The make-believe popstar movie is a tried-and-tested art form: Ally in A Star is Born, solidifying Lady Gaga’s position as an actor to look out for; Celeste, played by Natalie Portman in Vox Lux, a movie that explored the intersection of PTSD and the dangers of fame. Next up in that niche sub-genre is a new A24 movie called Mother Mary, about the relationship between a popstar and a fashion designer – and the cast, as well as the crew behind the camera, are making us think this could be as great as its predecessors.
So far, all we know is that the film is what Deadline called an “epic pop melodrama” starring Anne Hathaway as the aforementioned popstar and Michaela Coel as the aforementioned fashion designer, marking the first time the pair have worked together.
Anne Hathaway has been cast off the back of her Hollywood renaissance, in movies like Armageddon Time and the Sundance-premiering Eileen. Michaela Coel, a Hollywood star following the success of I May Destroy You, has been comparatively quieter, with a role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. More projects of hers – like a Mr and Mrs Smith reboot with Donald Glover – are dropping soon.
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What is the plot of Mother Mary?
The film will focus on the (implicitly romantic) relationship between Anne Hathaway’s musician character and Michaela Coel’s fashion designer one. The movie is being directed by David Lowery, a man known for both his slow-burn dramas (A Ghost Story) and his action movies (The Green Knight), which are quiet in tone but epic in scale. A popstar movie seems like an odd choice for him, but then again, we haven’t seen the script. He’s starting working on this after the release of his next project in April 2023: Peter & Wendy for Disney+.
What we do know is that the film is bound to have some performance sequences, as Charli XCX and Jack Antonoff have been brought on board to write the songs for Anne Hathaway’s popstar character to sing. She announced her participation on Instagram with the caption: “jack bout to get mothered”.
Who else is in the cast?
Mother Mary’s cast also counts Euphoria star and i-D cover babe Hunter Schafer, who is slated to play Hilda, an assistant character to Michaela Coel’s high-powered fashion designer protagonist. Kaia Gerber, Alba Baptista, Jessica Brown-Findlay and Sian Clifford have all joined the production too.
Who is behind the camera?
The film is set to start shooting this year in Germany with David’s frequent collaborators Toby Halbrooks, Jeanie Igoe and James M. Johnston producing, alongside German producers Jonas Katzenstein, Maximilian Leo and Jonathan Saubach.
When is the release date?
As for when the film will be released, it’s early days. We imagine most of us will have to wait until late 2024 to see Anne Hathaway in her popstar bag.