Watch Anne Hathaway’s Interview on TODAY in 2004

Anne Hathaway received a regal welcome from moviegoers everywhere with the 2001 release of The Princess Diaries, a funny coming-of-age story about the unpopular girl who becomes royalty overnight. Well, now she plays the title role in the modern fairy tale, Ella Enchanted. What do you think you're doing to that poor elf? Who's this who thinks she's so tough? Look, I think it's only fair to warn you that I'm practiced in the ancient art of origami. Paper folding? Oh, I was hoping you wouldn't know what that was. Don't let him scare you, sweetheart. Kick his butt! Anne Hathaway, good morning. Hi, Anne. It's such a pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much, you too. My mom is so excited that I'm here. Oh, really? Hi, Mom. Well, my daughters are very excited that you're here, because we're all big fans of yours from The Princess Diaries, and now you're doing Ella Enchanted, which is based on a book, and I want to give due credit, by Gail Carson Levine. And I know that my daughter Ellie has read the book. Had you read the book before you started this project? Yes, I had. I was given the book to read a few years ago, actually by Miramax. They said they were turning it into a film, and I was actually really annoyed with myself that I hadn't found it before then, because after I read it, I just was astounded. It instantly became one of my favorites. They took some poetic license, though, with the book, because Ellie was watching the movie, and she said, Mom, this is supposed to be in medieval times. And I said, well, it is, but it definitely has a modern twist, a modern take on the story, right, in terms of the movie? Definitely. I mean, fans of the book probably will notice a lot of differences, but I think the book is so beautiful on its own, and I think the film works really well on its own, and they are connected, though, by the same character, by the same kind of sense of fun and freedom and kind of the belief in magic. It's a good movie. It's sort of a twist on the classic Cinderella tale, too. It's amazing to me that the Cinderella story just never seems to grow old and tired. There are new takes on it all the time, and children and grown-ups, people just love that story. They do. I think it's a fun one to revisit, because there's something really safe about and really liking that. But also, I think it's wonderful to rediscover it as we kind of get older and can add new perspectives to it. It's wonderful to introduce that to children. And I sort of think that people like it, because there's such a clear delineation between good and evil. I mean, the Stepsisters are so wicked and so awful and deplorable. They're pretty bad in this one, too. They're so nasty. I hated them so much. Well, the dumb one, you can't hate. You pity. You just feel sorry for her. But the awful one is just… She's just cruel. Cruel and disgusting. She's like everything an obnoxious teenager is, right? And to give Lucy Punch credit, that's all a performance. She's the loveliest girl in the entire world. We actually got to be very good friends during the course of filming. I know you've compared this or described it as a combo between sort of The Princess Diaries and Shrek. It did have a bit of a Shrek-ian quality. I don't know if Harvey Weinstein appreciates my saying that. But the fantasy and the sort of funny lines in it, I think, borrows a little bit from that, don't you? I think definitely. The fact that it's kind of making fun of the fact that it's a fairy tale, or maybe not even making fun, but the fact that it's aware that it is a fairy tale is definitely similar to Shrek. But it's still very, very different as well. And in a lot of ways, one, it's live action. So that's kind of the main one. Right, right, right. It's not animated. Why don't we tell people briefly what it's about? Because I mentioned it's a take on the Cinderella story, but it's about Ella Afrel. And instead of Cinderella, the Ella character, being sort of a girl who's very good and patiently does chores and is kind of waiting for someone to save her, she's a girl who actually, the day she was born, was given a fairy gift, the gift of obedience. But it quickly proves to be a curse, and she has to do everything that anyone tells her to do. And she gets into a lot of really kind of bad situations because of it. So she makes the decision to go off and break the spell herself. And I love the movie. I think it has a really great political kind of undertone about what it means to be oppressed and how to overcome that and why it's not a good idea, which is a good message. And what it means to be a woman who's empowered to basically take her destiny in her own hands. I noticed that too when I was reading it. I'm like, am I the only one noticing a metaphor for the glass ceiling right here? You're 21 years old. And I have to say, I so admire the fact that you have not sort of succumbed to the trappings of celebrity and sort of the sleaziness that seems to attract a lot of young actresses these days. I'll probably get in trouble for saying that, but we don't judge. We don't judge. But how have you kind of resisted kind of going in that direction? Because I'm sure there's pressure on you too, right? Yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot. It was, to be perfectly honest, the reception that Princess Diaries got floored me. I was so flattered, but I was also really scared because all of a sudden my life just got a lot bigger and I didn't feel ready for it. So it was really kind of no decision whatsoever. And I thought the best place for me was back at school. So I went back to college where I am currently. Can I ask where you are? Yeah, I go to Vassar. And so I'm a sophomore and so I've gotten a few semesters in. And that's really, really grounding for me. I know it's so cliche to be like, well, that keeps me grounded. But it makes me always kind of rethink who I am and what I want. And because of that, I feel like I can do better work. And it makes me rethink whether or not I actually want the whole celebrity thing, because it's a nasty little beast, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, I have a little taste of it and it's tough, especially for someone who's young. Well, it's very confusing. And there's a lot of different ways that your head can get turned and you can go down false paths and get distracted from what you really want. Well, what's next for Anne Hathaway? What's next for me? Well, I've just completed Princess Diaries 2. There is going to be a sequel. Is Julie Andrews in that one? Julie Andrews is in it. She is amazing. How much do you love Julie Andrews? She's the nicest person. I always love Julie Andrews, but I really love Jules, too. Oh, it's Jules. It's fine. I get to call her Jules. To me, it's Julie Andrews. So you've got that. Are you working on anything else? Yes, actually. I was just cast in a role that I'm so excited about. I'm going to be doing Ang Lee's next movie called Brokeback Mountain. Cool. Yeah. It's with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams. Not too shabby. That's great. I'm very, very excited. I sort of feel like I just am allowed to be in the cool club right now. And I'm like, me? Cool. Awesome. Well, I think it's great. Congratulations on all your success. And best of luck to you. And keep your feet on the ground because it seems like you've got a good hat on your shoulders. I'm trying. Thanks. Anyway, you can see Anne, by the way, on the big screen when Ellen Enchanted hits theaters on April 9th. Up next, talk about flashbacks to the SAT. Al puts us to the test in a word power quiz. But first, I hope he's not going to test me. This is Today on NBC. When you're on the go, just follow the Today podcast on Apple podcast, Spotify or wherever you listen.