There’s an update on David Lowery’s “Mother Mary,” though it’s a cryptic one.
In an interview with Screen Talk’s Anne Thompson, Topic Studios’ Ryan Heller and CEO Michael Bloom, who co-financed the film, offered a few remarks when asked about the project, shot two years ago. It sounds like there’s finally an end in sight, though exactly when it’ll arrive remains uncertain:
“I’m not sure what I can say because A24 is building their plans […] I don’t think there’s a lot we’re able to talk about yet […] We’re putting the finishing touches on the movie […] it’s wrapped and it’s imposed. There’s a plan for the movie and it’ll be announced soon.”
Filming on “Mother Mary” began in May 2023 and wrapped as recently as August 2024—reshoots or not, who knows—but since then, silence. No release date, no festival bow, no marketing. David Lowery has spent his career straddling two worlds: intimate arthouse projects (“A Ghost Story,” “Ain’t Them Bodies a Saint,” “The Green Knight”) and big-budget Disney fare (“Pete’s Dragon,” “Pan and Wendy”). “Mother Mary” is firmly in the first camp.
Based on test reactions, the story centers on Michaela Coel, who runs a “Phantom Thread”-style costume house in the countryside and rose to prominence designing for Anne Hathaway’s character, a major pop star. The two had a falling out years ago and haven’t spoken since. Now, Hathaway’s character, sidelined by scandal and drug problems, seeks a comeback and unexpectedly arrives at Coel’s secluded studio to ask her to design costumes for a new tour. The film largely revolves around these two women, confined in a barn and arguing, with only a few brief shots of the pop star onstage. Hunter Schafer appears as Coel’s assistant but has barely ten minutes of screen time.
From what I’ve heard, “Mother Mary” is almost entirely set in one location. It was called “bewildering” by one test attendee. Not much happens; it’s a “movie about nothing,” and according to those who’ve seen it, that’s exactly what it feels like. At last year’s Melbourne International Film Festival, Lowery gave a rare update, sounding as baffled as anyone: he “sighed deeply” and called it “a weird, weird film.”
“I wrote the first 20 pages when I was shooting ‘Peter Pan and Wendy’ and it’s been percolating ever since,” Lowery explained. “I decided I’m just going to do something simple. I need to do a movie with just two actors in a room having a long heart-to-heart… a really gentle filmmaking experience.”
“But then I thought, ‘What if one of those characters is a pop star? And what if we started at a stadium? Then it got bigger,’” he laughed. “And, it wound up being the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
Around the same time, on The Last Video Store podcast, he admitted: “I’m in the edit right now and I have been wondering, ‘what is this movie?’”
What’s curious about “Mother Mary” is that both Hathaway and Coel recently gave lengthy Vogue interviews about the film—yet there’s still no word on when audiences will actually get to see it. My guess, it either sneaks into Telluride or gets pushed to early 2026.
For now, “Mother Mary” remains an enigma. Whether audiences will see it soon, or wait one another year, is anyone’s guess.