A24 has today shared an exclusive behind-the-scenes preview of Mother Mary, David Lowery‘s (A Ghost Story, The Green Knight) psychosexual pop thriller. The footage offers audiences a candid sneak peek into the chaos, creativity, and tension that unfolded offstage during the shoot. The featurette sees Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel guide viewers through the intricacies of staging a high-stakes comeback performance.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of Cologne, Germany, the film explores fame and friendship under duress, focusing on the fraught reunion between pop star Mother Mary (Hathaway) and her estranged best friend and former costume designer, Sam Anselm (Coel).
The backstage material offers a rare insight into Hathaway’s immersive approach, showing her navigating scenes without the original songs in place — a challenge she described to Vogue as ‘the most demanding role of my career’. “I had to submit to being a beginner,” Hathaway explained, embracing the uncertainty and rawness that inform her character’s volatile presence.
Those original songs, written by Jack Antonoff and Charli XCX – with contributions from FKA Twigs, who also appears in the film – were shaped directly by Hathaway’s on-screen presence. Charli XCX explained that early footage informed the sonic direction: “Anne’s movement was super graphic, very thrashing and jerky and bold… volatile and gripping, so Jack and I went away and thought about that.”
The supporting cast includes Hunter Schafer, Athena Frizzell, Kaia Gerber, Jessica Brown Findlay, Alba Baptista and Sian Clifford, completing a line-up that features boundary-pushing performers from the worlds of film, fashion and music.
Mother Mary is set to arrive in theaters in April 2026.
