Hollywood sweetheart Anne Hathaway still can’t get over the “pinch me moment” that her latest onscreen endeavor has fetched her. The versatile actress, who’s earned the sobriquet of being cerebral at the same time oozing tons of spunk and creative urge to go to tremendous lengths to suit a particular role, spills the beans on the rigors of attaining a more svelte figure, Christian Bale and Bollywood in an interview. Excerpts: The Hollywood movie buff relates to you mostly as the star of The Princess Diaries and Devil Wears Prada. Were there any apprehensions before bagging the role of Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises? It was funny for me because when I got my start, I kind of got my big break with The Princess Diaries and during the press rounds for that everyone asked me: ‘Did you always want to be a princess growing up?’ And the truth was, ‘no I wanted to be Catwoman’. And I think a lot of women feel that way. The fact that I am actually her is such a dream come true. It’s such a pinch me moment. And the fact that I am Catwoman in Chris Nolan’s Gotham to Christian Bale’s Batman is unbelievably cool. It was absolute joy and disbelief when I found out that I was going to play Selena. How was the experience of working with Christian Bale? It was amazing. Really heady to be in this company. One of the things that I love about working with Christian and this franchise is that it does feel like an ensemble each time. Christian is the leader of the actors and he is so lovely, so I haven’t really thought about it to be honest. You have also shed a lot of weight for Les Miserables. What are the challenges involved in constantly remolding your physique to suit the character? I’d always thought I was pretty healthy and I always thought I had worked hard in the gym. It turns out that what I thought was ‘hard’ is actually is light to moderate in Catwoman’s world. However, I never really felt any real pressure in trying to reinvent a movie character. The pressure was felt in trying to impress Chris and in trying not to make him regret hiring me. Your view on Bollywood films. I would have to be living in a hole not to know about Bollywood. I haven’t seen very many films, but I do know that your film industry is exploding now, right? It’s huge!
