Anne Hathaway Interview For Love And Other Drugs

Submitted by: Matthew Power

In ‘Love and Other Drugs’ Anne Hathaway brilliantly portrays a young woman named Maggie who’s bravely battling early onset Parkinson’s Disease. In the role Hathway superbly contrasts joy and fun with pain and vulnerability. Check out what she had to say about the film below.

What drew you to this role?

Anne Hathaway: I guess I really believed Jamie and Maggie’s love on the page, and I had such a wonderful time working with Jake on Brokeback Mountain. I believed we could get there again, with greater results as we didn’t really love each other that much last time (laughs). And then the more conversations I had with Ed (Director Edward Zwic), it became apparent to me that it was an adventure worth taking.

How did you go about researching the Parkinson’s for the move?

Anne Hathaway: I talked a lot to people about the early onset Parkinson’s, the side effects of drugs, and also the anxiety of what it is like to be sick. I think we made it clear in the film that stage one is very much about good days and bad days. By talking to people everyone asked me the same question which was ‘Has she accepted her diagnoses yet?’ it led me to believe that there is a whole world of anxiety before you even come to that moment. Michael J Fox very eloquently and gracefully described his relationship wit Parkinson’s as having evolved to a place where he sees it as a gift, but it was quite a journey to get to there. I think one of the strengths of the film, one of the things that drew me to my character, was the articulation of that journey and getting to play that.

How difficult was it to leave a character like Maggie behind at the end of the day?

Anne Hathaway: I think I’m still learning a lot about how to do my job on camera and off. This role really confused me in a lot of ways. I didn’t know how not to take her home with me. I think in some ways because she’s such a different character than me, I was afraid to let her go at the end of the day because I thought ‘oh my gosh, what if she’s not there in the morning.’ We were shooting at a bit of a breakneck pace with such intense emotions, and I think that I was afraid of things which normally I can work through, I can talk to people I trust, I can work through it, but I was also playing a character who was trying to avoid feeling fear, and so my comfort with my fear, but her discomfort with hers, her attempt to avoid it, my ability to let her go at the end of the day, created for some very confused tearful nights.

Oddly enough I would have these little panics before we would shoot the close-ups and I would become terrified that I wasn’t being truthful enough and Ed really had to sit there with me and hold my hand and be very patient and talk me through it. I hated that kind of needy actor. I love just showing up and doing my job. But that wasn’t this time, I learned an awful lot about – just like my character does – about what it’s like to need people around you and what it’s like on the days when you can’t help yourself.

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