Anne Hathaway stars as the pop star in the upcoming film “Mother Mary,” drawing heavy inspiration from Taylor Swift’s “Reputation” era. Director David Lowery used Swift’s concert film as a visual guide and budget guide for the stadium sequences. Hathaway also faced the challenge of performing unreleased music, and embraced a beginner’s mentality for the transformative role.
Anne Hathaway, the Oscar-winning actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada, Les Misérables and The Princess Diaries, is set to take on one of her most unconventional roles yet.
Her upcoming film “Mother Mary” sees her stepping into the shoes of a pop star, a far cry from the characters that initially made her a household name. The 43-year-old actress plays a character who is in a psychosexual relationship with a fashion designer, played by Michaela Coel.As director David Lowery revealed in an interview, one very specific artist shaped the character’s vision more than anyone else: Taylor Swift. The “Love Story” singer’s influence on the film was not subtle.
It was structural, visual, and deeply intentional.
How Taylor Swift shaped Anne Hathaway’s ‘Mother Mary’
David Lowery told Empire magazine, “The concert film Her Reputation is one of the best concert films ever made. It’s really amazing. And for our concert sequences, we looked at that over and over again. You wouldn’t believe the amount of time we were talking about Taylor.”
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He added: “We took three songs from Reputation and broke them down, shot by shot, and looked at it like, ‘Okay, if we were doing this, how much would this take cost in VFX?’” We used that as a budgeting tool, because we didn’t know how to think about putting on a stadium show on a limited budget.
We were literally using reputation as a guide. I could go on and on about reputation all day.
“Lowry also revealed that he attended one of Swift’s concerts with Hathaway, and the actress gifted him a friendship bracelet inspired by the singer when filming wrapped. “When we finished, Annie gave me a Taylor Swift-style beaded bracelet that said ‘Anti-Hero’ on it. She definitely brought a lot of Taylor Swift to the table in terms of who Mother Mary is,” he said.
I often say, “Imagine Taylor Swift in 10 or 15 years,” that’s kind of what this character could be like.
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Anne Hathaway talks about the challenges of playing “Mother Mary”
The role wasn’t just creatively demanding. It was also difficult logistically. Hathaway told Vogue that most of the music for the film wasn’t completed by the time filming began, meaning she had to perform without knowing the songs at all.“I had to resign myself to being a rookie,” she said, “and the humility of that, to show up every day knowing you’re going to suck.”
And it should be fine. You are not “bad”. You are just a beginner. To get into this mindset, I had to get rid of some things that were hard to get rid of. It was welcome. “But it was difficult, and transformative experiences can be difficult.”She added: “It was very confusing. I had to learn, because if I had the music a year before the camera was on. I would have every note of it tattooed on my soul, and there would be a whole, very specific process.”
This was not available to me. In the end, I’m very grateful that I couldn’t control things.”“Mother Mary” does not have a confirmed release date yet. With Hathaway entering the world of pop stardom and Swift’s “Reputation” era serving as the creative blueprint, the film is already shaping up to be one of the most interesting projects on the horizon.
