Anne Hathaway geeks out over Mariah Carey at movie premiere

“At the Century 21 mall”.

Oscar-winning actress Anne Hathaway says she has consciously tried to diversify her range as an actor.

“I have sympathy with De Niro because nobody wants to be there for these choreographed junket interviews”. I ask De Niro, remembering just a few years back he had an old school flip-style mobile phone. But there’s no connective tissue in it, and nobody at the company knows how to build connective tissue. They’ve changed the way we communicate with each other.

The Heat star’s legendary status isn’t lost on Hathaway. Who wouldn’t empathize with her daily balancing act between job, family and health?

“He had a fun idea for me to play this character and it was just a thing I was curious to do”.

Well, certainly nothing bad since we’re talking about Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway, who open in “The Intern” on Friday, with writer/director Nancy Meyers at the confident helm. Soon, Ben’s calling his millennial co-workers “dude” and helping them dress to impress (“You’re saying you shave every day?” asks one, in wonder), while befriending Jules and her picture-perfect husband (Anders Holm) and daughter (JoJo Kushner). I don’t envy, but I think it is a great thing if you are lucky enough, especially if you are in an untenable situation and you have a mentor who will change your life. “My experience with famous, iconic actors like Bob, Meryl or Nicholson is they’re in your movie to be good”.

And if Anne Hathaway has anything to say about it – then it was hit! “Annie is the ideal girl for this movie”. She admits “losing my cool” because she expected De Niro to utter one-word answers and was surprised at his “hostility”. “These guys were a gift to me”. But Meyers is also making a none-too-subtle comment on gender, and the strides that women have made in the workplace.

The turning point in the movie comes when Whittaker steps in for Ostin’s personal driver and as she discovers that he is a kind and caring man, her intern essentially becomes her mentor in business and life and a genuine friend. Am I going to feel so uncomfortable the entire time if I’m not following my instincts?’

“I’m not a fast writer”, she said. Sort of in my mid-40s I decided that I was going to take a year off after each movie, because doing everything takes a lot out of me.

I actually have some interns who I work for now.