Anna Kendrick for The Guardian
‘It feels very personal’: Anna Kendrick on coercion, not wanting children and making a movie about dating a killer https://t.co/eyBmr0Bunj
- The Guardian (@guardian) October 11, 2024
The Guardian released an interview with Anna Kendrick in honor of her directorial debut, Woman of The Hour, which comes out next Friday (October 18th) on Netflix.
Highlights:
- On not wanting kids: Doesn't really think about having them, so she spends less time thinking about "weaponising [the Childless Cat Lady label]". Mentioned how recently, she would be watching cat videos on TikTok and thinking about how it would be easier to have the weight of a cat sleeping on her than that of a human child, but doesn't think she's responsible enough to own a cat, so it makes no sense for someone to trust her with a child.
This may be the year of the childless cat lady, but Anna Kendrick isn’t ready to team up with Taylor Swift just yet. “I don’t ever think about having kids, so I guess I spend just as little time thinking about weaponising that,” she says from the kitchen of her apartment in Los Angeles, hugging her grey cardigan close. One of the takeaways from the 39-year-old actor’s candidly funny 2016 book, Scrappy Little Nobody, in which she dished the dirt on the inherent weirdness of the film industry and her place in it, was: “Anna Kendrick in ‘Doesn’t Want Children’ Shock!” As she explained later, any child of hers would only end up being “another kid that your kid is going to have to fight when the water wars come”.
She sounds today like someone beyond even JD Vance’s comprehension: a woman who makes no apologies for wanting neither kids nor cats. “Here’s the best argument for why I don’t have kids,” she says, then explains how she was nodding off recently to the sound of TikTok cat videos. “I thought: ‘I’d have an easier time falling asleep with the weight of a cat on me. But I’m not responsible enough to own a cat. Someone should really make a robot cat that does all the purring and the kneading.’ And then I was like: wait, I’m not even up to the ‘cat lady’ part! Why would anyone trust me with a kid?”
- On a scene from the film that got cut where Rodney Alcala's coworkers are talking about the Roman Polanski case (TW for CSA mentions): There's a scene in the movie where Rodney Alcala namechecks Polanski, who sexually assaulted a 13-year-old, Samantha Geimer, back in 1977, in an "adoring" manner, but they took it out because the discussion of said case made it seem like it was in relation to the killings depicted in the film. Talked about how people would chat about this type of stuff in a very casual manner like it was a morally grey (a/n: gray?) issue rather than the crime that it is. Kendrick also brings up how she would be at parties in Hollywood as recently as 2010 and people were STILL discussing it in a flippant manner: she would often feel like she had to choose her words carefully because she didn't want to upset people whenever she brought up that Geimer (Polanski's victim) was 13 at the time and thus, couldn't have consented, and how easy it is for people to be apologists for that kind of behavior.
The parallels between the 1970s Hollywood shown in the film and the more recent past are impossible to miss, especially when Alcala admiringly namechecks Roman Polanski, who drugged and raped 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in 1977. “One scene that got cut showed some of Rodney’s co-workers chatting about the Polanski case,” says Kendrick. “We took it out, because it made it seem as if it was related to the killings. But people chatted about this stuff around the water cooler, as if it was a moral grey area, rather than a fucking crime.”
As recently as 2010, she says, the subject was still being discussed flippantly in Hollywood. “I remember being at parties and having to choose my words really carefully so as not to upset people when I pointed out that she was 13 and couldn’t possibly have consented. It’s easy to forget how casually people would be apologists for that stuff.”
- On misogyny within the industry (spoilers for WOTH): Parts of Kendrick's own experiences in the industry inspired Woman of The Hour. One scene in the movie is inspired from something that happened to her when she was 19, when she found out that the costume designer in a film had been cagey about a wardrobe change that happened without her prior knowledge. She wondered why she had to appear in a bikini during one scene when it didn't serve the overall plot. She's grateful that situations like that one happen a lot less often now because now you're more comfortable being taken seriously when you don't feel comfortable with a certain aspect of the work.
Other traces of Kendrick’s experiences in the industry have found their way into Woman of the Hour. As a child actor, she was once ordered by a casting director to smile, because she didn’t seem very happy. (“I wasn’t so good at doing that ‘cheesy little kid’ thing,” she said in 2012.) In the film, Cheryl is put under exactly that pressure. There is also an audition scene in which she is asked whether she is willing to appear naked. “Ah, no,” says Cheryl. “Not for me.” The male casting director gestures at her breasts and says reassuringly: “Oh, I’m sure they’re fine.”
