40th Birthday – Deified and Deified: Anne Hathaway, the Controversial – Culture

The New Yorker, who defied Meryl Streep in the cinema in 2006, polarized. Not even her Oscar win in 2013 could change that.

Skimming Anne Hathaway’s CV could lead you to the wrong conclusion that you are looking at an untroubled success story: Born in Brooklyn, the actress, named after Shakespeare’s wife, won several awards while still in college.

She secured her first leading Hollywood role as a teenager: in the girl fantasy «Princess Diaries», better known to us as «Suddenly Princess», she mutated from the ugly duckling to the beautiful swan in 2001.

The Cinderella effect exploited here may have secured her the role that really launched her career. In “The Devil Wears Prada” she plays a wallflower who struggles with the devil for a long time before finally blossoming into a journalist.

Rendezvous with the icon

The Prada-wearing devil that Hathaway competes with in the fashion comedy is embodied by an acting goddess: Meryl Streep. With 21 Oscar nominations, the 73-year-old clearly leads the Academy’s all-time best list. Jack Nicholson, her closest pursuer, comes in at just twelve.

Legend:

The unexpected often happens: Anne Hathaway meets Meryl Streep on an equal footing, and not just in films.

Keyston/Luca Bruno

Hathaway, on the other hand, had little to show for it when she took on Streep in 2006. The surprise was all the greater that she was able to hold a candle to the film legend in “The Devil Wears Prada”. Especially since she – as always – completely immersed herself in her role and after all won the Golden Globe for it.

After Hathaway had passed this maturity test, she was finally allowed to present her full range to the audience. In the drama “Rachel Getting Married” she bribed as an ex-drug addict outsider, in the Batman finale “The Dark Knight Rises” as a sexy Catwoman.

The greatest triumph followed immediately afterwards with the musical “Les Misérables”: as the close-cropped Fantine, she sang her heart out, which earned her a deserved Oscar in 2013.

Legend:

A highlight in her career: Hathaway received an Oscar for her role as Fantine in “Les Misérables”.

Imago Images/Mary Evans

When «Hathahaters» scoff

Parallel to the growing success on the screen, however, the resentment on the net also grew. A US website named her the “Most Annoying Celebrity of 2013” for her allegedly affected behavior.

On Twitter meanwhile the hatred drove strange blossoms. Under a hashtag that went viral as a catchy neologism: #hathahater. Here the rather rare missteps of Hathaway were savored with relish: for example her unfortunate appearance as the presenter of the Oscars 2011 alongside James Franco.

Legend:

Here she is still laughing. But in hindsight, Hathaway was embarrassed by the forced appearance as Oscar co-host.

Keystone / Mark J. Terrill

Industry expert Neal Gabler justified the thieving joy of the “Hathahaters” like this: “Everything Hathaway does seems calculated and rehearsed. That’s why every defeat of the supposedly perfect is perceived as a victory.»

The misjudged versatile

Viewed soberly, Hathaway’s class is hard to dispute. Even away from the screen, she kept flashing her talent: Who she – supposedly drunk – in the cult talk format “Between Two Ferns» has experienced, can’t get her haunting voice out of his head.

Also worth seeing: you Rap battle with James Corden and her promotional duet with Roger Federer for Switzerland Tourism. In the latter, you can even hear her swearing in Swiss German: “Mischt!”

The mother of two, who has had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame since 2019, doesn’t really have good reasons to be angry. Especially since it is now also being defended on Twitter – by people who call themselves “Hathahater-Haters”.