UPDATE, March 18: At SXSW this past weekend, Anne Hathaway really did get emotional at the audience response to her new film The Idea of You but, unfortunately, did not compare her Oscar win to being in the fanfic film. The viral quote, “I don’t want to be pigeonholed and don’t want to be placed in a box of what type of films I have to be making because of my age, gender, and because I won an Oscar. I want to have fun, dammit. It speaks to me,” has been officially debunked by Hathaway’s team, with other outlets taking note. Nonetheless, we should still let Hathaway and her Oscar have fun.
Original story follows.
Anne Hathaway’s new rom-com The Idea of You held its world premiere at SXSW on March 16, and the audience response left Hathaway in tears. “I can’t talk,” the choked up star told the audience in a video posted by Variety. “You have no idea the gift that you’ve just given us with your responsiveness, by being so connected to every little nuance in this. I will never forget this screening.”
The film, based on the novel of the same name and directed by Michael Showalter (The Big Sick, The Eyes of Tammy Faye), sees Hathaway’s character fall in love with a boy band singer played by Nicholas Galitzine after taking her daughter to Coachella. It’s the latest example of cinema’s rich tradition of adapting Harry Styles fan fiction.
“For some reason, we talk about coming-of-age stories as being something that happens to you in the earliest part of your life, and I don’t know about you, but I feel like I keep blooming,” Hathaway said at the premiere. “I don’t want to be pigeonholed and don’t want to be placed in a box of what type of films I have to be making because of my age, gender, and because I won an Oscar. I want to have fun, dammit. It speaks to me.” That’s right, Anne Hathaway, don’t let that Oscar get in the way of having a good time.
