After years of director David Lowery trying to figure out what the Hell his movie even was, Mother Mary (review here) hit theaters last month and basically died. It cost around $20M somehow, even though it’s just Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel arguing in a barn, and made just $3M. A big fat waste of money for A24. But think how much worse it might’ve done if Hathaway wasn’t there. Well, that very nearly happened.
Speaking with Elle Magazine, Hathaway revealed that she nearly quit Mother Mary after seeing an early cut of the film.
“This is really bad,” Hathaway said she thought after watching footage. “I don’t know that I can ask people to come see this.” Hathaway said she spoke to her husband about it. Clearly, he didn’t try to convince her to drop out.
“I came to the conclusion that there would be no shame if I was fired, but there would be if I quit,” Hathaway said. She continued to work hard on the film, including dance lessons and singing practice for her role as a superstar pop diva.
Mother Mary had an uphill climb, largely due to the extensive post-production and multiple rewrites by Lowery, who called it the “hardest thing I’ve ever done.” It began shooting in summer 2023 and didn’t wrap until the tail end of 2024.
