Anne Hathaway Had To Improvise Her Princess Diaries Makeover Scene

Anne Hathaway is revisiting one of her most beloved roles. Appearing in Vanity Fair’s Scene Selection video series, the actor looked back on her breakout performance in The Princess Diaries, revealing that a memorable scene was actually improvised.

In the 2001 film, Hathaway’s character, Mia Thermopolis, receives a makeover by Paolo (Larry Miller). While combing through Mia’s particularly frizzy hair, Paolo breaks his brush. Apparently, the “stubborn” hairbrush used on set made filming more difficult than expected.

“So he really had to break the brush in this,” Hathaway recalled while rewatching the scene. “They pre-broke the brush and it was supposed to break kinda easily but it didn’t quite happen. So that’s me and Larry kind of improvising, trying to get it to go. I don’t remember if the ‘ow’ was real or if I was just buying him some time.”

Based on Meg Cabot’s same-named novel, The Princess Diaries follows Mia, who unexpectedly learns she’s heir to the throne of a foreign land. The film spawned a sequel, 2004’s The Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement, which stars Chris Pine as Mia’s dashing love interest, Nicholas Devereaux.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Hathaway reflected on the first film’s success, which she says “felt so big.” “It wound up being so big and it’s kind of just gotten bigger as my life has progressed,” she said. “I’m just so proud to be in this movie, I’m really glad that I’m that girl in there.”

Hathaway also recalled the life lessons that co-star Julie Andrews (Queen Clarisse Renaldi) taught her on set.

“I’ve learned that I want to handle myself in a way that I’m going to be proud of at a later date,” she told the magazine, saying that Andrews would sign autographs for fans after filming. “She respected that they had a relationship to her work that spanned their entire lives and made it a beautiful experience for them.”

Another Film Could Be On The Way

With The Princess Diaries 3 reportedly in development, Hathaway has expressed interest in reprising her role alongside Andrews.

“I’m pulling for it. If there’s any way to get Julie Andrews involved, I think we would make it work,” she told Entertainment Tonight in 2022. “We would go to where she was and put a green screen behind her and just make it happen.”