What’s it like working with Christopher Nolan on a film the size of The Dark Knight Rises? Anne Hathaway shares some thoughts.
Hathaway has been on a bit of a walk down memory lane as of late. Recently she recounted her audition for the role of Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises, and now she’s discussing what went into it after that.
Speaking with Hugh Jackman as part of Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Hathway discussed the role, saying, “You know how you have those jobs and you just go, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to work again because this was such fun.” She went on to add, “I’m such a director nerd. I love just seeking out the best directors I can and then just watching them. Chris’ whole approach to filmmaking is one of my favorite ones. He’s broken it down to its most minimal, but also his movies are just so huge and ornate. That combination of really being intentional about what it was that we were doing — and also, he’s just so inspiring.”
Nolan did have some advice for Hathaway, however, about making sure she got her strength up. “Chris sat me down and he said, ‘It has nothing to do with your appearance. If we’ve shot tomorrow, I’d be so happy.’” She related a story Nolan shared with her saying, “When we did Inception, Joseph Gordon-Levitt trained for 12 weeks to do a four-day stunt sequence because he wanted to do every shot. I want you to do as much of the stunt work as you can. I need you to be strong enough to do that. I can’t have you be one of those actors that does one take, two takes and then you’re too tired. I want you to do everything.”
“That was what he told me to get me to embrace the physical side of the character and really commit that,” Hathaway said.
She did share one other bit of information about Nolan’s movie sets. “He doesn’t allow chairs, and his reasoning is, if you have chairs, people will sit, and if they’re sitting, they’re not working,” Hathaway said. “I mean, he has these incredible movies in terms of scope and ambition and technical prowess and emotion. It always arrives at the end under schedule and under budget. I think he’s onto something with the chair thing.”
SOURCE: Variety
