Anne Hathaway credits Christopher Nolan with saving her acting career.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the actress opened up about how, in 2013, the public suddenly turned against her, shortly after she co-hosted the Oscars with James Franco and won an Academy Award that year for her role in Les Misérables.
Hathaway specifically recalled googling herself after the awards show to see an article titled, “Why Does Everyone Hate Anne Hathaway?”
The amount of torment she received on the internet almost ruined her—but Nolan became her saving grace.
“A lot of people wouldn’t give me roles because they were so concerned about how toxic my identity had become online,” Hathaway said in the new cover story. “I had an angel in Christopher Nolan, who did not care about that and gave me one of the most beautiful roles I’ve had in one of the best films that I’ve been a part of.”
The role she’s referencing is the director’s 2014 film, Interstellar, where Hathaway played Dr. Amelia Brand, a NASA scientist and astronaut. That wasn’t the first time she and Nolan worked together, as she appeared in the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises as Selina Kyle/Catwoman.
“I don’t know if he knew that he was backing me at the time, but it had that effect,” Hathaway added. “And my career did not lose momentum the way it could have if he hadn’t backed me.”
Hathaway's career was suddenly back on track, thanks to high profile roles in films like 2015’s The Intern, 2016’s Alice Through the Looking Glass, 2018’s Ocean’s 8, and 2019’s The Hustle.
“Humiliation is such a rough thing to go through,” Hathaway continued. “The key is to not let it close you down. You have to stay bold, and it can be hard because you’re like, ‘If I stay safe, if I hug the middle, if I don’t draw too much attention to myself, it won’t hurt.’"
