Anne Hathaway is pushing herself into bold, unsettling territory in ‘Mother Mary‘. And now, one particular dance sequence is already grabbing attention for how intense and frankly eerie it feels.
As Hathaway steps into the role of a fictional pop megastar, she reveals that this haunting performance required her to train eight hours a day.
Anne Hathaway’s ‘Mother Mary’ Dance Scene Reveals the Result Of Her Intense Training
Hathaway’s character shows up unannounced at the home of fashion designer Sam Anselm years after their falling out. But there are no conversations. Instead, Mother Mary launches straight into a dance she plans to debut at her comeback performance.
There isn’t even a single note of music playing during the performance. The sequence took place inside Sam’s dark and spacious barn studio, where we saw Hathaway performing barefoot.
Hathaway described, saying, “At a certain point, what was inside of her took over, and what was inside of her was messy and violent and out of control, and she just had no choice but to let it take over.” Even after removing all sorts of distractions, conversations, and music, the entire performance feels like a narrative in itself.
Hathaway Credits Jessica Chastain For Her ‘Possessed’ Performance
Hathaway revealed that one of her biggest sources of inspiration came from Jessica Chastain. She shared, “I have to give a shout out to Jessica Chastain, who, when she did A Doll’s House, did a danse macabre on stage that I saw right before I left to start this.”
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To bring this sequence to life, Hathaway says she trained for about eight hours a day for months and worked closely with choreographer Dani Vitale. The preparation process was so detailed that Hathaway admitted, “I could make a documentary about the making of that dance.”
Interestingly, while the audience experiences the scene in silence, Hathaway actually performed the routine to two different pieces of music during filming. And director David Lowery has a valid point to put here.
He added, “The movement was always largely the same, but there was so much expression that changed from one take to the next.” Such a variation of expression made the final piece so full of layers, and Lowery has described the sequence as “the invitation to an exorcism.”
Even for Hathaway, the main focus was beyond just performing. She added, “It’s about looking like something else is coming through, that you are actually possessed by something.”
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