Mother Mary: Everything We Know About Anne Hathaway’s Pop Melodrama

If you loved The Idea of You, this upcoming film should be firmly on your radar. This time, though, Anne Hathaway is the pop star.

Production has officially wrapped on Mother Mary, a new film penned and directed by David Lowery, who has previously worked across varied projects like Pete’s Dragon (2016), The Green Knight (2021) and Peter Pan & Wendy (2023). Co-financed by Topic Studios and A24 and distributed by the latter, the film is described as an ‘epic pop melodrama’ featuring a stellar cast – and we’ve got all the details.

Here’s everything you need to know about Mother Mary before it lands in cinemas later this month.

Mother Mary: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Mother Mary was first announced back in March 2023, with Anne Hathaway and British actor-writer extraordinaire Michaela Coel both attached to the project from the offset. Taking to Instagram to reveal filming had wrapped, Hathaway called Mother Mary ‘one of the most extraordinary, transformative experiences I have ever had’.

Coel is best known for penning and starring in I May Destroy You, for which she bagged a Primetime Emmy Award. And with another series, First Day on Earth, firmly in the works, it seems Coel is firmly reentering the zeitgeist.

Euphoria star Hunter Schafer completes the trio of leading women. Back on the red carpet for The Hunger Games: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Hunter Schafer revealed she was ‘mind-blown’ by the film, telling IndieWire: ‘It was a lot of fun and I think people are going to be mind-blown.’ We’re expecting something big…

Michaela Coel as Sam Anselm & Anne Hathaway as Mother Mary in Mother Mary. (Frederic Batier/A24)

What Will Happen?

Mother Mary delves into the glitzy world of celebrity, centring on the titular iconic popstar Mother Mary (Hathaway), who has crafted a larger-than-life persona across her decades-long career. Think Cher, Madonna, and the like.

Finding herself in crisis, on the eve of a comeback performance, Mother Mary reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselm (Coel), forcing long-buried wounds to the surface.

We’re told the film draws on writer-director Lowery’s own pop obsessions, and is a beguiling, dreamlike flick spliced with surreal horror. And the music will be fittingly stellar, penned by Charli xcx, Jack Antonoff and FKA Twigs, who also stars. ‘Pop songs have the power to unite millions with shared emotion – they can make you feel seen and heard, even heal a broken heart,’ Lowery tells A24. ‘Mother Mary is about how art can take something terrible and turn it into something beautiful.’

Does Anne Hathaway Sing?

Taking on the role of a popstar commands some popstar training – and Hathaway has been through the ringer for Mother Mary. She attended voice and dance training in preparation for the film, and in the trailer we get our first glimpse of her transformation: Hathaway performs on stage, dancing trancelike surrounded by backing dancers, singing ‘My Mouth Is Lonely For You’, a new track penned by FKA Twigs.

She reportedly trained in dance and movement ‘until her legs were numb’, according to A24, working with choreographer Dani Vitale who has worked with Rihanna, Katy Perry and Halsey. ‘Before I learned my lines, I had to figure out a way to dance as Mother Mary because so much of her expression is through movement,’ she says by way of explanation. ‘While I’ve always loved dancing, I wasn’t at the professional level of a modern-day pop star, so I locked myself in the dance studio, and did the hard work. I lived and breathed dance. When I wasn’t dancing, I went to dance performances and watched dance documentaries.’

But of course Hathaway is no stranger to singing. As Lowery puts it: ‘There’s a difference between what Anne did in Les Misérables versus what a pop star like Taylor Swift does on tour, but I knew she could command a modern-day concert stage.’

Elsewhere in the film, we will hear music penned and produced by FKA Twigs along with Charli xcx and Jack Antonoff, the Grammy Award winning producer best known for his collaborations with Taylor Swift, Lorde and, most recently, Sabrina Carpenter. But it’s another one of Antonoff’s frequent collaborators that inspired Hathaway most: St Vincent. ‘As we tried to find a way into this character, St. Vincent became like a North Star,’ Hathaway tells A24. ‘The way Annie [Clark, St Vincent’s real name] created a back story for herself as St. Vincent, which felt so layered it could be its own movie – Annie was instrumental in helping me create Mother Mary.’

Kaia Gerber, Sian Clifford & Anne Hathaway in Mother Mary. (Frederic Batier/A24)

Who Will Star?

It’s an all-women cast for Mother Mary, including:

• Anne Hathaway as Mother Mary
• Michaela Coel as Sam Anselm
• Hunter Schafer as Hilda, Sam’s assistant
• FKA Twigs as Imogen
• Atheena Frizzell as Emily
• Kaia Gerber as Nikki
• Jessica Brown Findlay as Tessa
• Sian Clifford as Jade
• Alba Baptista as Miel Contrera
• Isaura Barbé-Brown as Kyla

Where Was It Filmed?

Mother Mary was filmed in Germany, kicking off in May 2023. In July 2024, Hathaway confirmed filming had just wrapped. That said, the concert scenes were filmed in London’s Hyde Park, with 400 extras watching as Hathaway unleashed Mother Mary on stage. ‘I did everything I could to give them a genuine experience – it was amazing to receive their energy back,’ the star tells A24.

Release Date

Mother Mary will arrive in UK cinemas on Friday 24 April 2026. It’s 112 minutes long.

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