[IMG:L]Electrically pale Anne Hathaway enters the room, igniting it with her brand of snap-crackle-meets-dead-pan humor. Within two minutes, she admits to her memory flaw.
“We could have a conversation … I could remember everything, but I couldn’t remember your name. [Yet] I’d go up to you and say, “How is your third rib doing? Last time we were here it was cracked. That was five years ago.”
Well, you should have no problem remembering her name–especially after her combustible breakthrough performance in Jonathan Demme’s latest critical gem, Rachel Getting Married. And especially around Oscar nom time.
Striking not cute, edgy not sarcastic, Hathaway talks about blame, addiction, love and Oscar buzz and her career-changing role as the disastrously honest Kym, a recovering addict with a troubled past who’s just about to crash … um, attend …her sister Rachel’s pending nuptials.
KEEP READING: She has friends like that?!
Photo(s) © 2008 – Sony Pictures Classics- All Rights Reserved
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Kym was a self-absorbed mess. Did she base the character on someone she knows?
“I definitely could draw similarities between her and people I’ve known. [Laughs] And yes, I did tell ‘them.’ The fact of the matter is, the people I’m friends with would get along with someone like Kym. I’d get along with someone like Kym. For my group of friends, it’s a compliment. For some other people, it might not be.”
KEEP READING: Why it’s like Brokeback Mountain
Photo(s) © 2008 – Sony Pictures Classics- All Rights Reserved
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What, she didn’t want to play Rachel … the title role?!
“Not to sound just like a ‘b.s.’ actor, but I knew the part of Kym was right, just knew like when I read Brokeback Mountain. I just got her … her whole emotional make up was so logically laid out. That really appeals to me. Once I understand something, I understand it for life.”
What is it, exactly that she understood?
“There’s a saying in recovery that you stop emotionally maturing when you start using. So Kym started when she was around 12 or 13, and she’s not very advanced in how she handles stress and anxiety. But I think her soul is very evolved and very mature … There is this girl who is struggling so much at the fine points in life, who is getting so many things right but never gets credit for it because of this horrible baggage that she has that she will have forever — so long as she has a family.”
KEEP READING: Baggage, baggage, baggage
Photo(s) by Special to Hollywood.com – © 2005 – Focus Features- All Rights Reserved
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What is it, exactly that she understood?
“There’s a saying in recovery that you stop emotionally maturing when you start using. So Kym started when she was around 12 or 13, and she’s not very advanced in how she handles stress and anxiety. But I think her soul is very evolved and very mature … There is this girl who is struggling so much at the fine points in life, who is getting so many things right but never gets credit for it because of this horrible baggage that she has that she will have forever — so long as she has a family.”
KEEP READING: Buzzzzzzz
Photo(s) © 2008 – Sony Pictures Classics- All Rights Reserved
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And how is she processing all of this Oscar buzz?
“I’m not going to lie, it’s a huge compliment. I’ve never done work that’s been considered on this level, or in this grouping before. So, that’s thrilling … I’ve [already] seen ‘For Your Consideration’ [on the movie ads] and absolutely adored it. If people are still saying this at the end of December, then, you know what, yeah — I’m going to be thinking about it a lot.”
Photo(s) © 2008 – Sony Pictures Classics- All Rights Reserved
