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Anne Hathaway, like her character Patricia in Rebecca Miller’s She Came to Me, has always been a perfectionist.
“I think maybe earlier in my life I believed in perfectionism a little more,” Hathaway said. Diversity at a screening of She Came to Me in New York City on Tuesday night. “(Patricia) thinks that if she can do things right, she will protect the people she loves from bad things happening to them.”
The romantic comedy takes place in New York. Composer Stephen Louddem (Peter Dinklage) finds himself in a creative rut just weeks before the deadline for his latest commission. At the urging of his wife and former therapist Patricia (Hathaway), he seeks inspiration and finds it in Katrina (Marisa Tomei), a thrill-seeking tugboat captain.
Hathaway and writer-director Miller discussed how to bring nuance to the life of Patricia, a seemingly close-knit Type A wife and mother on the brink of mental collapse.
“I think it’s really tempting when you play someone who’s a little elevated to get more, but we talked about how (Patricia) needs to feel real and how we need to ground her and how she just needs it felt believable,” Hathaway explained. “My character has something of a nervous breakdown and so I knew I wanted it to feel earned. You wanted her to have this breakdown because if she didn’t, you thought maybe she would explode physically.”
“She’s someone who neglects herself a little and has a secret desire that is, let’s say, unusual for her,” Miller said.
She Came to Me received a temporary SAG-AFTRA deal that allowed the cast to attend the film’s New York screening to promote the film. To obtain an interim agreement, a producer must act independently of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers member companies and agree to the terms proposed by SAG-AFTRA in negotiations with the AMPTP.
Joining Hathaway at the New York screening at Metrograph were “She Came to Me” stars Marisa Tomei, Peter Dinklage, Brian d’Arcy James, Harlow Jane, Evan Ellison and Dale Soules.
“Even very small companies can agree to (SAG-AFTRA terms), so this really proves that big companies can do the same thing,” Tomei said. Diversity. “This is a very important time for our union and our profession, and we are going to hang in there until we get what we need.”
Before the screening of She Came to Me, Rebecca Damon, executive director of the New York office of SAG-AFTRA, addressed the audience.
“It’s great to be here tonight and see the launch of this first temporary agreement while we’re on strike,” Damon told the crowd. “This production is an example of them doing everything right. They respect the performers and deliver what they asked for in our strategy – this important strategy – it’s a fair deal and they gave it to these performers.”
Damon concluded his speech with the statement: “Not only will you be supporting a beautiful, artistic independent film, but at the same time you will be supporting our strike by supporting this film.”
She Came to Me opens in theaters on October 6.