'There's a Trust Between Us'

THE ARMAGEDDON TIME COSTARS ON THEIR CLOSE FRIENDSHIP, THEIR FAMILIES AND HOW THEY LEANED ON EACH OTHER FOR THEIR EMOTIONAL NEW ROLES

-  NIGEL SMITH 

Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong are proof that sometimes you should work with your friends. While the pair’s Hollywood paths couldn’t be more different—Hathaway shot to stardom at age 18 in 2001’s The Princess Diaries, and Strong found fame later in life with HBO’s Emmy-winning juggernaut Succession—the two share a deep connection to their craft, which is evident in their new coming-of-age drama Armageddon Time. The film, set in 1980, also stars Anthony Hopkins and is writer-director James Gray’s semi-autobiographical story about his youth in Queens. Hathaway, 39, and Strong, 43, play Gray’s parents. a middle-class Jewish couple raising two boys.

In real life, Hathaway is mom to two sons with husband Adam Shulman, while Strong and wife Emma Wall have three daughters. Hathaway and Strong first worked together on the 2019 thriller Serenity and say that since then, they’ve enjoyed watching their families grow. My second daughter learned how to walk in the house we were sharing!” Strong says of a vacation home his family and Hathaway’s family recently shared with friends.

While preparing for Armageddon Time, the pair spent time in New York City with their onscreen son, played by Banks Repeta, 14. We got ice cream and walked in Central Park,” says Strong. It’s really wonderful to get to do something like this together, because the truth is your creative self and your social self are different. So to get to know someone in both of those spaces is very rare and profound.”

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