The Tens: The Hathaway Path-a-way

image courtesy of popcrush.com

Anne Hathaway's story starts in 2001, when she went from a completely unknown teenager to the star of The Princess Diaries practically overnight since her big screen debut in 2001, she's been one of the biggest stars in all of Hollywood. She spent a few years doing the wholesome teen-star thing before deliberately blowing that image up - 2005's Brokeback Mountain marked her break from teen films, and then 2006 sealed the deal: The Devil Wears Prada came out that year and became one of the most iconic films of the decade, the kind of movie millennials still quote and rewatch constantly. By 2008 she picked up her first Oscar nomination for Rachel Getting Married, and it was clear she wasn't just a rom-com face - she could actually act.

Then came 2011, and the Oscars ceremony everyone remembers for the wrong reasons. She co-hosted alongside James Franco, and the whole thing got roasted relentlessly - but let's be honest about who was actually phoning it in up there. She was trying, visibly, the entire night. He looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. She took the fall in the cultural memory anyway, which feels like the first real instance of the industry deciding to be weirdly ungenerous toward her specifically.

Which brings us to 2012 and Les Misérables - the role that finally got her the Oscar, playing Fantine, the same year she was also blowing up screens as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. The backlash had already started, the "she wants it too much" narrative, like visibly caring about your craft and your career is some kind of character flaw. Here's the thing people conveniently forget: she's a theater kid down to her bones. She trained in musical theater, she treats every performance like it's opening night on Broadway, and that intensity is exactly what makes her good. Wanting to win isn't fake or grating - it's just what happens when someone who actually loves the work gets a shot at the biggest recognition for it. She got punished for sincerity in an industry that usually rewards affected indifference.

And now 2026 - this is possibly her biggest year yet. She's got five films releasing this year, more than in any year of her career: Mother Mary (April), The Devil Wears Prada 2 (May), Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey (July), the sci-fi survival film The End of Oak Street (August), and the Colleen Hoover thriller Verity (October), plus talk of a Princess Diaries 3 and a Paramount+ series on the horizon. It's the third major peak of her twenty-five-year career, and the first time the films span this many genres at once - pop-star psychodrama, legacy sequel, mythological epic, sci-fi thriller, psychological drama. After more than two decades of getting written into a "wants it too much" narrative, she's answering with pure volume and range. It's a genuine renaissance, and it's about time.

So, this time around in The Tens, we are looking at the career of Anne Hathaway through films of hers I have yet to see. Watch along, make suggestions, and share your thoughts. Be nice.

• Ella Enchanted (2004)

• Havoc (2005)

• Becoming Jane (2007)

• Song One (2014)

• The Intern (2015)

• Ocean's Eight (2018)

• Serenity (2019)

• Armageddon Time (2022)

• Mother's Instinct (2024)

• The Idea of You (2024)

*List subject to change based on availability. Or because I changed my mind.