Anne Hathaway Got Real About Why This Chapter Of Her Career Is Like Her ‘Eras Tour,’ And I Didn’t See That ‘Blank Space’ Comment Coming
Anne Hathaway has been booked and busy lately. The Dark Knight Rises actress has five upcoming films on the 2026 movie schedule, most notably Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, the Colleen Hoover adaptation Verity, and the highly anticipated The Devil Wears Prada 2. It’s been 20 years since the original 2000s movie came out, and it’s not the only early Hathaway film getting this treatment. A third installment to the Princess Diaries series was announced, and the Ocean’s 8 actress got real about this chapter of her career being like her “Eras Tour,” but I didn’t see her “Blank Space” comment coming.
The Devil Wears Prada 2, which hits theaters Friday, May 1, comes at a time when 2000s nostalgia is at an all-time high, with recent reboots such as Freakier Friday and the upcoming Legally Blonde prequel. The Devil Wears Prada is one of the best movies of the 2000s, so it doesn’t surprise me that it’s next in line. Andy Sachs is also arguably one of Anne Hathaway’s most recognizable characters, and Joe Coscarelli and Jon Caramanica of the New York Times recently asked the Get Smart actress if she had any reservations returning to her most popular works, to which she said:
I’m actually pretty delighted that somebody’s asked me to come back and basically do the equivalent of a stadium tour and play the hits.
That immediately struck a chord in Coscarelli and Caramanica, who called these long-awaited franchise sequels Hathaway’s own Eras Tour, referencing, of course, Taylor Swift’s blockbuster stadium tour in which she performed the biggest hits from her (then) 11 albums. Originally coined by Swift, the term “Eras Tour” really has taken on a life of its own in pop culture, used to describe any victory lap through an artist’s most well-known work.
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The comparison to the “Fortnight” singer is quite ironic, given Hathaway’s character in A24’s thriller Mother Mary, which premiered last week, was partially inspired by Swift’s tours. Along with that movie, the 43-year-old actress has spent the last few years working in the alternative indie scene, on projects such as Eileen and Mother’s Instinct.
It’s a section of film Hathaway says she was prepared to exist in during this stretch of her career. So when the calls came to return to memory lane, the Interstellar actress says she was taken by surprise, but that it’s given her perspective on her nearly three decades in Hollywood:
And because I went off and did my weird thing and I followed all those instincts, I appreciate, actually, the artistry of the hits. There’s a reason why they’re beloved. They’re really, really good. The Devil Wears Prada is a wonderful movie.
No arguments here. Everything from the 2000s runway fashion to the insanely quotable lines is iconic, making me wonder why it took 20 years for a sequel. Therefore, there’s a lot of hype surrounding The Devil Wears Prada 2, something Coscarelli acknowledges within his Taylor Swift metaphor, by saying it’s really hard to write “Anti-Hero.”
As a Swiftie, I can confirm this NYT journalist knows his stuff. “Anti-Hero” was Swift’s single off her 2022 album Midnights. It was the Grammy winner’s 10th studio album, and her big return to pop after her expedition into the indie-folk genre of Folklore and Evermore. With her past pop catalog including 2016’s Album of the Year 1989 and fan-favorite Reputation, there were a lot of expectations with “Anti-Hero,” not unlike the expectations surrounding The Devil Wears Prada 2.
However, Hathaway totally flipped the script, responding with a surprising 1989 reference:
It’s really hard to write ‘Blank Space.’ It shouldn’t get dinged because we’ve listened to it several thousand times.
That’s real talk right there. You think it’s hard writing the follow-up to a great hit? Try writing a big hit in the first place! Once you’ve got a beloved fan base, it’s much easier to ride that nostalgia train. To Hathaway’s point, the challenge is getting people on board in the first place.
That being said, if the Devil Wears Prada 2 is “Blank Space” (and I totally agree with that), then the Princess Diaries is clearly “You Belong With Me,” making the Princess Diaries 3 “But Daddy I Love Him” off of TTPD. If you are wondering why The Princess Diaries isn’t “Love Story,” it’s because that’s reserved for Ella Enchanted, and I’m holding out hope it’s the next movie to get the Anne Hathaway Eras Tour treatment.
