears Prada 2, and it comes not too long after the release of A24’s Mother Mary, with the two films contributing to a big year for the actress, who has three more movies to come out in the coming months.
It’s great to see Hathaway booked and busy, as she has been one of the most consistent actresses to work in the business, and it’s refreshing that she got through that silly rough patch when the public didn’t seem to like her for no good reason. Hathaway has successfully found a lane where she appears in the occasional prestige project but doesn’t seem pretentious about having fun in tentpole releases and easy-to-digest rom-coms.
At the end of the day, this is an actress who has won an Academy Award (with one other nomination), a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award, and she deserves her flowers. So let’s give them to her by taking a look back at her five best performances ever.
Honorable Mention: Dr. Amelia Brand in Interstellar (2014)
Performances in Christopher Nolan movies don’t always take center stage. Still, Hathaway provides a solid emotional anchor in Interstellar as Dr. Amelia Brand, able to portray a scientist driven by her mission, while also allowing her humanity to shine through regarding her thoughts about love being a tangible force that is stronger than time or space, which plays a significant role in Joseph “Coop” Cooper’s (Matthew McConaughey) arc while also shaping who Amelia is at her core.
Co-written by Nolan with his brother Jonathan, Interstellar is set in a dystopian future where Earth is suffering from intense famine and blight, and follows a group of astronauts traveling through space in search of a new home for the rest of humanity. McConaughey rightfully gets the film’s best emotional moment and is never at risk of the story not completely focusing on his journey throughout, but Hathaway gives intellectual authority to her role while also accessing a sense of vulnerability in her dedication to science.
It’s not just driven by the scientific concepts that she has an immense knowledge of, but it’s also motivated by her love for it. Hathaway reportedly was hugely dedicated to this role and engaged fully in the film’s themes. Perhaps she had a lot to prove to Nolan because she stated, following working with him inThe Dark Knight Rises, the director hired her for Interstellar when she believed her career could be over following unwarranted online backlash against her character. Interstellar is an epic science fiction endeavor, but Hathaway isn’t overshadowed by the scope presented around her.
5. Selina Kyle/Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises (2010)
Hathaway joined a long line of women who portrayed Catwoman in the Batman universe and what a daunting task when Michelle Pfeiffer’s 1992 take in Batman Returns is still viewed as one of the best but she more than held her own in The Dark Knight Rises, bringing sex appeal, sharp wit and a surprising physicality to the role that actually makes her one of the best to portray DC Comics’ most popular femme fatale.
Directed by Christopher Nolan from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan, The Dark Knight Rises is set eight years after The Dark Knight and follows a retired Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale) donning his cape and cowl once again to protect Gotham City from a terroist named Bane (Tom Hardy), who is hell bent on seeing the city collapse in a cloud of nuclear destruction. Hathaway is in the mix as professional cat burglar Selina Kyle, also known as “The Cat,” who crosses paths with Wayne and Batman in hopes of obtaining the “clean slate,” a program rumored to erase someone’s criminal history.
Hathaway made the wise choice of not imitating any of the women who came before her in the role, which allowed her to put more of a Nolan spin on the character. Her version of the character feels more grounded in reality, much like the rest of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, but she conveys Selina’s signature character traits of being strategic, confident, and morally complex with the greatest of ease. Also of significance is Hathaway’s chemistry with Bale, which softens his character a bit in a film where his somberness tends to take center stage. The Dark Knight Rises has a stacked ensemble, and it would be easy for Hathaway to get lost in the shuffle, but whenever she’s on screen, she completely commands it.
4. Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Hathaway put her wide-eyed sweetness to great use in The Devil Wears Prada, making the audience relate to her Andy Sachs feeling like an outsider in the world of high fashion before successfully charting a believable character transformation as she becomes more confident in her role at Runway.
Directed by David Frankel from a screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna, The Devil Wears Prada is based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger and follows Andy Sachs (Hathaway), an aspiring journalist who finds herself to be a fish out of water when she lands a job at fashion magazine and under the domineering personality of her demanding editor, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). Streep rightfully earned an Oscar nomination for her role, and Emily Blunt’s assistant is known for stealing the show, but none of the film would work without Hathaway’s innate likability as Andy.
