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<p>Over the last few years, Anne Hathaway has worked on so many hardcore dramas that when she began shooting &#8220;The Intern&#8221; &#8211; her first comedy in nearly half a decade &#8212; she began by searching for the sadness in Jules, her sunny character.</p><p>&#8220;It took me a long time to crack Jules because I kept looking for her deep, dark secret but, as it turns out, she is really just a wonderful person,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Her secret is her strength. She&#8217;s just this great boss and a deeply decent person.&#8221;</p><p>Just because Jules is a good egg doesn&#8217;t mean she&#8217;s free of problems. In fact, when &#8220;The Intern&#8221; began, Jules, the founder of a fashion-website, was under a great deal of pressure, trying to keep her company on track while juggling a husband (Anders Holm) and a young daughter.</p><p>&#8220;The reason the story is being told about her in that moment is that she is under unbelievable stress,&#8221; Hathaway said. &#8220;Jules has everything she needs to navigate this moment except space and a compassionate ear.&#8221;</p><p>Enter her new intern Ben, a restless retiree looking for a new challenge. As played by Robert DeNiro, Ben is the missing ingredient in Jules&#8217; life.</p><p>&#8220;What Ben brings to Jules is a tremendous amount of compassion,&#8221; Hathaway said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if it is a generational thing but I feel there is a lot of judgment in the world, particularly when people are in a more visible position like Jules is as a CEO of a startup that&#8217;s grown so quickly.</p><p>&#8220;There is a lot of judgment for people in those kinds of positions but Ben does not judge her. He observes and gives her a safe space full of compassion and understanding. And she thrives in that place.&#8221;</p><p>Hathaway knows something about having a thriving career. After making her film debut in &#8220;The Princess Diaries,&#8221; she&#8217;s built an impressive resume that includes both dramas like &#8220;Brokeback Mountain&#8221; and &#8220;Passengers&#8221; as well as comedies such as &#8220;The Devil Wears Prada,&#8221; &#8220;Rachel Getting Married&#8221; and &#8220;Get Smart.&#8221;</p><p>In 2012, the Brooklyn-born, Millburn, New Jersey-raised actress enjoyed a dream year. She co-starred in the box-office smash &#8220;The Dark Knight Rises&#8221; and netted a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her heart-wrenching turn in &#8220;Les Miserables.&#8221;</p><p>After shooting the deadly serious sci-fi drama &#8220;Interstellar&#8221; for Christopher Nolan, Hathaway jumped at the chance to star in &#8220;The Intern,&#8221; the latest laughfest from Nancy Myers which opened in theaters Sept. 25. Many of Myers&#8217; previous films like &#8220;It&#8217;s Complicated&#8221; and &#8220;Something&#8217;s Got To Give&#8221; were romances but, in &#8220;The Intern,&#8221; the relationship between Jules and Ben is strictly platonic.</p><p>&#8220;I think Jules does not really have anyone to confide in and then she meets Ben and their friendship develops organically,&#8221; said Hathaway, 32. &#8220;She ends up opening up to him and taking his advice because she really, really respects him.</p><p>&#8220;One of the things I love about the movie is that Jules has so much heart and she builds (this company) that has incredible structure and may have bones but there is no connective tissue. And nobody at the company knows how to build connective tissue. Then Ben comes in and he figures out how to get everyone to connect together.</p><p>&#8220;I just love the observation that in this day and age where we have the (technological) tools for communication at our disposal&#8230;it&#8217;s not as effective as just having a one-on-one conversation. I thought Nancy made great observations about how old school meets the new world and how each is made better from the other.&#8221;</p><p>In the movie, Hathaway and DeNiro portray a deepening friendship but, in real-life, they did little to prepare for those scenes.</p><p>&#8220;Did Bob and I do some extreme bonding at the Century 21 Mall? No. But it&#8217;s a funny thing because I just trusted everything would be okay&#8230; Bob is an easy guy to get along with,&#8221; Hathaway said. &#8220;He is, as Nancy said, incredibly Zen, calm and approachable.</p><p>&#8220;I could not talk around him for the first three weeks. I just felt like an idiot with everything I said&#8230;But it didn&#8217;t matter how I felt because Jules feels comfortable around Ben and I just trusted that would carry us.</p><p>&#8220;I knew Nancy would guide us. Also I had film history on my side. Bob is good at having chemistry with lots of people so I assumed as long as I did not mess things up, we would be okay.&#8221;</p><p>At the beginning of the shoot, Hathaway wasn&#8217;t quite so calm about the challenge of portraying a stressed-out character. Initially, the actress wanted to play Jules as overwhelmed and a bit frantic. But Myers asked Hathaway to showcase Jules&#8217; strength and serenity.</p><p>&#8220;I had this moment where I thought, OK, we see it different ways and am I going to feel so uncomfortable the entire time if I am not following my instincts? But then I thought to myself, `Who knows a Nancy Meyers character better than Nancy Meyers?&#8217;</p><p>&#8220;These characters are beloved. I thought, &#8216;They&#8217;re beloved by you so trust her!&#8217; And it became this wonderful exercise in being guided through a character, which is very new for me. So, I felt like it was a true collaboration.&#8221;</p><p>In the end, Jules&#8217; positivity had a great effect on Hathaway.</p><p>&#8220;I cannot explain why it happened for me on this movie, or if it was my character or just being around Bob&#8217;s Zen, but, up until now, I&#8217;ve made my movies from a place of insecurity, neurosis and self-doubt,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But I just got tired of it and decided to come from a more positive place.</p><p>&#8220;I decided to feel good about what I was doing and embrace the unknown and not assume that if I did not have a clear idea of how things would go, it would be bad. I decided to actually trust that the unknown could be good.</p><p>&#8220;I had a wonderful time making this movie and I think it yielded a more relaxed performance. I am so proud of the work we did and what we created. As it turns out, you can make a movie without non-stop sleepless nights.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro costar in &#8220;The Intern&#8221; which hit theaters Sept. 25. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_intern.jpg</photo0><caption0>Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro costar in &#8220;The Intern&#8221; which hit theaters Sept. 25. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_intern2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro costar in &#8220;The Intern&#8221; which hit theaters Sept. 25. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_intern2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro costar in &#8220;The Intern&#8221; which hit theaters Sept. 25. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>&#8216;A Walk In the Woods&#8217; tells the story of friendship, adventure and nature</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Amy Longsdorf | For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Amy Longsdorf is the Times Leader&#8217;s ticket into the Hollywood movie world. Her column, Vintage Videos, include reviews of DVDs with local ties. She also interviews stars of soon-to-be-released movies.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro show comedic chops in “The Intern”