Issue Date: May 7, 2006
Annie get your gowns
Anne Hathaway trades in her glass slippers for designer pumps in "The Devil Wears Prada."
By Reed Tucker
It's not like Anne Hathaway was going to grow up to be an investment banker. Acting is quite literally in her blood. Her mother is a stage actress, and her father is on the board of an off-off-Broadway theater company. Almost since birth, her course has been set. "We always had a lot of exposure to theater," says the 23-year-old New Yorker. "As a young child, I got to see my mom live in a make-believe world at a time when I was still living in my own make-believe world. I thought, 'My God, if I could just do that forever, how cool would that be?' "
Pretty cool, as it turns out. Hathaway has made a surprisingly easy transition from Disney to drama, moving from a breakout role in "The Princess Diaries" to solid support work in last year's "Brokeback Mountain." Sitting in a café a few blocks from her apartment in lower Manhattan, the actress says she still retains a childlike passion for the arts. But it's clear Hathaway enjoys the perks of the job: "My greatest accomplishment is that I recently had to have more pages added to my passport."
While overseas, she haunts flea markets (though she "lives" for Target stateside) and checks out the theater (London's "Billy Elliot" is a recent favorite). Traveling, however, isn't always easy, because it means leaving behind her sweetie: a chocolate lab named Esmeralda. Oh, and there's her boyfriend, an Italian real-estate developer. The two have been dating since 2004. "We have a rule, which is that we don't go two weeks without seeing each other," says the fast-talking Hathaway. "You never met anyone who has less to do with my job. I like that. That's why I live in New York. I don't like it when every conversation centers around the movie industry."
This summer, everyone should be talking about "The Devil Wears Prada," a comedic drama about life inside a fictional fashion magazine, modeled after "Vogue." Meryl Streep is the steely, dragon-lady editor, and Hathaway stars as her lowly, fashion-deficient assistant. "She has to decide, 'What is success worth to me?' " Hathaway says of her character. "That's a prevalent issue among those in their 20s."
Although working on the movie taught the actress a lot about the world of Dior and Versace, Hathaway, who cops to being a bit of a tomboy, hasn't changed. "The fashion world is something I'm in awe of," she says. "I really don't know how to put together an outfit like in 'Elle' or 'Vogue.' I don't have that eye for fashion. But I've accepted my limitations and worked on my own geek-chic style."
Fashion problems aside, Hathaway has few complaints. "At this point in life, I thought I'd be living in a cold-water apartment in Brooklyn, waiting tables and dancing in a chorus line -- and I would have thought that was successful," she says.
Who's she kidding? Her career couldn't have worked out any other way.
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Michelle moves up
Small-town girl-turned-actress Michelle Monaghan gets her big shot in "Mission: Impossible III."
By Reed Tucker
When you meet a former model -- someone who has graced designer catalogs and worn clothes that cost as much as an SUV -- you have certain expectations. And funny is not among them. Tirades that end with a cellphone hurled at you, yes. But funny? No way.
Michelle Monaghan, however, is not only funny, she's goofy funny. The vivacious brunette likes to tell stories with a raised voice, gesture wildly and erupt into the kind of loud, unrestrained laughter that turns heads. She can't help herself. "I'm physical without trying to be," she says, downing coffee in a New York hotel lobby. "I come from a really animated family."
Her husband, an Australian-born graphic designer, isn't bad in the humor department, either. "We met in a bar one night, and he had me laughing from the minute he sat down," she says. The two married last August and share an apartment in Greenwich Village. "I like antiques, so it's a lot of different styles," she says. "I like flea markets and antiques shops. That's a nice weekend when you have the time off."
Downtime is sort of a luxury these days. Since starting out in a deodorant ad, Monaghan has been in nine films, including last year's "North Country" and "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." Talent and beauty have gotten the 30-year-old tagged as the next It Girl several times, but this actually may be the summer she becomes a full-blown star, thanks to "Mission: Impossible III." In the anticipated blockbuster, Monaghan plays a nurse and the love interest of superspy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, of course). And in at least one scene, she gets to make out with him. "That was a tough day at the office," she jokes.
But it almost never happened. Scarlett Johansson originally was tapped for the role but reportedly was scared off by Cruise's fervent passion for Scientology. In one story that made the gossip rounds, Cruise invited Johansson to dinner at a Scientology center, where, after two hours of preaching, Cruise led the actress into a room of church elders. Johansson ran. In Cruise's defense, Monaghan (who's not a Scientologist) says the actor isn't the least bit wacky.
Monaghan grew up pretty grounded herself in the small town of Winthrop, Iowa. Her mother ran a day care center out of their home; her father worked in a factory and farmed part-time. It wasn't acting that she had the bug for early, but rather investigative reporting. "I grew up fascinated by world events," she says. "I watched the news every night and read the paper." She even studied journalism in Chicago but dropped out "to do something creative."
Since breaking into showbiz, Monaghan says, "Everyone back home is so supportive." Which is actually harder than it sounds. Winthrop has no movie theater of its own. And although the rest of the country may go to "M:i:III" to watch Cruise's high-wire act, those from Winthrop will drive several miles to catch the leading lady's arrival. They may be onto something.
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