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If you’ve found yourself wondering why the beautiful, well-paid actors of Hollywood talk so much about sexism, Anna Kendrick has an example she casually mentions when we meet to talk about her latest film, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates.
She read the film script over a year ago, and immediately wanted the role of badly behaved party-animal Alice. “After playing the cynical girl so many times, I thought it would be fun to play someone who was so… I’m trying to think of a nicer word than stupid, but… stupid,” she says.
Alice’s best friend Tatiana is played by Anna’s real-life best friend and fellow actor Aubrey Plaza, and the two knew they could nail the roles of an outrageous pair who scam their way into an all-expenses-paid wedding trip with rich brothers Mike and Dave. There was just one problem: “You have to go through the process. We had to wait until the boys were cast. Then we got the parts we knew we would.”
It’s nearly unbelievable that a star of Anna’s success — Tony nominee at 12, Oscar nominee at 24, lead in a box-office no.1, Pitch Perfect 2, just last year — had to wait for the approval of the film’s director Jake Szymanski and the titular male stars (eventually played by Adam DeVine and Zac Efron). But Anna denies any slight. “We knew we had it in the bag,” she says. “Besides, I like letting men think they’re in control.”
Anna may downplay the situation, but at the same time she won’t pretend it didn’t happen — and as such she’s part of a new wave of stars who are drawing attention to the industry’s sexism. “Sexism exists,” she says. “But pinpointing it to Hollywood isn’t helpful. Women everywhere deal with it; it’s a global problem.”
Certainly the rise of female-led comedy, and its poster girls Tina Fey, Amy Schumer, Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, making combined billions at the box office, are helping to close the film industry’s gender gap. “Tina Fey is an influence on every man, woman and child alive and Amy Schumer is a genius,” says Anna.
Anna should really include herself in that comedy hall of fame. The Pitch Perfect movies are a hugely successful franchise, and she has been a hilarious, scene-stealing presence in everything from the Twilight saga to 2009’s Up in the Air, which bagged her that Oscar nod.
Anna is also a social-media sensation, allowing her to speak directly to the world — or more often to laugh at herself, the industry or her peers. In November, her collection of essays and anecdotes, Scrappy Little Nobody, will be published.
“There’s a lot of me trying to navigate Hollywood and high school,” she says. “I embarrass myself constantly. I was once at a party and started telling Colin Firth a story about watching Bridget Jones on a plane after taking Ambien. I thought the story was going to sound funny but he was like, ‘So the movie was better when you were on drugs?’ I was like, ‘No, that’s not what I meant. Never mind.’ I shouldn’t be allowed to talk to people.”
Unlike some of her more tabloid-friendly colleagues, Anna’s life isn’t tainted by lurking paparazzi following her every move. “Dating someone out of the industry helps. There isn’t too much attention. I’m glad I’m not in Zac’s position. Perhaps if I had abs that tight and biceps the size of my waist paparazzi would follow me around constantly, too.”
Her next role is another change of pace: the voice of Poppy in family animation Trolls. “I was surprised when they offered me the part,” she admits. “Because it’s a kids’ film and I don’t really ‘do’ relentlessly cheerful. But they were happy that I brought some psychotic energy to Poppy. And I love that I get to go in between all these different kinds of movies and characters. The idea of sticking to one genre is so boring I want to scream.”
Not much danger of that, with roles in the past two years in everything from a zombie movie (Life After Beth) to a fairytale (Into the Woods). The latter in particular, an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s cult musical, was a dream come true for the accomplished singer, who began her career on Broadway aged 12 in the musical High Society.
The experience, she says, instilled the work ethic that powers her career. “I had my first bout of unemployment when I was 12 and genuinely thought I was already a has-been,” she says. “That feeling stayed with me. When I was filming Up in the Air, George Cloogney told me that a lot of actors feel that when things are going great for them, it’ll always be that great — or better. But that’s not how the world works. That reassured me that I was right to be paranoid, which is why I’m never entirely comfortable. That’s what drives me. People who are ambitious and successful are the ones who feel uncertain.”