“That is lifted verbatim from something that happened to me when I was 19,” she says. As she starts to change the subject, her voice falters and she yanks her cardigan over her face. “Oh boy,” she says, fighting a sudden rush of emotion. She has already become briefly tearful several times during our conversation, but only in a joyous context, such as when expressing how proud and protective she feels towards Autumn Best, who is stunning as a teenage runaway who falls into Alcala’s clutches.
This is different. I ask if she is OK. “Yeah,” she says, laughing it off. “Yeah. I’ve, um … I’ve had experiences where I found out there was a wardrobe change that the costume designer had been cagey about, likely because she felt her hands were tied. It’s like you can’t get to the bottom of it: ‘Wait - sorry - um, why would I be in a bathing suit in this scene?’ But I’m grateful that this happens a lot less now. And when you say you’re uncomfortable, there’s more of a culture of being taken seriously.”
- On her recent work (Alice, Darling/Woman of The Hour) representing a brand new maturity: She chose two of her most recent projects, Alice, Darling and Woman of The Hour, because everything else she was being offered around that time wasn't connecting with her, so when these two scripts that feel incredibly personal popped up, it wasn't a coincidence that she responded to them in the way she did. She saw her relationship of 5.5 years that turned out to be emotionally abusive reflected in the script for [Alice, Darling] and thus, made her more determined to honor its complexity on screen.
If Woman of the Hour represents a new maturity in Kendrick’s work, it hasn’t come out of the blue. When I ask whether the film is connected, as it seems to be, to Alice, Darling, the disquieting 2022 drama in which she played a woman in a coercive relationship, she nods emphatically. “Exactly right,” she says. “Everything else I was getting around that time I was just not connecting to. And suddenly there are these two really dark scripts with themes that feel very personal. I don’t think it was an accident that I responded to them.”
What she saw reflected in the script was her traumatic experience of being in a coercive relationship for five years. This made her more determined to honour its complexity on screen. At every point where the behaviour of Alice’s boyfriend could have been made explicit or unambiguous, Kendrick fought against it. She was even there in the editing room, asking the director, Mary Nighy, not to spell out what was happening, so that the audience would question Alice’s interpretation just as she doubts herself. After all, part of the insidious horror of a coercive relationship is its nebulous quality. For Alice, there are no bruises by which the abuse can be measured, only a constant low hum of dread.
- On recovering from abuse: Brought up how after making Alice, Darling, her body still believes the abuse from her ex-boyfriend was her fault and that recovery has been incredibly daunting. Even though she has "good days and bad days", it's more accurate for her to call them "good months and bad months". Says that if you had asked her that question ("how are you doing now?") 3 years ago, she would have found that phrase embarrassing because of the fear that she would've been told to "get over it", but finds it less gross than saying that she's "doing great". Her therapist has a phrase for the sentiment she's feeling and it's that "grief has tentacles": whenever there's something bad or challenging going on in the present day, but it's a minor event, it always reaches back to something far more traumatizing in the past. She ends the interview by saying that she feels this specific event (the relationship and how it ended) is with her constantly and wishes that she could finally move on from it all.
Shortly after making Alice, Darling, Kendrick said that her body “still believes that [the abuse] was my fault” and explained that “recovery has been so challenging”. How does she feel now?
“I have good days and bad days,” she says. “But it’s more accurate to call them good months and bad months. If you’d asked me three years ago, I would have said there was something almost embarrassing about that. Like: ‘Aren’t you over it by now?’ But I guess I feel a lot grosser saying: ‘I’m doing great.’ If we speak in another five years, please God tell me I’m not still struggling then, you know? I don’t know how much of that feeling is based in my pure desire to feel OK versus: ‘That’ll mean I’m such a weakling.’ It’s all still swirling around in there somewhere.”
Her therapist has a phrase for it. “She says: ‘Grief has tentacles.’ Meaning that whenever there’s some minor challenging event in the present, it reaches back to more challenging things in the past. Sometimes I feel this specific event in my life is with me all the time and I wish I could just put it away.”
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