She’s the heart of the movie, and it’s her journey that the audience latches onto as she goes from bumbling newcomer to believable professional without losing her integrity. Sure, the sacrifices she makes for her job that get in the way of her relationship with Nate (Adrien Grenier) could be viewed as compromising, but real fans know he’s the actual villain of the movie. All jokes aside, Hathaway more than holds her own, particularly alongside a commanding Streep, and her performance becomes more impressive when you learn that she was the studio’s ninth choice for the role. Hathaway’s journey practically mirrored Andy’s, making her the right choice in the end because she did everything she needed to prove that she was meant to be a part of the film that has gone on to become a comedic classic.
3. Maggie Murdock inLove & Other Drugs (2010)
Because the film received mixed reviews upon release, it seems like Hathaway’s performance in the romantic comedy drama Love & Other Drugs is often overlooked, but she gives one of her best turns as a young woman with early-onset Parkinson’s disease that is honest and emotionally vulnerable. Directed by Edward Zwick from a screenplay he co-wrote with Charles Randolph and Marshall Herskovitz, Love & Other Drugs is based on James Reidy’s 2005 non-fiction book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman.
In the film, a medicine peddler and womanizer in the ’90s named Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) begins a relationship with Maggie Murdock (Hathaway), a young woman suffering from early-onset Parkinson’s disease. Hathaway’s choices are key here as she portrays Maggie as someone who is fiercely independent and someone who doesn’t want to be a victim of her disease. The fear of how it’s consuming her is there, something she showcases through raw vulnerability, but it’s Hathaway’s fiery personality in the role that makes Maggie a memorable character.
All the emotions one would face with her condition, most notably the insecurity of sharing it and the anger of being inflicted with it, are wonderfully brought to life by Hathaway, and it’s balanced with a palpable chemistry with Gyllenhaal that gives a realistic portrayal of a relationship that begins as something physical but becomes something so much more. Some believe that a lot was missing with the film due to the film’s marketing focusing more on the intense romantic and intimate scenes and playing them for comedy, but when given a shot, Love & Other Drugs is refreshing because of its willingness to put an adult relationship on display with all the ups and downs. Also, some might forget, Hathaway earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, alongside Gyllenhaal, for her role, which is a nice little bow on a memorable performance.
2. Kym Buchman in Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Even though Hathaway tried to break away from her more good girl persona in 2005’s Havoc (who could forget her rapping 2Pac’s “How Do U Want It”) she did so, with more credibility and acclaim, leading to her first Academy Award nomination. Directed by Jonathan Demme from a screenplay by Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married follows Kym Buchman (Hathaway), a young woman who is temporarily released from rehab to return home for her sister’s wedding.
Hathaway went for broke in Rachel Getting Married, portraying a narcissistic drug addict who is also dealing with trauma and guilt that has sent her on a very self-destructive path. The character is complex and could be viewed as unlikable, but Hathway brings real nuance to the role and makes it clear that Kym’s addiction and problems are rooted in a place of internal turmoil. Some of the best performances are when actors strip away every part of themselves that feels familiar and Hathaway does just as we watch her go through emotional breakdowns due to her drug use and the dysfunction within her family while also tracking a road to redemption as she tries to get on the road to recovery. Hathaway earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance and it was much deserved as Rachel Getting Married signaled an actress fully embracing a transition to more complex and adult roles.
1. Fantine in Les Misérables (2012)
Proving how important a big and poignant moment in a film can be, Hathaway bared her complete soul as Fantine in LesMisérables, leading to her Best Supporting Actress Academy Award win. Directed by Tom Hooper from a screenplay by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg , and Herbert Kretzmer, Les Misérables is based on the stage musical of the same name, which itself was based on the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.
The film is set in France during the early nineteenth century and follows Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), who has been hunted for decades by policeman Javert (Russell Crowe) after breaking parole. Despite this, he agrees to care for Fantine’s (Hathaway) illegitimate daughter, Cosette (Amanda Seyfried), while being pursued by Javert. Hathaway is 100 percent dedicated to the role of Fantine, a woman who resorts to prostitution after losing her factory worker job. The actress made the choice to have her real hair cut on screen for when Fantine becomes a prostitute, and it’s during her performance of “I Dreamed a Dream,” which was performed live, that Hathaway’s emotionally intense portrayal hits a fever pitch.
It’s a gut-wrenching scene that resonates long after it’s over and proves her commitment to the role, which also saw her lose 25 pounds. It all helped Hathaway earn her much-deserved Oscar, and it’s obvious that the actress wanted to bring truth to Fantine that isn’t completely polished in the best way. All of Fantine’s misery and pain are on display, and that’s because Hathaway was connected to the role’s emotional intensity, which makes it her best.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 hits screens nationwide this Friday.
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