Mother Mary starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel gets first trailer

A24 has released the first trailer for Mother Mary, starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel.

In the film, Hathaway plays Mother Mary, a “Lady Gaga-Taylor Swift hybrid”. Meanwhile, Coel plays Mary’s former best friend, Sam, who helped craft the pop star’s image.

A synopsis reads: “Long-buried wounds rise to the surface when iconic pop star Mother Mary (Hathaway) reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselm (Coel) on the eve of her comeback performance.”

The trailer opens with Mary performing in a large venue to a screaming crowd as we hear Sam narrate: “I haven’t seen her in 10 years, but I could tell she was coming from a thousand miles away.”

On a thundery and rainy night, like a horror movie scene, Mary appears on Sam’s doorstep looking for a new dress.

Lines like “crawling back to me” and “I didn’t know where else to go” hint at a deeper relationship and past between the pair.

Sam’s assistant (Hunter Schafer) then takes Mary’s measurements as the central pairing gets underway.

As well as more shots of Hathaway performing the film’s original music, written and produced by Jack Antonoff, Charli XCX and FKA Twigs, there are shots of hands caressing fabrics.

Meanwhile, Mary tells Sam: “I didn’t mean to cut you out,” to which Sam replies: “But you did.” Mary follows up with: “You can’t really hate me?” Sam says: “I can.”

Things then take a creepy turn as Sam draws a chalk circle on a wooden floor as we’re told Mother Mary is neither a ghost story nor a love story.

“We have a connection and I can’t explain it,” says an emotional Mary. Thunder strikes again as Mary and Sam sit inside the chalk circle, now with candles lit, performing some sort of ritual.

Later we see a séance taking place as the pair attempt to free Hathaway of something. “Let’s cast her out together,” Sam says as she touches Mary’s face.

Title cards show “this is a prayer, a song, a dress, a communion, a betrayal, a sacrifice, a rebirth” as we see more witchy practices and nightmarish scenes that would fit right in at American Horror Story.

“Mother Mary, we’re reinventing you,” Sam can be heard saying in a creepily flat tone. Between flashes of Hathaway running and screaming, the actress can be seen embracing and kissing FKA Twigs, who is also in the cast.

The trailer doesn’t give too much away as to what the exact plot of the film is. However, the film already has all the ingredients to get the girls, gays, and theys into cinemas when it comes out next year, so we’re already in.

The film also stars Atheena Frizzell, Kaia Gerber, Jessica Brown Findlay, Alba Baptista and Sian Clifford.

Mother Mary is due out in Spring 2026.

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.