Actors, big and small alike are no strangers to method acting, and Anne Hathaway had her own experience with it during shooting for Interstellar. Although method acting sure has its perks, a lot of actors have been known to take it far enough for it to cause negative consequences.
From getting sick to being trapped in a dark mental state, method acting on its own comes with a warning. However, it is necessary in some places, according to actors who have implemented this method. As did Anne Hathaway while filming Interstellar, although she later realized that it might have impacted the people around her negatively.
Anne Hathaway tried method acting in Interstellar
Her role in the Oscar-winning movie was completely different from what she has done before in her career. As a scientist, she was not bound by overwhelming emotions like before, and this, she thought, might finally help her go beyond the performances she had made in her career till then. Anne Hathaway explained, “Once I understood who she was, then it became fun calibrating her. This time I gave myself permission to go a bit more method.”
However, this might not have been exactly comforting for her co-stars and crew members who were there with her all day. She added, “As a result, I was not my most fun—this is a character who has a deep social awkwardness. I felt bad for anyone who had to talk to me between takes.”
However, by the end of the movie, though, the character became a lot more receptive and kind after going through trials and had one of the most intriguing development arcs.
As Hathaway noted,
“From the beginning, she’s all theory, and that has made her arrogant. And during this journey, that ego is knocked flat on its behind. By the end, she’s reborn a humbler person, way more in tune with who she truly is, which is a scientist and a spiritualist.”
All of this combined brought the fans one of the most impactful characters they had ever witnessed from Anne Hathaway, which, obviously became a significant factor for the movie’s eventual Empire Awards win.
Anne Hathaway almost died filming Interstellar
Being one of the only girls among a star-studded cast, Anne Hathaway allegedly did not want to complain too much about the discomforts she was facing at that time. According to her, she did not want to be weakling and as a result, put too much pressure on herself. This ended up having an almost fatal consequence as she almost died from hypothermia. She recounted,
“I was wearing a suit that Kayakers wear, called a dry suit. And human error, we didn’t close it all the way. And you’re in the suit for hours and hours and hours, so there was about an inch opening in it, and I’m sitting in the water, which is not very warm.”
Add to that, they have been shooting relentlessly in the elements, and although, she noted, “it’s not like I was the only one in pain. I was just the only one in specific pain, and I didn’t want to hold up shooting.” And so, she ended up acknowledging that she might need help, almost too late. She added,
“At some point, I wasn’t sure if I could feel my toes, and then I was feeling all sorts of weird flashes and things were getting a little hazy around the edges, and that’s when I turned to our first [assistant director], and I said, ‘Hey, I don’t know that much about hypothermia, but what are the symptoms?'”
Thankfully, the quick medical intervention after this saved her life, but it sure served as a lesson to never take her well-being lightly again.
Interstellar is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
Source: Deadline
