"The Hustle" hits cinemas on May 10th

Reuters - Oscar-winner Anne Hathaway and Australian comedy queen Rebel Wilson hit the sparkly gold carpet on Wednesday (May 8) for the premiere of their con artist movie 'The Hustle'. The gender-switched remake of 1988 classic 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' stars Hathaway as Josephine Chesterfield, a glamorous Brit living in a mansion in the south of France who fleeces unsuspecting rich men in casinos. She meets Wilson's down-to-earth swindler Penny Rust on a train and the two bring their scam skills together. Hathaway, who also appeared in the gender-swap movie 'Ocean's 8' applauded the success of female-led films. "People go to see movies starring women, which is really exciting because there was a myth for a long time that people wouldn't do that. But also, I just think people want more representation," she said. "I feel like for a long time, representation was not there and it's still not there, but what we're doing is we're building, I don't know, just like a pool of stories now that reflects more closely the world the way it is. Obviously, we have a long way to go, I don't mean to be putting a pretty bow on everything, there's really far to go, but it's really cool that it's happening more and more and more." Wilson, who is also a producer on the film, was the driving force behind it being made, approaching MGM to pitch the remake. "We had a great time doing it, so I hope the fans of the other versions and then new fans coming to this will really enjoy it," she said. British director Chris Addison said he knew right away Hathaway's character had to be a Brit. "The engine of this comedy, right, is it's a highly sophisticated world invaded by a chaotic, highly unsophisticated individual causing chaos. So the more sophisticated you can make it, the more distance you can put between those two things, the better it's going to be, the funnier it's going to be, right? Annie's character needs to be very, very superior. And I'm allowed to say this, being as where I'm from, nobody does superior like the British," he said. Hathaway said she initially struggled with the accent but was delighted that Brits had complimented her on it. "I've had British people tell me it was good, which has never happened before, it's so exciting. It's really, really, it's a personal moment for me," she said. "The Hustle" opens in U.S. theatres on May 10.