Directed by Garry Marshall, The Princess Diaries saw Anne Hathaway take on the lead role as a newcomer to Hollywood.By Anushree Madappa
Anne Hathaway Regretted The Princess Diaries “Good Girl” Label(Photo Credit –Instagram)
The Princess Diaries might have helped propel Anne Hathaway to worldwide fame, but according to the actress, it also stone-walled her career. The iconic film introduced Anne Hathaway as an awkward teen who discovered she was a princess. It is considered Hathaway’s breakout role. However, the 2001 film reportedly made it difficult for Anne Hathaway to snag roles that diverged from her “good girl” image for eight years.
Directed by Garry Marshall, The Princess Diaries saw Anne Hathaway take on the lead role as a newcomer in Hollywood. She starred opposite veteran actress Julie Andrews, who played her royal paternal grandmother. While the film was a blockbuster hit, grossing more than $165 million worldwide, Anne Hathaway reportedly struggled to land substantial roles as she found it hard to shake the “good girl” image.
In a 2013 interview with Glamour, Anne Hathaway revealed she was labeled the “good girl” after starring in Princess Diaries, and for the first eight years of her career, she “had to fight to get any other kind of role.”
In a 2015 interview with HuffPost, Hathaway revealed that she struggled to be taken seriously for roles that didn’t align with her good-girl label.
While promoting her film, Intern Hathaway recalled, “‘The Princess Diaries’ was so cool in so many ways because it was a great first job — it was a big hit — but at the same time, it was a hard thing to be like, ‘Robert Rodriguez, I swear I can do one of your movies!’”
She added, “It was hard to get into rooms to be taken seriously for roles that weren’t princesses, so I think partially that was why I’ve tried to have as big a range as I have.”
It appears Anne Hathway couldn’t catch a break after starring in The Princess Diaries. She told the Los Angeles Times that the Princess Diaries almost cost her a lead role in 2007’s Becoming Jane.
Hathaway said the movie director only agreed to give her a shot at the audition after watching a few clips from Brokeback Mountain that were yet to be released.
However, Hathaway reportedly bombed her first audition and showed up to her second with a couple of hours’ sleep. The Intern actress recalled, “I was tired, and I wasn’t in a very good mood. I guess Julian realized that I wasn’t the happy, smiley, untroubled girl from The Princess Diaries. He offered me the role after that.”
Despite the struggles, in 2019, Hathaway announced she will reprise her role in Princess Diaries 3.