Unlike many of her peers, the career dominance of Anne Hathaway arrived from the moment she stepped foot into the industry. Thriving in the 1999 TV comedy Get Real alongside the likes of Jon Tenney and Jesse Eisenberg, Hathaway took the leap to the silver screen just one year later with the release of The Princess Diaries, the beloved Disney family flick that would inspire an entirely new generation of cinephiles.
In contemporary cinema, she’s celebrated among the very best in her class, earning herself a much-deserved Oscar in 2012 for her performance in the ‘Best Picture’ nominated musical Les Misérables. Despite her win, however, the actor claimed to be “very uncomfortable” during her acceptance speech, adding: “I kind of lost my mind doing that movie, and it hadn’t come back yet. Then I had to stand up in front of people and feel something I don’t feel, which is uncomplicated happiness”.
Open and honest about her time in the limelight of Hollywood, this wouldn’t be the only time Hathaway would reflect negatively on a cinematic experience, once bemoaning her choice to take on one specific remake of a classic originally penned by Roald Dahl. Released in 2020, The Witches was an adaptation of Dahl’s 1983 tale and a remake of the 1990 film starring Anjelica Huston.
In the story, Hathaway plays the Grand High Witch, an evil character with an impairment to her hands and feet that was supposed to make her appendages look like claws. The reality, however, was that her hands simply looked like the malformation ectrodactyly, with campaigners across the world speaking to the damage that Hathaway’s villainous representation could bring.
“I have recently learned that many people with limb differences, especially children, are in pain because of the portrayal of the Grand High Witch in The Witches,” Hathaway stated on her Instagram profile shortly after the release of the movie.
Continuing, she added: “Let me begin by saying I do my best to be sensitive to the feelings and experiences of others not out of some scrambling PC fear, but because not hurting others seems like a basic level of decency we should all be striving for…as someone who really believes in inclusivity and really, really detests cruelty, I owe you all an apology for the pain caused. I am sorry. I did not connect limb difference with the GHW when the look of the character was brought to me; if I had, I assure you this never would have happened”.
Making just $27million at the box office, the film didn’t quite make the impact that Warner Bros was hoping for, being most famous for its release date amid the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the negative press received thanks to Hathaway’s character. Lacking the grit and ingenuity of the original, not even an ensemble cast of Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Octavia Spencer, and Chris Rock could muster up anything special.
Concluding her apology on her social media channel, Hathaway added: “I particularly want to say I’m sorry to kids with limb differences. Now that I know better, I promise I’ll do better. And I owe a special apology to everyone who loves you as fiercely as I love my own kids: I’m sorry I let your family down”. With the film failing to do anything for the actor, it’s safe to say that it will go down as one of her worst cinematic outings.
