Anne Hathaway: 'I knew Les Miserables role was mine'

Anne Hathaway knew she nailed her audition for the Les Miserables movie, and felt another actress would have to "do something pretty special" to steal the role away from her.

Producers initially ruled Hathaway out of the running over fears she was too young to play struggling mum Fantine, but the stubborn star demanded the chance to try out for the stage show adaptation.

The actress performed the character's big number I Dreamed A Dream at her meeting with director Tom Hooper, and was brimming with confidence when she walked away from the three-hour audition.

She tells Vogue magazine, "I knew that someone was going to have to go in there and do something pretty special to unseat me. Sometimes you leave a room and you feel like maybe you've left the door open a crack. This time, I knew that I had slammed it shut behind me."

However, Hooper reveals Hathaway had some stiff competition, adding, "It was little short of astonishing - one of the greatest auditions I've ever had the privilege to witness. I'd already had a pretty extraordinary group of female film stars come in.

"But what was so inspiring about Annie was that I was sitting there still trying to work out, 'How does one act through song on film? How do you make these songs work in a close-up and get them to tell a story?' And Annie provided the answer. It was one of those moments where I relaxed because I thought, 'Oh, it's going to work'. She gave me reassurance that what I was aiming for in my head was possible."