Anne Hathaway was asked inappropriate question by journalist when she was 16

Anne Hathaway has recalled how she was asked a creepy question by an interviewer when she started acting aged 16.

During a post-screening Q&A of her new film Eileen at the Sundance Film Festival, the 40-year-old actress revealed to the crowd one of the first questions she was asked when she started her acting career.

"I just remembered one of the very first questions I ever got asked when I started acting and had to do press was: Are you a good girl or a bad girl?" Hathaway remarked. "I was 16. And my 16-year-old self wanted to respond with this film."

In the psychological thriller, Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie play a glamorous psychologist and a prison secretary who form an unexpected bond which takes a sinister turn.

Hathaway said she was drawn to the film after seeing director William Oldroyd's 2016 drama Lady Macbeth, and was impressed by the portrayal of complicated female characters.

"I thought it was an extraordinary work," Hathaway commented. "I saw a study of female complication that hit me really, really deep, and I felt like Will was a filmmaker that could be trusted to tell complicated stories, especially about females."

Eileen is set in 1960s New England and was filmed in locations including Manhattan, Queens, and South Amboy in New Jersey.

The Sundance Film Festival runs until 29 January in Park City, Utah.