Anne Hathaway may be facing dinosaurs in The End of Oak Street, but it was her bond with her human and canine co-stars that made the experience unforgettable. The Oscar-winning actor said that while filming the sci-fi adventure, she developed such a close rapport with Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella and Christian Convery that they eventually felt like a real family.
Hathaway also praised McGregor, who plays her on-screen husband in David Robert Mitchell's film. The story follows the Platt family as their suburban neighbourhood is mysteriously transported to a dinosaur-filled world.
Speaking exclusively to India Today about working with McGregor, Hathaway said he brought an infectious sense of fun to the set and effortlessly handled the film's demanding action sequences.
She said, "Ewan is such a joy. He's a joy to act with; he's just a joy to sit next to in a director's chair in between shots. He's just a lovely human, and I was just really looking forward to seeing him play this part. I always think that Ewan brings the most wonderful energy, just a sense of fun to all of his roles, and so I was really excited to have that dynamic with the person who would be playing my husband, to see what kind of relationship we would have with that."
"And then once we got into the action portion of the film, all of a sudden you see all of Ewan's many years of stunt training kick in. And he was phenomenal. I mean, he could pick up stunts like that -- swing a sledgehammer like it's a lightsaber -- so he's just absolutely wonderful, a dream co-star, great laugh, A-pluses across the board," she added.
Hathaway also spoke warmly about her younger co-stars, saying she was particularly impressed by Christian Convery's ability to switch between emotionally demanding scenes and his carefree personality off camera. She revealed that she and Maisy Stella became close friends during the filming.
"Christian and Maisy, they're such gifted actors. Christian was a really young child when we did this film, and it would just be amazing to see him go in and out of these zones where he would have to be so emotional and focused as an actor, and then they would yell 'cut', and he would just be a boy again. It was just lovely to see that. And Maisy and I became really good friends on this one; we just found a wavelength together. So, it did feel like a family in that we all just loved and trusted each other so much. It became a real pleasure to go to work every day and then hang out with these wonderful people," she said.
The actor also reserved special praise for Starbuck, the family's dog in the film, a role shared by two canine actors, Buzz and Brisket.
According to Hathaway, Buzz brought emotional depth with his expressive face and soulful eyes, while Brisket handled the physically demanding action scenes, including swimming, climbing out of pools and sprinting on cue. She even suggested that Starbuck could end up becoming the film's standout character.
"Starbuck, who I think once everybody sees the film, will understand, is the undisputed hero of the film. He was played by two dogs, Buzz and Brisket. Each one has wonderful strengths. Buzz has one of the most cinematic canine faces I've ever seen. You just put a camera on him, and you just fall in love, and you would do anything for this dog. He's just really got very beautiful, soulful eyes. And then you have Brisket, who's like our powerhouse, because the character of Starbuck needed to be emotionally resonant, but then he also needed to do a lot of serious action work, so that's when Brisket would be the one that you could ask to jump into a pool and then swim and then climb himself out of the pool and then run at full speed. So, we were lucky to have both of them," Hathaway said.
Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, The End of Oak Street is scheduled to release in Indian theatres on August 14 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
