Princess Diaries star Anne Hathaway broke down on the set of her forthcoming project Mother Mary due to an intense scene with Michaela Coel, according to director David Lowery.
Hathaway, 42, leads the independent drama as a pop diva who flees her tour after suffering an existential crisis. She seeks out her old friend, a fashion designer who helped co-create her public persona – played by Coel, the creator and star of I May Destroy You.
Speaking to Vogue, Lowery said the production, which took place in a 13th-century barn near Bonn, Germany, for multiple months, felt like shooting Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 war epic Apocalypse Now.
“At one point Annie broke down and said, ‘I had to apologise because I think what’s going to come out of me will hurt you,’” Lowery said. “And Michaela took her hands and said, ‘I love you, I trust you.’
“We were in various stages of that for about a week, shooting that scene,” he added.
Coel said that Lowery’s writing is “so vivid” that she and Hathaway were “forced into an intensity” that they could only escape by going out to dance in Cologne’s nearby techno clubs.
The Chewing Gum star added that the work Hathaway had done for the film was “brave” and “scary” and required “gallons and tons” of strength to complete.
Mother Mary’s plot specifics have remained largely under wraps; however, Hathaway did sign up for vocal coaching and dance lessons to prepare for role of the title character.
“I had to submit to being a beginner,” Hathaway said. “Getting to that mindset – I had to shed some things that were hard to shed. It was welcome. But it was hard, the way transformational experiences can be hard.”
The film features original songs by heavyweight record producer Jack Antonoff, as well as music by Brat star Charli XCX.
Hathaway has been recording tracks with Antonoff while Lowery has been in post-production on the film, which doesn’t yet have a confirmed release date.
