Between an Oscar nomination for "Rachel Getting Married," a chock-full shooting schedule of exciting films and that unpleasant little incident in which her boyfriend turned out to be a bona fide white-collar criminal, Anne Hathaway's life over the past few years has been the definition of "dramatic"—both onscreen and off. But professional challenges and personal setbacks haven't stopped the doe-eyed actress from coming into her own in a major way: pushing the limits with emotionally-charged roles, planning for a bright and busy future, and even stepping back into the dating pool after her highly-public heartbreak.
Anne is radiant and glamorous in Oscar de la Renta on the cover of November's Vogue, and in the accompanying interview, her energy shines through. She's about to have a big year, wrapping up the production of "Love and Other Drugs" (in which she stars alongside Jake Gyllenhaal) before diving right into filming for the romantic drama "One Day." Her career has taken a turn for the serious—a departure from her earlier roles as a princess in need of a makeover—and Anne credits her critically-acclaimed role in "Rachel Getting Married" for the transformation.
"I felt far closer to the person that I wanted to be and the actress that I wanted to be than I ever had before," she says. And when the script for "Love and Other Drugs" landed in her lap, she immediately identified with the complexity of her character: "I heard her voice so strongly in my head, and when that happens I just can’t tune it out. She feels like a girl you might actually know."
Her Oscar-nominated turn prepared her well for a year of playing roles that are nakedly vulnerable, nakedly emotional, and... well, just plain naked. Of her steamy scenes with Jake in the not-yet-released film, she says, "This movie certainly has a lot of nerve. Oy. I hope that audiences are OK with all the nerve."
But don't be on the lookout for any residual romance between the two. These days, Anne's heart belongs to fellow actor Adam Shulman, her first acknowledged relationship since the catastrophic implosion of her romance with the now-jailed Raffaello Follieri. Not one to dwell, she tells Vogue that "I hate talking about the breakup, because I don’t want it to define me, but as is to be expected, there were a lot of lingering trust issues"—and when pressed for details about her current relationship, she won't do much more than acknowledge that "things sped up" once it became official. (But don't worry, she's not bitter. When asked to describe her dealbreakers when it comes to men, her response is, "Uh . . . fraud?" followed by hearty laughter.)
Meanwhile, Anne is looking to the future, where she's taken on the challenge of playing a character who ages 20 years in the course of "One Day," and in real life, where she's happily making plans that range from finishing college to starting a family to being a gofer for the much-admired Tilda Swinton. And when asked to project herself into the next decade, Anne is confident and unafraid.
"What I’ve observed and what I’ve imagined—and definitely what I’m hoping—happens as you get older is that there’s a mellowing, an acceptance that comes with time," she says. "I guess that I’ll find out."
Will you be checking out Anne's upcoming movies?
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