Anne Hathaway advised Lily Collins not to "lose herself" while playing tragic Les Miserables character Fantine in a new TV miniseries.
The Princess Diaries actress won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for playing the impoverished prostitute in the 2012 movie musical, and the character is now being portrayed by Lily in an upcoming BBC miniseries.
Speaking at the BBC press launch for the show, Lily revealed she encountered Anne by coincidence at a fashion event, and the award winner urged her to take steps to make sure she didn't go to a dark place.
"She said to me, 'Just don't lose yourself, because it can get really tough - that's a really overwhelming character and it goes very deep and it's very emotional.' The essence of what she was saying was, 'Cling on to reality, because you can go down a dark path,'" she said, according to Digitalspy.com.
However, by the time Anne had dished out her advice, the Mirror Mirror actress had already shot her most challenging scenes - where Fantine dies of tuberculosis after being forced to become a prostitute to support her daughter - but she didn't admit that.
"I personally as an actor have never gone that low - it was a really powerful experience for me to let go and to just give it all up to the moment. So it was interesting that her one thing that she said to me was just, 'Stay you,'" Lily continued.
"I didn't tell her that I had already done that bit! But I could relate to what she was saying. That first bit of filming... it was really interesting for me to just let myself go and to not recognise myself physically."
Her co-star David Oyelowo then joked that he rang up Russell Crowe, who had previously played his character Javert, but he "hung up on me".
The Les Miserables miniseries, based on the 1862 Victor Hugo novel rather than the musical, also stars Dominic West and Olivia Colman. It airs in the U.K. from 30 December (18).
