Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.independent.co.uk
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Anne Hathaway has explained why she slipped into “mom mode” and started directing paparazzi on at the premiere of her new film, Verity.
Last week, footage of Hathaway, 43, went viral after she was seen taking charge of the chaotic red carpet as she and her co-stars Josh Hartnett, 48, and Dakota Johnson, 37, posed for photos.
Hathaway recently appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where the host introduced the clip to his audience.
“I know exactly what you’re going to show, it can only be one thing. It’s horrifying; it is the stuff of nightmares, Jimmy” Hathaway said as the host protested.
“You kind of went into mom mode,” Fallon admitted.
The clip shows Hathaway directing photographers like an orchestra conductor, waving her arms and suggesting they take it in turns to get the best angle.
“It was like mom mode by way of chorus line,” Hathaway said after the video aired.
“I was trying to be helpful,” she explained. “There were so many of us and the photographers were getting upset, and the vibe was changing.”
She admitted that “as soon as [she] was done,” her first thought was, “Oh, no.”
“I was doing it because I was trying to get them their picture, but when I was done I was like, ‘but there’s also video!” And I went into a full cringe crouch from inside.
“I apologize, everybody. That girl came out to play last night. Actually, she didn’t come to play. She came for business,” Hathaway said.
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Another angle of the moment shared by Page Six shows Hathaway saying: “OK, everybody ready? We are going to start from the left and then we can make our way that way.”
Meanwhile, Johnson is heard joking: “I’m going to leave.”
Verity — the latest Colleen Hoover adaptation, directed by Michael Showalter — stars Hathaway as Verity Crawford, a successful crime writer who becomes incapacitated following a mysterious accident, leaving her husband (Hartnett) to hire a struggling writer, played by Johnson, to complete her bestselling series. But after uncovering a disturbing manuscript, she begins to suspect there may be more to Verity’s condition — and her past — than meets the eye.
The film opened at No. 1 at the North American box office, blowing past Tom Cruise’s Digger to take home $32.6 million domestically over its opening weekend. It made another $30 million internationally, giving it a $62.6 million worldwide opening against a reported $40 million production budget.
Hathaway, who is currently around eight months pregnant with her third child, is having a banner year at the movies. Verity was her third No. 1 opening of 2026, following The Devil Wears Prada 2 and The Odyssey.
