Anne Hathaway is responsible for my first entertainment mirage of 2019, something that seems too good to be real and news that made me do a few double-takes. Variety reports she’s joined the cast of Todd Haynes’s upcoming legal drama about the DuPont chemical scandal, opposite Mark Ruffalo. Word is it starts filming next week in Cincinnati. I almost feel like I need to see this collaboration for my own eyes in order to accept that it’s happening.

In fact, Lainey’s the one who sent this casting news to my inbox, with the subject line: “Did you conjure this?”

For some background, Far From Heaven is one of my favourite movies, and I’m a staunch Annie supporter. I’ve previously written about how her social media engagement with a joke made by Amy Schumer in Trainwreck at her expense was a savvy play to prove she can skewer her public image, or about how totally fearless she was in Colossal (and how “down to earth” she was at the after party. I’ll never get the barefoot, Givenchy leather overalls-and-a-topknot, nursing a beer look out of my head). And let’s be real, after her sly turn in Ocean’s 8, how can you not be back in her corner? 

Anyway. Here’s a light power ranking of reasons to be pumped for this new movie:

1)    Annie!
2)    Todd Haynes!
3)    Legal vengeance (is this Erin Brockovich with the soul of Carol or Wonderstruck? With a lush Douglas Sirk-like palette? Is this a part of the Safe universe [where Julianne Moore plays a housewife who seemingly develops environmental allergies], but based on a true story? Sign me up!)
4)    MARK RUFFALO (also a producer!)
5)    Victor Garber!
6)    Post-The Sinner Bill Pullman!

I could go on, but nobody needs that many exclamation marks. Todd Haynes does an excellent job at bringing awards-worthy, bold performances out of his stars. Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and of course, Julianne Moore have all received plenty of acclaim for their work in his films. And now, Annie joins that leading lady club.

It's a great move for her, after a series of big swings. 

Anne has a packed release calendar this year. First up is the upcoming mysterious thriller Serenity, which despite its acclaimed cast (it rightfully bills Matthew McConaughey and Annie as Oscar winners, and Diane Lane and Djimon Honsou as nominees), looks pretty incoherent. Sleeping with the Enemy or Double Jeopardy with a hint of Shutter Island, but with exes? I’d say “sign me up,” except the trailers are confounding. Also, it comes out in two weeks, and save for Annie’s Town and Country cover, and a leapfrogging release date, it doesn’t seem to be garnering any interest. Plus, the posters resemble the fake movies on Seinfeld, which doesn’t help its cause. Something tells me this film won’t make as much of a splash critically or commercially as the last time Anne and Matthew worked together, on Interstellar. It looks ridiculous. In Town and Country, Annie said she took the role because it’s a part she never gets sent, that of a vampy, “hot blonde” divorcee. Weird flex, but okay.

Then, there’s her Dirty Rotten Scoundrels remake The Hustle, a broad comedy two-hander with Rebel Wilson, which sees her going back to her Get Smart vibe. She’ll follow that up with some Amazon money, in the anthology series Modern Love, which had her dancing in the streets. 

Oh, and she plays a reporter on the edge in Dee Rees’s follow up to Mudbound, The Last Thing He Wanted, opposite Ben Affleck. Those are all in the can, and show a wide variety of range, so why not continue her streak of doing whatever she likes by picking a project that interests her… and me?