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Anne Hathaway nods to the protective characteristics she and her The Odyssey character Penelope share as mothers while speaking with PEOPLE at the movie’s premiere in London on July 6
Hathaway portrays Penelope, the wife of Matt Damon’s Odysseus and mother to Telemachus (Tom Holland) in the movie
In real life, she shares two sons with husband Adam Shulman and is now expecting their third child
Anne Hathaway embraced aspects of her own approach to real-life motherhood in her performance as Penelope in The Odyssey.
Hathaway, 43, caught up with PEOPLE at the movie’s world premiere in London on Monday, July 6, as critics’ positive first reactions to the movie rolled in ahead of The Odyssey‘s July 17 release date.
“I’m a little bit of a mama bear, nothing comes between me and my cubs,” she says, nodding to the “protective” moments in her performance throughout the movie. “And I definitely think, given everything all that Penelope was going through, given how high the stakes were, given how targeted her son in particular was without his father there, she knew that she had to be protective in more than one way.”
In real life, Hathaway shares two children — sons Jonathan, 10, and Jack, 6 — with her husband Adam Shulman, whom she has been married to since 2012. The actress announced that she and Shulman are expecting a third child on June 19.
In The Odyssey, her character Penelope is the wife of Matt Damon‘s title character Odysseus. The film follows Odysseus’ years-long journey to his home island Ithaca after he helps Greek forces win the Trojan War.
While Odysseus sails across ancient Greece and meets obstacle after obstacle, Penelope and their son Telemachus (Tom Holland) contend with a group of suitors on Ithaca (led by Robert Pattinson’s Antinous) who seek to wed Penelope and usurp Odysseus’ throne in his absence.
Anne Hathaway as Penelope and Tom Holland as Telemachus in The OdysseyCredit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures
The Odyssey‘s premiere comes more than two weeks after Hathaway announced that she is expecting her third child with Shulman, 45. The Academy Award winner is navigating pregnancy during an especially busy moment in her career: The Odyssey marks the third movie Hathaway has starred in this year, following Mother Mary and The Devil Wears Prada 2.
Before 2026 is up, she will also costar with Ewan McGregor in the thriller The End of Oak Street, and Verity, in which Hathaway leads alongside Dakota Johnson. (She also appeared on the cover of PEOPLE’s World’s Most Beautiful issue in April.)
“I’m excited. This is very, very fun. It’s extremely surreal,” Hathaway says on the red carpet of how she is feeling at this time in her life. “But I’m at an age and a moment in my career where I know stuff like this doesn’t come around very often, certainly doesn’t last forever, so I’m just gonna surf this wave for as long as it lasts. I’m going to enjoy being on my board and then when I fall in the water, that’ll be that moment.”
Mia Goth as Melantho and Anne Hathaway as Penelope in The OdysseyCredit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures
A source told PEOPLE on June 19 following her pregnancy announcement that Hathaway’s “work ethic is unbelievable” after she conducted a global press tour for The Devil Wears Prada’s sequel a month before her pregnancy announcement.
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“She’s a superhero. She’s having the year of her career and now a baby,” the source added. “It’s pretty incredible.”
The Odyssey is in theaters July 17. Zendaya, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth, Charlize Theron, Benny Safdie, Himesh Patel and Samantha Morton also star in the movie.
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