Anne Hathaway, an actress with many talents, recently claimed that a $17 million movie role was more significant to her career than her role as Catwoman in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. Hathaway discussed the role that changed the course of her career in an exclusive interview with Elle magazine.
This was the actress’ first chance to play a role that required her to draw on her full range of emotional intelligence, and she took full advantage of it. To the extent that she moved away from the cute and trendy roles she had previously played, this established her as a “real actress.” Hathaway’s career took a major turn with this added layer of complexity, opening doors to critical acclaim and a wide range of roles.
The Impact of Anne Hathaway’s Rachel Getting Married
Anne Hathaway told Elle that director Jonathan Demme’s example in the film Rachel Getting Married inspired her to be the kind of person and artist she is today. The film’s leading role allowed her to explore the range of human emotion by giving her a complex and nuanced character to play.
“The role that changed everything, above all, was Rachel Getting Married. In my life and my career. Because [director] Jonathan Demme showed me the type of person that that I wanted to be, the type of artist that I wanted to be, and the type of life that I wanted to build. I hadn’t really had clarity on that before. And that part—I’d never played a lead like that.”
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This was a turning point in Hathaway’s career because it allowed her to move away from the traditionally cute roles for which she had become known. It was a watershed moment that solidified her commitment to acting seriously.
“It was my first time playing someone complicated, where I got to bring my fullest understanding of compassion to playing someone who’s really tricky. I found that’s actually my favorite type of role to play: somebody who other people have kind of given up on, and then I get to love them and show them to the world. I’d been a sweet actress. I’d been a cute actress. I’d been a fashionable actress. But suddenly, I was a real actress.”
Hathaway had a history of playing stereotypically cute, trendy, or lovable characters before Rachel Getting Married. While those parts highlighted her abilities, they also confined her acting range. However, Hathaway ventured into uncharted territory with Rachel Getting Married, playing a character others had given up on.
The Devil Wears Prada star admitted that portraying complex roles where she could share her enthusiasm for the characters with the world had become her speciality. As a result, Hathaway no longer came across as a cookie-cutter actress and was free to experiment with a wider range of roles.
Catwoman: Iconic Role or Life-Changing Opportunity?
Anne Hathaway’s performance as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises was well-received by critics and helped establish her as an actress with range. Hathaway has been open about how her time filming Rachel Getting Married was the defining moment of her career.
While Catwoman demonstrated her aptitude for charismatic and physically demanding roles, the complexity of her character in Rachel Getting Married truly tested her acting chops. Looking back on her career, Hathaway said she missed many great moments because she was too preoccupied with stress and fear of failure.
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Nonetheless, after over twenty years in the business, Anne Hathaway has earned her place as one of Hollywood’s most admired actresses. The actress hopes to keep acting in projects with depth and play characters with nuance for as long as possible.
Source: Elle
