From a Parisian destitute to a Genovian princess, there is no role this woman can’t play.
When Anne Hathaway first appeared to the world as Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries, it was clear from the start that she had a promising career ahead of her. And this promise was indeed fulfilled: in the following years, she would come to star in a variety of films that go from independent dramas to big Hollywood musicals to outlandish monster flicks about alcoholism and abuse.
Her most recent role has been in James Gray’s Armageddon Time, in which she plays a struggling mother trying to raise her son amidst the political and economical chaos of the Reagan years. In 2023, she’s also set to star in Eileen, a thriller about two women that become close while working at a prison facility. Her role is that of the glamorous Rebecca, with whom the titular Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) becomes infatuated. While we wait for this new movie to drop, here are our nine favorite performances by Hathaway, from astronaut to kaiju.
Dr. Amelia Brand in ‘Interstellar’ (2014)
Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is kind of a divisive film. Some consider it to be one of the greatest works of sci-fi in recent history, while others think of it as nothing more than an overrated melodrama. No matter which side you’re on, there are two things about Interstellar that you cannot deny: the visuals are amazing, and the actors are almost all at the top of their game.
As Dr. Amelia Brand, Hathaway delivers an emotional performance that gives the movie a lot of its heart. And whether you love or hate it, her speech about love as a transcendent force is definitely one of those scenes that define an entire film.
Jane Austen in ‘Becoming Jane’ (2007)
In the wake of Joe Wright’s beloved adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, that took our collective obsession with Jane Austen to a whole new level, Hathaway starred as Austen herself in this romantic biopic. Directed by Julian Jarrold, the film centers around the author’s romance with Irish politician Thomas Lefroy (James McAvoy).
Born with a countenance that makes her the perfect fit for any Austen romance, Hathaway makes this adorable, but unremarkable movie a delightful watch, infusing her character with the right doses of sense and sensibility – just like a good Jane Austen ought to be.
Esther Graff in ‘Armageddon Time’ (2022)
Directed by James Gray, Armageddon Time is an honest, tender coming-of-age drama based on the director’s own experiences growing up in Queens, in the first years of the Reagan administration. Played by relative newcomer Banks Repeta, Paul Graff stands in for Gray, a young Jewish boy that strikes a friendship with a Black classmate and learns the hard way about the inequalities of the world.
Anne Hathaway stars in the movie as Esther Graff, Paul’s strict, but caring mother. Portrayed with kindness and a deep sense of respect for the hardships faced by the character, Esther tries to teach her son to see the world through kind eyes, but eventually gets caught up in her own prejudices.
Andy Sachs in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (2006)
It’s much easier to recognize an actor’s talent when they make you cry than when they make you laugh. That’s one of the reasons why comedies have such a bad track record at awards. But that doesn’t make doing comedy an easy job. In The Devil Wears Prada, Hathaway puts her (Chanel) comedy boots on and takes us for a ride in what became one of the best dramedies of the first decade of the 2000s.
Andy Sachs is an aspiring writer that lands a job under the demanding fashion editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). Initially frustrated and overwhelmed, Andy decides to learn how to navigate the borderline abusive environment of Runway magazine. Devil was one of Hathaway’s first high-profile jobs after The Princess Diaries, and it is a wonder to watch how she holds her own in a cast full of big names such as Streep, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt.
Lureen in ‘Brokeback Mountain’ (2005)
It can be hard to judge or even properly remember the performances of supporting actors in films in which the main cast is so powerful that they take over the entire screen, as well as our hearts and minds. Such is the case of Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are such powerhouses in this film that we sometimes forget that there are other people in it. And, yet, Hathaway’s talent manages to shine through.
As Jack’s (Gyllenhaal) wife, Lureen, Hathaway is both cold and emotional. We hate her and understand her at the same time. She’s the perfect foe, for lack of a better word, for the tragic and painfully real love story of Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar (Ledger).
Mia Thermopolis in ‘The Princess Diaries’ (2001)
The film that started it all. Based on the Meg Cabot novel of the same name, Garry Marshall’s The Princess Diaries was the perfect first movie for a young Anne just getting her start in Hollywood. Naive, vivacious, curious, and with her eyes full of stars, protagonist Mia Thermopolis seemed cookie-cut for Hathaway, who played her in a way that made character and actress almost indissociable from one another.
As a young girl who finds out that she is the secret heir to the throne of a fictional European kingdom, Anne Hathaway is charming and preposterously funny. From the get-go, it was clear that she was a good fit for comedies. And her chemistry with co-stars Julie Andrews, Heather Matarazzo, and Hector Elizondo? *Chef’s kiss*
Fantine in ‘Les Misérables (2012)
Look, let’s get one thing out of the way: there were a lot of wrong casting choices in 2012’s Les Misérables. And director Tom Hooper’s decision to have actors with little to no musical training singing live on set didn’t make anyone’s life easier. Just ask poor Russell Crowe. But that doesn’t mean that the film version of Les Mis is made entirely of mistakes.
Anne Hathaway, for instance, is the perfect choice for Fantine, the walking, talking representation of all the horrors of poverty in 19th century France. Her powerful performance was widely acclaimed and earned her the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Her rendition of the showstopper “I Dreamed a Dream” might not pitch perfect, but that only makes it more heartbreaking.
Kym in ‘Rachel Getting Married’ (2008)
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While, in 2013, Hathaway took home the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, in 2009, she got just the nod in the Leading category for her role in Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married. In this soul-crushing, yet oddly funny film about family and substance abuse, Hathaway plays Kym, a young woman returning home to her sister’s wedding after being in and out of rehab for almost a decade.
It’s not an easy character to play, and a lesser actress could have gotten it all wrong, making Kym into either a pathetic buffoon or an overacted trainwreck. Hathaway, however, manages to find the sweet spot between the tragic and the comic, making Kym a lifelike character with whom we can all identify, even at her worst.
Gloria in ‘Colossal’ (2016)
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: one of Anne Hathaway’s greatest roles was in a movie that turned her into a kaiju. Actually, if I may be so bold, this is Hathaway’s greatest job so far, period. Colossal is a movie about depression, alcoholism, and abuse. It’s also a movie about a giant monster and an equally huge robot fighting over the Korean capital of Seoul. Its outrageous premise – a woman finds out that she is connected to a kaiju that has been causing death and destruction on the other side of the world – is quickly bought by Hathaway, who then sells it to us with equal measures of talent and skill.
Her Gloria is such a sad, human character that we can’t help but accept her story as anything but real, no matter how outlandish it sounds. It’s a performance that, much like Rachel’s Kym, could’ve easily gone wrong in the hands of a less skillful actress. But, as usual, Hathaway finds the perfect balance between tragedy and humor, between the real and the absurd. Colossal is her movie from start to finish, and it could never have been anyone else’s.
