Anne Hathaway knows a thing or two about being a mama bear—or should we say mama dinosaur?

Either way, when preparing for her role in The End of Oak Street—which sees her and Ewan McGregor fight to protect prehistoric predators to protect their family after their home is mysteriously transported to a dinosaur-infested world—Hathaway had a wealth of lived experience to draw from. 

“I think it'd be silly not to pull from all aspects of your life as an actor,” the mom of two—who is currently pregnant with her and husband Adam Shulman’s third baby—told E! News at the film’s premiere Aug. 9. “Whenever I'm playing someone's daughter, I definitely think about how my own parents kind of factor into that—same thing into all aspects of your life. But I think it's universal.”

As she noted, that instinct to protect is ingrained, whether or not one has children of one’s own.

“You don't have to be a parent to understand that when people you love are in peril,” Hathaway continued, “something deeper, darker, more primal comes out in you to try to protect them.”

As for what it was that drew her to the prehistoric thriller, which also stars Maisy Stella and Christian Convery, the Princess Diaries alum said it had everything to do with the man at the helm of the project: David Robert Mitchell.

“It Follows is one of my favorite movies that I've seen in, I don't know, this century,” she gushed of the 2014 horror. “I know that sounds really hyperbolic, but I just thought it was so inventive, and I was blown away by what he did with his talent and imagination and creativity and ingenuity on a movie that had no budget whatsoever, and it left a huge impression on me.”

The 43-year-old continued, “So, I asked if I could meet him after I saw it, and after we met, I just said, ‘Well, if you ever have anything that you think I'd be in any way right for, I'd be honored to be one of your movies.’ And then this one came out.”

And fans will get to see that decade-long admiration come to fruition on Aug. 14, when Hathaway and McGregor take on a bunch of dinosaurs to protect their kids.

Thankfully, Hathaway also has the perfect partner at home in her husband of more than a decade, with whom she already shares sons Jonathan, 10, and Jack, 6. 

“I am one of the luckiest people on the planet Earth,” Hathaway told E! News in July. “I met my soulmate, and we decided to get married and have a family.”

As she put it, life right now “can’t be beat.”

For more insight into Hathaway’s life as a mom, read on. 

Anne Hathaway shared the special and exciting news that she and her hubby are having another baby! "It's not for a movie...⁣⁣#2," she wrote on Instagram, showing off her bump. "All kidding aside, for everyone going through infertility and conception hell, please know it was not a straight line to either of my pregnancies. Sending you extra love."

"They get down on the child's level and speak to them eye-to-eye to make their child feel empowered," she told The Sunday Times. "I thought that was really cool. I started doing that with Jonathan."

"I hadn't planned on ever confirming it and then I just, I had seen a photographer while I was on vacation, taking a photo, and I just thought, 'It's such a joyful and a sacred experience, you know, carrying life,'" Hathaway explained to E! News. "And I just thought, 'I don't want the first version of this to be out there with me covering or scowling at someone.'"

She told E! News that getting sleep has been challenging. "Honestly, I haven't slept in eight weeks. I have no idea what I'm saying," the actress jokingly stated. "This is probably going to go down as not the most normal interview on E! News."

"I'm going to stop drinking while my son is in my house just because I don't totally love the way I do it," Hathaway admitted to Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show. "He's getting to an age where he really does need me all the time in the mornings. I did one school run one day where I dropped him off at school, I wasn't driving, but I was hungover, and that was enough for me. I didn't love that one."

"The kind of mother I'll be depends on the kind of children I have," the Ocean's 8 actress shared with Vogue about the ultimate role she has as a mother.

"I can't believe we don't already have it," she shared with Elle magazine, further explaining that "We're encouraged to judge each other, but we should be turning our focus to the people and institutions who should be supporting us and currently aren't."

"I'm not perfect, but if I'm frustrated or distracted, I'm good at making sure he's safe and walking away, calming down and then coming back to him," she explained to The Sunday Times. She said "telling that harsh voice to be quiet" is one hard about motherhood. "I fall short every day, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it, I'm going to learn from it."

"I'm sorry. I am a new mother and I didn't time the feeding schedule—well, like I have any control over it," Hathaway said on Good Morning America with a laugh as she does press for the Alice Through the Looking Glass. "My kid was hungry, I had to feed him, I missed the first 20 minutes so I can't tell you about the beginning of the movie."

"When [my son] Johnny was a week old and I was holding him and I was in the ninth level of ecstasy, I just all of a sudden thought, 'Mommy guilt is invented nonsense,'" she told Elle magazine.