Anne Hathaway on family, Halloween and ‘Witches’
The actress plays the evil Grand High Witch in the adaptation of Roald Dahl’s novel.
A strong argument could be made that Anne Hathaway spent a lifetime building up to her role as the most evil Grand High Witch in the Roald Dahl adaptation “The Witches.”
The Oscar-winning actress, 37, posted pictures of her adorable youngster self throwing a spell as a rainbow-wigged witch on Instagram with the caption “How it started.” Decades later, stepping into the role of a saucy sorceress with diabolical plans to turn all kids to mice, Hathaway found out she was pregnant with her second child Jack (now 11 months) with husband Adam Shulman.
Beyond rich irony, that actually helped her performance “I was really happy on the days when my hormones were raging,” Hathaway says.
“There was no acting involved whatsoever.”
Chatting with USA TODAY, Hathaway explains keeping her pregnancy secret on set and how her “Witches” role (now streaming on HBO Max) is going down at home with
Jack and Jonathan, 4.
Question: Your young Anne Hathaway witch posted on Instagram was divine. What did you bring to that as a child?
Anne Hathaway: I brought imagination, a sense of adventure and I hope a cackle. But I’m going to have to double-check with my parents on the cackle. I just loved the way my mom’s turtleneck puddled on me, because my understanding of the Wicked Witch of the West was that she puddled fabulously.
Q: I love that wicked description ...
Hathaway: I actually can’t claim credit to that; that image came by way of Rufus Wainwright in concert.
Q: What about Halloween? What’s your family of four dressing as? Did you snag a witch outfit?
Hathaway: I’m dressing Jack up as a monkey and I’m going to be the tree. Jonathan and Adam are going to be characters from “Cars.” That’s a family-favorite movie, in that anything Jonathan loves becomes a family favorite.
That’s the way it goes with a 4-yearold. We’re not going trick-or-treating. It just doesn’t feel right this year. We’re bringing a small group of kids together and hiding candy for a backyard scavenger hunt.
Q: At home, you could legit threaten your kids with ‘I’m going to turn you into a mouse.’ Have you thought about that parenting technique?
Hathaway: As effective as it might be, the risk of traumatizing Jonathan with that and (my character’s) huge, horrible smile, it’s not worth it.
The hardest part was figuring out how to FaceTime with him while I was on set, because I thought that the whole bald look might be a bit much for him. So I wrapped towels around my head and we played peek-a-boo.
Q: It’s pretty incredible you were covertly pregnant while playing a child-hating witch. No one knew?
Hathaway: No one. It was special. I had this gorgeous secret and my little pal with me and we were making something that felt so fun.
Even costume designer Joanna Johnston swore she had no idea. Maybe she was being discreet. I didn’t tell a soul until I knew I was out of the first trimester and then I told as few people as possible – the stunt coordinator, Bob (director Robert Zemeckis) and the producer.
Q: What about your “The Devil Wears Prada” co-star Stanley Tucci, who plays the hotel manager?
Hathaway: My first scene when I was about nine weeks pregnant was with Stanley. And then I filmed my last scene with him. It was so funny, his eyes when he came in and saw me 16 weeks pregnant were like, “Oh!” I was like (shrugs), “Yeah.”
Q: Did you have input on those amazing Grand High Witch wigs?
Hathaway: We all brought ideas to the table. I asked for two wigs, one of them to be shaped like a water buffalo and the other one would be shaped like a ram. Nobody blinked when I said it. And they pulled it off.
Q: The witch-in-repose turban look is my pick. What’s your favorite Grand High Witch fashion moment?
Hathaway: I love that purple gown with the snake. First, because it’s fabulous. But also for sentimental reasons.
When I told my son I was wearing a snake dress at work and that the snake needed a name, he named it Snix the Snake. Snix the Snake was just the best.