It must not be easy seeing another actor have smashing success in a role that was initially yours—unless, of course, you’re a class act like Anne Hathaway. While appearing on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Hathaway said that it’s “a lucky thing” her Barbie movie never saw the light of day, praising Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie’s Barbie as “the best possible version” of the story.

During Barbie’s near decade in development hell, Hathaway was attached to star in the film as the titular doll in 2017, replacing initial star Amy Schumer. Hathaway’s Ocean’s 8 co-screenwriter Olivia Filch was attached to write the film, and Fun Mom Dinner director Alethea Jones was set to helm the film for Sony. But Hathaway’s Barbie Dreamhouse never came to be: In 2018, Sony’s option on the project expired, and Mattel regained control of the rights. The film’s release date was pushed from the summer of 2018 to the summer of 2020, and the project subsequently fell apart. 

According to Hathaway, this was for the best. “Now imagine that version, that much energy, that much anticipation, that much emotion, but it’s not the right version,” she said of her ill-fated Barbie film. The Eileen star went on to extol the virtues of Warner Bros.’ Barbie and Robbie’s dual roles as star and executive producer via her production company, LuckyChap. “Margot is just sublime, period,” said Hathaway. “What she is doing as a creative person and as a producer is so exciting and inspiring. And the mythic giants that they toppled with [Barbie] that have kept certain narratives in place, that have not allowed opportunities to develop for so many people—they ran straight through them, dancing, sparkling!”

Robbie’s Barbie, as you may remember, was a commercial and critical success, grossing well over a billion dollars and receiving nine Golden Globe nominations, including best actress for Robbie, best supporting actor for Ryan Gosling, best picture, and three individual best-original-song nominations.  

“Just as a cinemagoer, just as a woman in Hollywood since I was a kid, I’m thrilled by the development,” added Hathaway. “If I believed that the version that I was attached to could have done that, yeah, I might feel differently about it. But I genuinely think theirs was the best possible version, and so it’s actually very easy to just be thrilled and happy [for them]. Because I’m also a person who loves watching women kill it. I just do. I just love it, I just love it. And also, to do so well, so undeniably, that they actually had to write new records—come on! … I think it’s probably gonna make things better.” So, while everything worked out in the end, cinephiles are allowed to be just a little upset that the world robbed us of a performance that would have put Hathaway in a blonde wig again, which is a damn shame.