Society’s fascination with dark pop-star stories isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. On the heels of 2018’s Natalie Portman-starring Vox Lux, HBO and The Weeknd’s The Idol, and Donald Glover’s Beyoncé-stan skewering Swarm comes a new entry into the category: Mother Mary, starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel with original music from Charli xcx and Jack Antonoff. The buzzy A24 film sounds like an Internet fever dream, but it’s very real. Here’s everything we know about it so far:
What is the plot of Mother Mary?
The film stars Anne Hathaway in the titular role, a “Gaga-Taylor Swift hybrid,” according to Hathaway’s July Vogue cover story, who flees tour in the midst of a breakdown. She seeks out an old friend (Coel), a fashion designer who helped her craft her Mother Mary persona in the first place. The film comes from The Green Knight director David Lowery, and has been billed as an “epic pop melodrama.”
Also per Vogue, much of the film revolves around the making of a dress, and takes place in a barn, with Hathaway and Coel “hanging out.” Additionally, there are major concert sequences with Hathaway performing.
In November 2024, A24 shared a first look at Hathaway in the film, below:
Does Anne Hathaway sing in the film?
Absolutely. Hathaway dusted off her vocal cords (never forget she won an Oscar for her turn as Fantine in Les Misérables!) to record original music by Antonoff and Charli xcx. To prepare for the role, she took daily dance classes for nearly two years with choreographer Dani Vitale, plus intensive vocal training that made her realize her natural register is lower than the soprano she thought she was.
“I finally learned how to breathe,” Hathaway told Vogue of the singing lessons. “My body was so locked up—I literally couldn’t take a deep breath. I’d been trying to open that space for years and I thought it was physically impossible. All my breath, it was stuck….”
Who else is in the cast?
In addition to Coel and Hathaway, the cast includes Hunter Schafer as Mother Mary’s assistant, Kaia Gerber, Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay, Fleabag’s Sian Clifford, and FKA Twigs.
Along with her recent roles in age-gap rom-com The Idea of You and the gritty adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen, Hathaway is currently working on the highly anticipated Devil Wears Prada 2, which is in production.
Coel shot to fame following the release of her hit TV series, I May Destroy You, for which she became the first Black woman to win an Emmy for Outstanding Writing. She also starred in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Donald Glover’s 2024 remake of Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
When is the Mother Mary release date?
There’s no release date for the film yet; stay tuned for updates.
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