Anne Hathaway is "so affected" by Dolly Parton's death: "I'm so grateful to her"

Anne Hathaway has spoken about the death of Dolly Parton, saying she was “so affected” by the loss during an awards press conference for The Odyssey, which Digital Spy attended.

The country music legend and actor passed away at the age of 80 on 25 August, with her family confirming that the singer-songwriter had "died peacefully" at her home in Nashville, Tennessee.

Asked about being a fan of Greek mythology when she was younger and what it meant to be involved in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Hathaway began by expressing her gratitude to the late singer.

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"Obviously, like everybody, I'm just so affected by the loss of Dolly Parton. I'm so grateful to her, what an angel and what a wise woman," said the actor, who recalled a video where Parton had discussed the difference between dreams and wishes.

"I just saw a video the other day that she was talking about the difference between dreams and wishes, and how a dream is imagining yourself successful at something and doing the work to make sure that that happens. And a wish is hoping good things come to you."

Speaking about her involvement in the acclaimed historical epic, Hathaway said that working on the project was something she had never expected, and linked it to Parton's message.

"This one was so far outside of anything that I ever thought would happen to me that it wasn't a dream and it wasn't a wish," she explained. "It was just my own pleasure. It was just something my brain loves, something my imagination loves."

Hathaway also spoke about her lifelong fascination with Greek mythology and why the stories have continued to resonate with her, with the actor noting that mythology had an "addictive" and "powerful" quality.

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"They're some of the first ones that our species ever came up with and that have endured as long as they have, so there is something in the DNA of them that just makes sense," she said. "I was just interested in them and dancing with them my entire life.

"I never thought that it would be something that I would be able to bring my passion as an actress to, especially not within this company [or] the vision of Chris Nolan. But it just worked out that way and I'm just thrilled."

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The new edition of Legends, a 100-page celebration of Dolly Parton's life, is here. Buy Dolly in newsagents or online.

Reporter, Digital Spy

Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy. 

A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre. 

In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.

Movies Editor, Digital Spy  Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor.  Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world.   After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.