Hathaway: Ocean's 8 diva could've been her if she took fame seriously
Anne Hathaway says her scene-stealing character in Ocean's 8 isn't based on anyone she knows
A maître d' at a restaurant told Anne Hathaway that Sandra Bullock was doing a new Ocean's movie with an all-female cast. And the 35-year-old US actress remembered thinking it sounded like "the best job ever" because she loved the previous film trilogy helmed by Steven Soderbergh.
Then Ocean's 8 director Gary Ross called Hathaway and told her he had her in mind to play a Hollywood diva in the heist film, which is now showing here.
"She is awful," she said of her scene-stealing character Daphne Kluger at our interview at New York's Whitby Hotel.
"It was so much fun becoming someone who occupies a world I know so well, but hopefully isn't anything like me."
In Ocean's 8, a group of female thieves led by Debbie Ocean (Bullock) plan to steal a world-famous necklace which Kluger ends up wearing to the Met Gala.
When asked if Kluger was based on someone she knows, Hathaway laughed: "She's not.
"Daphne was based on an idea that I had about what would have happened if at the beginning of my career I had taken fame seriously and cared about myself more than other people.
"Of course, I've seen people behave badly. If you behave like that, you probably won't have a very long career because at a certain point people can choose who they work with, and most of the people who are at the top are lovely."
Hathaway has a real-life Met Gala story from 2014.
"The year I went with (fashion designer) Francisco Costa (from Calvin Klein), he made me the most beautiful two-piece dress. Just as I was arriving at the red carpet, I sneezed and the zipper broke.
"He was like, 'Are you ready?' and I was like, 'Well, so this just happened'. Francisco, who has a beautiful tan, went green. I've never actually seen a human being go green before. Anyway, we pulled over, we found a seamstress, she sewed me into the dress."
Hathaway has had many opportunities to wear expensive jewellery on red carpets.
"I think probably the (Tiffany & Co) necklace that I wore the year that I got the (Best Supporting Actress) Oscar for Les Miserables (in 2013) was probably the most expensive piece of jewellery that I ever wore and they were very kind.
"They let me wear it backwards because I thought it looked better that way," she said with a laugh.
She didn't get to keep it, unfortunately.
"I don't know what world you think we live in, but as soon as I step out of this room they take everything back. I'll be lucky to wear my dress until I get up to my room."
Hathaway had given birth to her first child six months before Ocean's 8 started, and mother-of-two Bullock sent her a welcome text: "I know you're a new momma and I just want to let you know this is a family-friendly set, you can bring your son by any time."
Said Hathaway: "It was really cool, just kind of mum to mum for her to reach out and smooth that path for me. I'm determined if I ever get the chance to do that for someone else, I want to do that again and again."
Having me-time is hard for Hathaway, whose boy is now two.
"I haven't had a day to myself in so long, it feels like such a luxurious concept. But my life right now is promoting this film and getting my son on a sleep schedule."
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