Anne Hathaway Stars In The Princess Diaries And Brokeback Mountain

Anne Hathaway Stars In The Princess Diaries And Brokeback Mountain

Mere days after performing with her high school chorus at Carnegie Hall, Anne Hathaway was cast in the new FOX series, Get Real, in 1999. The series was a bust and she went on to enroll at New York University, but an audition came her way for 2001's The Princess Diaries. According to director Garry Marshall, she wiped out during the audition and immediately got the part. Anne Hathaway remembers the story differently, but irregardless, she won the role of an unpopular girl who learns that she is, in fact, royalty. The plot connected well with its royalty-seeking tween audience, making the Disney film a hit and spawning an equally-successful sequel in 2004.

While Anne Hathaway wasn't outwardly disappointed that the Princess Diaries films -- and to a lesser degree 2004's Ella Enchanted -- had branded her as an actress for family movies, she wanted to show that she could do more. As such, she began to play totally against type, first as a drug and sex-chasing teen in the steamy Havoc, which never saw a theatrical release but picked up a significant following for obvious reasons (read: nudity) on DVD. Anne Hathaway had more success in the serious role of a struggling wife to cowboy Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain, which was instrumental in getting her cast opposite her screen hero, Meryl Streep, in The Devil Wears Prada.