The One Director Who Hired Anne Hathaway When Everyone Seemed To Hate Her

You know the worst part about these tech conferences where billionaires confidently strut across stages extolling the virtues of the latest technological breakthrough to a crowd of doe-eyed supporters? The fact that there's an almost cult-like refusal to admit that technology has any downsides whatsoever. We're firmly in the age of social media now and it's fair to say that this particular technology has come with its own set of unique flaws that, as Netflix's "The Social Dilemma" revealed, have the power to destabilize societal structures and produce wide-ranging negative social consequences.

When it comes to that last point, there's arguably no actor who could articulate it better than Anne Hathaway. The Oscar-winner, who will soon fall in love with a pop star in "The Idea of You," went through the social media wringer in particularly conspicuous fashion back in the early 2010s when the internet suddenly decided they hated her. This so-called "Hathahate," which naturally spawned a Twitter hashtag of the same name, became so widespread that the New York Times was moved to ask the question "Do we really hate Anne Hathaway?" The answer, according to the paper of record, had to do with a virulent mob mentality and the fact that Hathaway had, at the time, become "one of Hollywood's most visible blossoms."

In 2013, Hathaway had just won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Fantine in "Les Misérables," and looked to be at the height of her career. But it seems the online hate had affected her more deeply than was immediately obvious, leading to a moment when her career was genuinely in jeopardy. Luckily, one particular director, who famously eschews social media and much of modern technology in general, came to rescue Hathaway from the depths of her internet-induced despair.

The Anne Hathaway backlash coalesced prior to her winning the Oscar for "Les Miserables," but ramped up afterward. Twitter was quick to ridicule her acceptance speech at the Academy Awards for supposedly being histrionic and cementing her reputation for radiating a certain unctuous theater kid energy. Among the #hathahaters was Howard Stern, who happily stated his opinion that the actor came across as "so affected" and "actressy," adding that it was "just fun to sort of hate her."

At this stage, as the New York Times noted in 2013, the "Hathahating" had "moved beyond garden-variety snarkiness [...] and become a meme with unlikely stickiness." That stickiness affected the actor's reputation not only in the warped, distorted version of reality known as the Twittersphere but in the real world, too. As Hathaway told Vanity Fair in a new 2024 profile, "A lot of people wouldn't give me roles because they were so concerned about how toxic my identity had become online."

According to the "Princess Diaries" star, however, she was embraced by none other than her "Dark Knight Rises" director Christopher Nolan, who rather than seeing through the hate for Hathway, seemed entirely unconcerned and perhaps even unaware of it. The actor continued, "I had an angel in Christopher Nolan, who did not care about that and gave me one of the most beautiful roles I've had in one of the best films that I've been a part of."

That role was NASA scientist Dr. Amelia Brand in the 2014 sci-fi epic "Interstellar" — a film notable for being one of Nolan's most heartfelt projects and championing love as not only an important emotion but as an impetus for technological progression and human evolution. That's not insignificant in relation to the hate Hathaway was enduring at the time.

Though Anne Hathaway made clear that she still isn't sure whether Christopher Nolan knew he was "backing [her] at the time," it nonetheless "had that effect." The actor continued, "My career did not lose momentum the way it could have if he hadn't backed me." Despite the fact that her first meeting for "The Dark Knight Rises" didn't go as planned, Hathaway clearly made an impression on Nolan, whose self-possessed, rational approach to filmmaking has always led him to make the best decisions for his films, regardless of the wider social climate.

One of the things we've learned about Nolan as his career has flourished is that he doesn't have a cellphone, and even avoids e-mail. The celebrated auteur even wrote his Oscar-winning 2023 effort "Oppenheimer" on a computer with no internet connection. All of which is to say that the director was more than likely unaware of the "Hathahate" when he offered the actor her "Interstellar" role — yet another reminder that ignoring technology as much as possible can often lead to wonderful things.

Now, the "Hathahate" has mercifully died down for the most part and Hathaway looks to have delivered a standout performance in "The Idea of You," which is set to debut on Prime Video on May 2, 2024. Elsewhere, the actor spoke to The Sun in 2021, where she seemed to have gained some positive perspective on her early-2010s experience:

"It was a really good thing for me personally. You can be incredibly empowered because of those things. So I guess what I'd say is when the bad s**t happens, don't fear it — just go with it, flow with it."