According to Anne Hathaway, if it hadn't been for her sick chocolate lab keeping her awake all night, she might not have gotten the role of the much-loved British author Jane Austen in the new film "Becoming Jane," which opens Friday.
"I have to thank the maker of the hotel slipper that poisoned my dog," the gamin 24-year-old actress says with a wide smile. (Her lab recovered from the incident.)
Flash back to two years ago. Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," for which Hathaway received nice notices for her dramatic turn as Jake Gyllenhaal's social-climbing wife, had yet to be released. She was months away from costarring in the blockbuster comedy "The Devil Wears Prada" with Meryl Streep.
Filmmakers and audiences knew her primarily for her goody-two-shoes image in Disney's "Princess Diaries" comedies.
"I was associated with tiara flicks," she says, relaxing in her hotel suite at the Four Seasons during a recent visit to Los Angeles.
So Hathaway says she had to beg for an audition to play the writer of the classic novels "Pride and Prejudice," "Emma" and "Sense and Sensibility."
Director Julian Jarrold ("Kinky Boots"), she admits, wasn't very excited about seeing her. " 'Brokeback' wasn't out, and I hadn't done anything that would show anyone any kind of depth. But when he screened a few of my scenes in 'Brokeback,' he said he would meet with me."
The first audition didn't go well. "I was at a different stage as an actress," says Hathaway. "I can't explain it without going into a lot of back story, but the point was I was very polite and safe in my interview. It wasn't right. So Julian called my manager and said, 'It's not a no, but certainly not a yes.' "
Hathaway asked for another audition, which brings her back to her sick pooch.
"The night before my audition, my dog decided to eat the hotel slipper, so she was up the whole night vomiting," she says. "I slept maybe an hour. When I arrived at the interview, I was tired and wasn't in a very good mood. I guess Julian realized that I wasn't the bright, happy, smiley, untroubled girl from 'The Princess Diaries.' He offered me the role after that."
Jarrold diplomatically says that he had forgotten all about the audition drama. "I am very glad she did it," he says. "Annie is somebody who is able to access sort of a period side compared to some other actresses who do feel incredibly modern. It was really a fine balance to find somebody the audience could relate to and provide access into the world of the 18th century."
