Anne Hathaway is opening up about her emotional reaction to the screening of The Idea of You earlier this year at SXSW.
At the red carpet in New York on Monday, the star reflected on the screening that took place in March.
At the time, Hathaway was in tears after the screening and admitted to the crowd, “You have no idea the gift that you’ve just given us with your responsiveness, by being so connected to every little nuance in this. I will never forget this screening.”
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in New York, Hathaway admitted that the event was special for many reasons being that “this is one of my first streaming movies and so I just knew how special it was to get to see it with an audience, because that wouldn’t be the path that this movie was going to take.”
But another reason, the star continued, was that “I was in a film when I was 17 years old called The Princess Diaries — it came out when I was 18 — and the premiere of the movie felt so much like the premiere for this one. When I was 18 years old, it was my first premiere so I just thought that was the way it works, and it can go so well but that level of just instant audience love and embracing of it and feeling, I don’t know, that audience satisfaction, you don’t get that every single time. Sometimes movies are darker, sometimes movies are more challenging.”
“This one, we really made it for everyone and to just feel everyone love it, I hadn’t had that feeling quite in that same way since The Princess Diaries,” she added. “And now I’m 41 and I know how to appreciate it.”
In the latest film for the star, the Devil Wears Prada star is seen as a 40-year-old single mother named Solène. Viewers see the actress fall in a romance with a 24-year-old pop star Hayes Campbell, played by Nicholas Galitzine.
ADVERTISEMENT
Galitzine recalled how in their audition, Hathaway “was so open and so playful and that’s what I love about acting, that sense of play and collaboration. It is rare that you get that in the audition process. And to have someone who is such an amazing, incredible, huge star like Annie really open themselves up to you, it was very humbling.”
He also reflected on his time at a “boy band bootcamp” to prepare to play the lead singer in the band August Moon, joking, “They locked me in a room for hours and they just forced me to dance over and over and over again until I just engrained it.” He credited choreographer Danny Vitale for helping him “ground my body as sort of a dancer, in a way. I’m not a dancer by trade, I was an athlete and I think getting rid of a lot of that rigidity was a very important thing and really just being able to own a stage and sort of command a bit of a presence, I think.”
In a conversation with What’s Trending, director Michael Showalter reflected on the two stars and their work ethic for the film.
“I love Anne, I’ve wanted to work with Anne for a long time and loved this premise.”
He went on to add, “Obviously Nick and Anne are two characters that are having a major love affair, so they are kind of kissing a lot and that kind of thing. But it never really felt weird. It always felt like work. They are both very professional but we tried to have fun.”
The production took place in Atlanta, Georgia with the team recreating major concerts and areas from around the world. From driving around to Glendale to even capturing concerts like Coachella, the team was able to do it all one state alone.
ADVERTISEMENT
Showalter went on to admit, “It’s one of those things where you don’t feel the magic until you are editing it.” He also noted, “When you start to slow everything down and live with the performances you start to see some really magical moments.”
The Idea of You starts streaming Thursday on Prime Video.
