Anne Hathaway on protecting herself from her ‘worst fear’ on the Mother’s Instinct set
Anne Hathaway says she insisted on being called by her character’s name in her latest project in order to protect herself from her “worst fear”.
The Oscar winner stars alongside Jessica Chastain in the thriller Mother’s Instinct which follows the lives of two 1960s housewives whose lives and friendships are destroyed after a tragic event.
(L-R) Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. Pic: StudioCanal
“It was one of those jobs you really, really didn’t want to take home with you,” Hathaway told Sky News.
An adaptation of the 2018 French film of the same name, Mother’s Instinct is the directorial debut of filmmaker Benoit Delhomme, and was shot in just 24 days.
The Devil Wears Prada star says she’s typically quite “laid back on set,” but this film’s storyline forced her to create a separation between work and real life.
“I did call a meeting with Jessica [Chastain], Benoit [Delhomme – the director] and a few of the key crew, and I just said, ‘Listen, I’m going to have to insist on this one, that you call me my character’s name’.”
She says she told them: “I sort of have to create a protective layer between me and her, because this is my worst fear. And I would really appreciate it if everybody could just get under me in the end, support me in this way. And you guys were amazing, and I was protected in that way.”
The thriller also stars fellow Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain who believes the time the film is set in, draws comparisons to the present day.
“The 1960s was such an explosive moment in our society in terms of gender, where women were really starting to find their freedom and starting to be heard in a big way.”
Pic: StudioCanal
‘Unfair expectations placed on women’
Mother’s Instinct sees both actresses battle against gender norms of being a housewife, stopping your career to raise a family and waiting on your husband’s needs and desires.
The Good Nurse actress says, unfortunately there’s still a way to go: “I think there are unfair expectations placed on women all the time.”
Chastain explains that there are certain beliefs placed upon women in the media from “the pitch of their voice” to “how they’re presenting themselves in the world in terms of their femininity”.
Pic: StudioCanal
‘Actress sniper’ Chastain
Hathaway and Chastain are good friends in real life, after having previously worked together on Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.
Hathaway jokes that Chastain was “an actress sniper” on set, adding that she had to let herself “marvel” at her co-star’s “incredible” performance.
She says: “It was an aspect of filming that was actually really, really hard because I knew I had to give my friend space to play her character, but I did not want [her] to be that good at anxiety.”
The film also features Josh Charles (Dead Poets Society), Anders Danielsen Lie (The Worst Person In The World) and Caroline Lagerfelt (Gossip Girl).
Mother’s Instinct is in cinemas now.
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Om Fahad: Iraqi social media influencer shot dead by gunman on motorbike who posed as food delivery rider – report
A well-known Iraqi social media influencer has reportedly been shot dead in her car by a gunman on a motorbike.
Om Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, was killed outside her home in Baghdad’s Zayouna district on Friday, according to the AFP news agency, citing security officials.
It appears the unidentified attacker pretended to be delivering food to the victim, one security source said.
Om Fahad, who has nearly half a million TikTok followers, became famous for posting light-hearted videos where she dances to Iraqi music.
Six days ago, she shared footage of herself driving in a car and also posing in front of a mirror. They have each been watched hundreds of thousands of times.
The influencer was sentenced to six months in prison in February last year for sharing videos that a court ruled contained “indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality”.
A campaign was launched in 2023 by the Iraqi government to clamp down on social media content which broke the country’s “morals and traditions”.
The interior ministry set up a committee to look for “offensive” clips on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, with several influencers being arrested.
“This type of content is no less dangerous than organised crime,” the ministry declared in a promotional video which asked the public to help by reporting such content.
“It is one of the causes of the destruction of the Iraqi family and society.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Speaking last year, interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan argued the morality campaign has “nothing to do with freedom of expression”.
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In 2018, gunmen in Baghdad shot dead Tara Fares, who was a model and influencer.
After years of war and sectarian conflict following the 2003 US invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq has returned to some semblance of normality despite sporadic violence, political instability and corruption.
But civil liberties, particularly among women and sexual minorities, are still constrained in a conservative and male-dominated society.
R Kelly’s challenge against a 20-year sentence for child sex convictions has been quashed by an appeals court.
The singer was correctly sentenced to 20 years in prison, a Chicago court ruled on Friday.
He was convicted in 2022 on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.
In his appeal, Kelly, 57, argued Illinois’ old statute of limitations – which required prosecution of child sex crime charges within 10 years – should have applied, rather than the current law permitting charges while an accuser is still alive.
The appeals court rejected this, labelling it an attempt by Kelly to elude the charges entirely after “employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet”.
He also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from the charges tied to three other accusers due to video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial.
Prosecutors have said the video showed Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser, only identified as Jane, testified for the first time that she was 14 when the video was taken.
The three-judge panel from the appeals court noted jurors acquitted Kelly on seven of the 13 counts against him “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes”.
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Newsreader ‘receiving medical care’ after on-screen behaviour worries fans
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In a written statement, Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean said they plan to seek a US Supreme Court review of the decision and “pursue all of his appellate remedies until we free R Kelly”.
“We are disappointed in the ruling, but our fight is far from over,” she said.
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