Is Anne Hathaway doing some free promotion for us and our recently released 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2024 feature, aka your Christmas list early? We can only dream, right? But in the most recent episode of Happy Sad Confused podcast, in which Hathaway came on to talk about her new alluring new psychodrama “Eileen” opposite Thomasin McKenzie (read our review here), the actress teased three of her main projects likely arriving in 2024.
While she was relatively coy about all of them, she did provide some updates, so let’s take a look. The first one that was brought up was “Mother’s Instinct,” which is a remake of the Belgian film “Duelles,” and she stars alongside fellow Oscar-winning actress Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye “). The film is the directorial debut of venerable French cinematographer Benoît Delhomme, known for lensing films such as “A Most Wanted Man,” “Lawless,” and Al Pacino’s “Wilde Salomé,” two of three projects featuring Chastain. Neon is releasing the movie in 2024, and it’s a psychological thriller about the friendship between two 1960s housewives that rapidly deteriorates after a tragedy.
All Hathaway would say is that it’s “a film about what can happen when you don’t have an identity outside of what society says you should.”
From there came talk of “Mother Mary,” a film from director David Lowery (“A Ghost Story,” “The Green Knight,” and episodes of 2024’s upcoming “Star Wars” series, “Skeleton Crew”). It’s been described as a musical drama and an epic pop melodrama following a fictional musician (Hathaway) and her relationship with an iconic fashion designer (Michaela Coel).
Happy Sad Confused asked, is it a full-blown musical? And all Hathaway would say is nothing, instead making a “zipped-lips” sign over her mouth. Eventually, she did discuss the film.
“I like the ideally the idea of making anything, literally, anything, but the right one,” she said at the suggestion that some musicals could be third tier, “But in this case, all you need to know is that it’s a David Lowery film, to the extent that interests you, I’m in it, and so thrilling, and everyone should be thrilled about this: Michaela Coel is fireworks in it.”
Hathaway suggested the less you know, the better, but praised Lowery as an auteur you must watch.
“I believe going in cold to see ‘Eileen’ is the way to see it,” she explained. “And when I talk about my trust in audiences and audience participation, that comes from the influence that Jonathan Demme had on me as an audience member, which is, I do not think it’s my job to argue with the filmmaker; it’s not my way to question it… my job is to engage with it, not criticize it… and… David is an auteur, and I think it’s going to be a full-on experience, and there is music… I think. Yes, it’s a David Lowery film. It’s whatever he wants it to be.”
Alright, you’ve been warned. Finally, Hathaway was less shy about discussing a new Michael Showalter drama comedy called “The Idea Of You” (and maybe that’s because more details are out there and you can basically call it the “Anne Hathaway randomly meets the world’s biggest boy band star at Coachella and begins a romance with him,” film.
“The Idea Of You” follows Sophie (Hathaway), a 40-year-old divorced mother whose husband left her for a young woman. After her ex-husband cancels his Coachella trip with their 15-year-old daughter, Sophie takes his place instead, braving the crowds and desert heat. At the festival, however, she meets 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of August Moon, the biggest boy band on the planet. Sparks fly between her and Campbell, but besides their considerable age gap, there is one major problem: Sophie’s daughter idolizes the pop star.
The film is directed by “The Eyes Of Tammy Faye” filmmaker Michael Showalter, and she stars opposite relative newcomer 29-year-old Nicholas Galitzine, who plays the fictional Harry Styles-like boy band singer. Galitzine was relatively unknown at the time of his casting but has really popped this year in “Red, White, and Royal Blue” (2023) and the comedy “Bottom” (2023). The project is an Amazon Prime Video film and is expected to come out sometime in 2024.
Well, that’s three highly-anticipated Anne Hathaway films, and with any luck, we’ll see all of them next year (and if I were a betting man, I would say the first one you will see is “Mother’s Instinct,” and it would not surprise us if it debuts at Cannes. If one of these projects might not reach us until 2025, our bet would be “Mother Mary,” but Lowery works so fast and diligently that we’ll likely get all three.
Check out our 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2024 feature if you haven’t already. It’s full of riches to get excited about.