Michaela Coel Guides Anne Hathaway Through a Pop Star Séance in ‘Mother Mary’ Trailer

At the end of the trailer for David Lowery’s Mother Mary, Michaela Coel‘s scorned character, Sam Anselm, acknowledges the stakes of her rekindled partnership with Mother Mary, the tormented pop star played by Anne Hathaway. “There may only be one of us left standing when this is over,” she says. They both know it to be true. The A24 film follows Sam and Mother Mary as they tear open barely-healed wounds of betrayal.

The pair were once best friends before pop stardom drove a wedge between them. Sam can’t even listen to her music anymore. But when Mother Mary needs a costume for her grand comeback concert, she doesn’t know who else to ask. In the preview, Sam obliges — but not without guiding her old friend through a séance first. “You think there’s something inside of you?” she asks. “Let’s cast her out.”

In theaters next spring, Mother Mary also stars Hunter Schafer, Atheena Frizzell, Kaia Gerber, Jessica Brown Findlay, Alba Baptista, Isaura Barbé-Brown, Sian Clifford, and FKA Twigs. The pop star backdrop of the film will be bolstered by original music from Charli XCX, Jack Antonoff, and Twigs.

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The original synopsis of the film doesn’t reveal much of the oddities about the film that the trailer suggests it will hold. “Long-buried wounds rise to the surface when iconic pop star Mother Mary reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselm on the eve of her comeback performance,” it reads. The tagline for Mother Mary declares: “This is not a ghost story. This is not a love story.”

Mother Mary follows Lowery’s most recent films, 2023’s Peter Pan & Wendy and 2021’s The Green Knight. For Hathaway, it’s one of many releases slated for the new year. The actress will also appear in The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Odyssey, Flowervale Street, and Verity.