Anne Hathaway stars in the film Mother Mary, released in a limited capacity on April 17, 2026, by A24. In the film, she plays the role of a pop icon, the titular character of Mother Mary, who is involved in an affair with fashion designer Sam Anselm, played by actress Michaela Coel.
Now in an interview with Pop Base, Hathaway has revealed the pop icons she studied before playing the role in the film, naming Beyonce, Rosalia, FKA Twigs and Pink, among others, in reply to the question of whether there were any women in the music industry who influenced her interpretation of the titular character as a pop icon:
“Ah, so I actually was trying very hard not to be influenced by any specific artist, but I did study everyone you can imagine. I studied Beyonce. I studied Rosalia. I studied I studied FK Twigs. I studied um Pink. Um oh my goodness, so many people.”
She went on to say that she had not been looking for anything in particular from what each of these artists did, but a more foundational aspect of being a pop star:
“But what I was looking for was not specific things that they did. Um I was looking for patterns like to see if there was like a pattern or something that they all had in common. And I figured whatever that thing was would be foundational to being a pop star.”
She also added that she had looked for the space unclaimed when it came to the character she was playing in particular:
“And then when it came to Mother Mary’s vibe and her sound and all of that, I was actually looking for the unclaimed space because I thought all of those artists each have such a distinctive sound. What’s the what’s the sound that somehow in the last 20 years nobody’s quite quite grabbed and that was how she was born.”
Mother Mary was directed by David Lowery, who previously directed films such as The Green Knight, The Yellow Birds and more. Alongside Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel, the movie also features Hunter Schafer, FKA Twigs, and more.
Anne Hathaway worked on the music of Mother Mary
Anne Hathaway worked personally on the soundtrack for Mary Antonoff. She worked with Jack Antonoff on the soundtrack, titled Mother Mary: Greatest Hits. Speaking with The Guardian, the actress said of her work on the soundtrack:
“One of the things I realized is that lyrics are very important, but the feeling of the lyrics is the most important. The way you perform the sound of a word is just as, if not more, important than the word itself.”
Anne Hathaway also elaborated that the film originally had more on her character’s artistic ability and the impact her songs have on her fandom.
The film’s soundtrack featured primarily contributions from Jack Antonoff and Charli XCX, with FKA Twigs contributing the track My Mouth Is Lonely for You. The soundtrack was composed by Daniel Hart. The film featured a total of seven original songs performed by Anne Hathaway.
Mother Mary will have its full release on April 24, 2026. The film’s limited release was met with mixed reviews on Metacritic and positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was produced by Homebird Productions and augenschein Filmproduktion.
Edited by Abhimanyu Sharma