At one point, the trailer for David Lowery’s Mother Mary swears it’s not a love story. But at the New York premiere for the upcoming A24 musical drama, stars Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel revealed how much it is about love — and what one does for the craft, for partnerships, and oneself in the name of it.
“The other day somebody said to me it’s a horror movie and I said, ‘I didn’t design a horror movie. I designed a love story,” costume designer Bina Diageler said on the carpet Monday evening, while discussing how she pulled from Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, older and modern period looks, the lyrics and song titles, as well as nature to inspire the fashion of Mother Mary. “A love story, between friends, between people in a long term relationship, a creative relationship sometimes. Very often it’s also a love story because the emotions are so — you live so much in a creative process. That for me is like a love story.”
The film follows iconic pop star Mother Mary (Hathaway), who reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer (Coel) right before her comeback performance.
For Coel, that story sometimes ventures beyond friendship. “There’s so many ways to interpret this film. It’s like a dress needs to be made. A friendship needs to be repaired; they need to make each other come,” Coel told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m not going to lie, in the beginning I thought this is a platonic friendship and da-da da-da da. As the script progressed, I was like, I don’t know. When we did the measuring scene, part of me was like, ‘Yes, I need to measure you to make the dress.’ But it’s also like, ‘You need to have an orgasm. I’m going to give you one.’”
The I May Destroy You star traveled to Berlin to learn her character’s craft. And after being supported in life by her own mother (who in her early days designed her red carpet looks) and on set by a team of experts who ensured she was handling material like an expert, Coel’s character’s love story captures the emotional spectrum of being rendered invisible by a fellow creative and someone you love.
“It’s easy to understand these things as a woman, as a Black woman, as a person who is aware of Black history and the contributions that people in Black America have made to art and how they disappear. I had a playlist and my playlist was basically full of Black American soul artists from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s,” Coel explained. “It was just thinking about the amount that is drawn out from a creative, especially when they’re Black and female — just the credit that is lost and the pain of that. I’ve had a very privileged career and I’m so lucky, but I still understand. It’s hard to not understand. So in no way do I mean to say that I’ve had something like this, but I know that being in the shadows is something we understand very well.”
Michaela Coel, David Lowery and Anne Hathaway
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Hathaway, while discussing Mother Mary’s journey, also noted that she could partly relate and even draw upon her own character’s experience with pain. “I’ve known pain like everybody, but I’ve never been as laid bare as Mother Mary. I’ve definitely had to go out when I wanted armor and I felt like I was more soft underbelly,” the star said.
For Hathaway, who is in the midst of a PR flurry with the The Devil Wears Prada 2 release also just around the corner, there was a lot about the A24 film that made it a natural chapter in her big screen career. There’s working with David Lowery, “which mattered so much to me. He’s such a brilliant director and such a wonderful American auteur.” Then there’s the crowns of her pop star, which follow on the heels of the Genovia (Princess Diaries 3) and New York media (Prada) variety, as the actress playfully noted while talking to THR.
But also, what it is to be a woman navigating the lighter and darker sides of power and visibility while trying to still love and stay true to herself and her relationships. “As I got deeper and deeper into the character, I realized that Mother Mary is what I fear the most, which is what happens if you have to get up in front of people and you have none of your armor left. And in a way, she’s completely exposed when you meet her in the movie. She doesn’t even know if she’s real anymore. And for me, this film and where she’s at is a whole cry for help. But it’s also a last ditch effort of somebody trying to fight for life.”
Mother Mary hits select theaters on Friday before going wide April 24.
