James Gray Teases Potential ‘Armageddon Time’ Sequel with Anne Hathaway

After taking audiences to the depths of the Amazon rainforest and outer space with “The Lost City of Z” and “Ad Astra,” James Gray looked inward for his latest film, “Armageddon Time.” The semi-autobiographical movie details Gray’s childhood in Queens, paying particular attention to his experiences attending sixth grade at the prestigious Kew-Forest School and his relationship with his grandfather (Anthony Hopkins).

In a new interview with The Playlist, Gray revealed that he might not be done telling stories about his own life.

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“You know what I would really love to do? I probably shouldn’t admit this publicly yet,” he said. “But I’m really interested in making a kind of ‘[Armageddon Time’] sequel about what happened to my mother.”

The filmmaker explained that a potential sequel would follow his mother (Anne Hathaway) as she battled brain cancer, something he subtly alluded to in “Armageddon Time” when her character complains about headaches. While he hasn’t started writing the sequel, he hopes to be able to reunite the original cast.

“The story goes in a very unexpected place because my father actually did achieve some financial success, but wound up getting it all confiscated by the government when he got into legal trouble. At the same time, my mother found out she was dying. And so, it’s going to be, I think, something about that period,” he said. “So hopefully, we’ll get to do that. And so I’m going to have to con the boys and everyone into coming back. The only person who can’t come back is [Anthony Hopkins], but maybe through flashbacks.”

Convincing Hathaway to reprise her role might be an easy sell, as she recently praised the experience of working with Gray in an interview with IndieWire.

“Oh god, James made me a better actor. I know it sounds kind of hyperbolic to say that, but it is true,” Hathaway said. “He doesn’t let you get away with nonsense for whatever reason, whether you’re insecure as an actor and you kind of feel like, ‘OK, I’ll fill up this moment with stuff.’ He just wants the truth from you.”

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