Anne Hathaway is “having fun” as she prepares for her role in an upcoming New York theater production of Twelfth Night — she’s been stuffing her pants with socks to better understand how to portray a man.
The Devil Wears Prada star — who is due to take to the stage as part of the Big Apple’s Shakespeare in the Park series, which kicks off later this month — plays Viola, a girl who disguises herself as a man called Cesario.
“I’m having a fun little time with Cesario right now,” Hathaway said. “My character is a girl who’s shipwrecked and she arrives on a strange shore where she doesn’t know anyone, and it occurs to her that the best way to take care of herself is to pretend that she’s a boy.
“I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t walked around my apartment with a sock shoved down the front! All of a sudden, you just understand. You stand differently and it’s just like, yeah!”
Hathaway also admits she’s nervous about making her Shakespearean speech — because she has struggled to master the 16th century dialogue.
“It’s really tough actually,” she said. “I used to go to musical theater camps and at one of them we had a wonderful Shakespearean coach, and when I was 16, I thought I knew everything. So when this opportunity [to do Shakespeare in the Park] came up, I was like, ‘I was great’, it came so naturally.
“And it turns out that I was just lying to myself! It’s not easy! At first I was like, wouldn’t it be so cool if I was some like, Shakespearean prodigy and now my expectations are like, wouldn’t it be great if no one threw fruit at me! And now I’m just like, if they do, let the fruit be fresh!”
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