Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare) Hathaway on the day of her husband's funeral. Avril Rowland's "Mrs Shakespeare" (2005) depicts Anne as a multi-tasking "superwoman" who runs the home efficiently while also writing her husband's plays in a businesslike partnership with him as her promoter/performer. The romantic comedy film "Shakespeare in Love" provides an example of the negative view, depicting the marriage as a cold and loveless bond that Shakespeare must escape to find love in London. The same situation occurs in the alternate-history novel "Ruled Britannia" (2002), in which Shakespeare is finally granted a divorce from Hathaway to marry his new girlfriend after he helps
Anne Hathaway drama "The Other Side of Heaven", both 2001 Disney films, featured Hathaway in lead roles. Based on Meg Cabot's 2000 novel of the same name, the former follows a teenager Mia Thermopolis (Hathaway) who discovers that she is the heir to the throne of the fictional Kingdom of Genovia. Hathaway auditioned for the role during a flight layover on the way to New Zealand. Garry Marshall, the film's director, initially considered Liv Tyler for the role, but cast Hathaway after his granddaughters suggested that she had the best "princess" hair. The film became a major commercial success, grossing $165 million