For Hathaway, ‘Ocean’s 8’ camaraderie steals the show
NEW YORK — As a self-absorbed actress targeted by a gang of thieves, “Ocean’s 8” (opening Friday) lets Anne Hathaway show the comic flair that first made her a star.
That was 17 years ago, in Disney’s fish-out-of-water smash “The Princess Diaries.”
Hathaway’s Daphne Kluger in “Ocean’s” is a sendup of celebrity culture and a lighthearted departure from her Academy Awardwinning role in the 2012 musical “Les Miserables.”
“I’ve never been given an opportunity like this and I had a blast,” Hathaway, 35, said at the film’s press conference. “As one of the later members to come on, I was just so excited to be in this cast and just really thrilled to play with everybody.”
Working with so many other women was “a wonderful space to occupy, and I’m really excited for the moment when this doesn’t feel special anymore — except for that fact that it is always special when really talented people are given opportunities to do their jobs.”
Hathaway’s Daphne suffers ridiculous anxiety attacks over her appearance.
That mix of neediness and hauteur hardly makes for a flattering portrait, but Hathaway isn’t targeting anyone specifically.
“It was fun to know that the research was already done, that the muscle memory was in there about what her life was like. But I did wonder (playing Daphne), what would have happened if, at the beginning of my career, I thought of fame as something that was real? As opposed to maybe the way I do think about it, which is that it’s very illusionary.”
For this married mother, more vital than the film’s sense of fun and glamour is its subliminal message for girls, who can now grow up seeing powerful, capable and flawed women.
In “Ocean’s 8,” Sandra Bullock jokes about inspiring little girls to choose a life of crime.
“You can’t underestimate the power of visual representation,” Hathaway declared. “To an 8-year-old girl, we’re not trying to say, ‘Go have a life of crime,’ but we are saying, ‘Go do what you want — and there’s space for you to do it with your friends. There’s room for all of you.’ Films with an ‘Everybody in!’ mentality and a message for people who have historically been excluded? That’s really a good thing.”