THE BLACK SHEEP INTERVIEW: ANNA KENDRICK

GET THIS GIRL A BUCKET!
An interview with Anna Kendrick.

If you’re like me, you first fell in love with Anna Kendrick when you caught her Oscar nominated turn in Jason Reitman’s UP IN THE AIR, opposite George Clooney. Over the last year, she has starred in four separate movies, including the cop thriller, END OF WATCH, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, and PARANORMAN, in which case she voices a vapid teenager. Kendrick also shows no signs of stopping either with four more films expected this year, including a small part in Robert Redford’s THE COMPANY YOU KEEP. And the audience shows no signs of getting sick of her either.

Kendrick’s biggest gamble in the last year would have to be PITCH PERFECT. It is her first starring role so not only did she have to prove she could carry a movie but she had to sing her way through it too. “Well, my first lead in a film anyone’s going to fucking see anyway,” Kendrick quips, when we sit down at the Toronto International Film Festival, just weeks before the film’s release. “I’m nervous about it. And I’m singing in it too, which makes it doubly nerve wracking.”

She needn’t have been so frantic about it. PITCH PERFECT became a sleeper hit at the box office, pulling in over $100 million globally. And as for the singing, she was over thinking that too. The soundtrack to PITCH PERFECT has been a permanent fixture in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart ever since the film was released on DVD in December. Still, I understand her apprehension at the time.

“Singing is something I’m comfortable with but it’s like anything. Doing it on screen, the stakes are a little bit higher.”

Kendrick’s role in END OF WATCH is small but pivotal. In the hands of another actress, she may have disappeared into the background, but Kendrick was sure there was something she could do with the part when she read the script. “I wish I could put into words what is great about the screenplay, what’s great about the characters, but I knew reading it, that if you had described it to me, I would have felt like it sounds just like a wife/girlfriend role. It doesn’t sound like something that would be that interesting. When I read it though, even though Janet isn’t in it a lot, it felt like she was incredibly important in rounding out this world, for creating a world in which it really feels like there is something at stake and there is something on the line.”

End of Watch

Kendrick plays Gyllenhaal’s girlfriend in END OF WATCH and one of their most endearing scenes comes when they dance at a wedding. “Wait, what are you talking about? That was not in the script.” This was Kendrick’s first reaction when writer/director, David Ayer, informed her that she and Gyllenhaal would not be just dancing together but dancing a piece of choreography in fact. “It said ‘They do a cheesy dance.’ I don’t know what we thought that was going to be but when we saw what it was, we were confused,” she explains. All the same, Kendrick thinks that, as seemingly simple as this scene is, it was one she really needed her director for. “That was one of those moments. In a movie like this, there are so many big emotional moments where you really feel like you have to trust your director, but doing the wedding dance was the moment that we really needed to trust our director.”

And how did Mr. Gyllenhaal fare at this dance? “Uh, Jake was not great at learning it. Sometimes, he was watching me just to keep up.” (END OF WATCH is now available on DVD and you can read more about it in my interview with Gyllenhaal himself.)

Kendrick’s time on THE COMPANY YOU KEEP, in theatres in April, was even shorter than her time on END OF WATCH, just three days. “I would have delivered his coffee if he had asked me to so I was just really happy to have that opportunity,” Kendrick reveals of her desire to work with Redford. “It was really interesting working with a director who is such a fantastic actor and such an experienced actor. He is a very intimate director. It was a very brief experience for me but a truly fascinating process.”

Pitch Perfect

Kendrick is always learning and growing and, at just 27 years old, this Maine native still has plenty of time to do both of these things. Now, she just has to calm her nerves and enjoy the ride. “It’s going to be awesome but I’m still nervous,” she jokes when asked about the prospect of her future. “I kind of feel like I’m on the verge of throwing up all the time.”

Did I mention that Kendrick is absolutely adorable in person?

PITCH PERFECT

PITCH PERFECT
Written by Kay Cannon
Directed by Jason Moore
Starring Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Skyler Astin and Anna Camp

Aubrey: Aca-scuse me?

Despite its best efforts to differentiate itself from “Glee”, PITCH PERFECT is not that much more than a blatant attempt to capitalize on the success that show has enjoyed bringing show choir to the masses. Without ever saying the word, “glee” once, one of the inevitably geeky-ish a cappella singers decrees at one point early on that collegiate competitive a cappella singing is not like high school, where you sing through whatever emotional or identity crisis you’re going through. No, no; in fact, this is some serious stuff here. All the same, as these boys and girls sing their way through finding acceptance and make their way toward regionals and subsequently, finals, I coudln’t help but wonder when Rachel Berry was going to storm into the choir room and whip them all into shape. Unfortunately, she never arrived.

This is not to say that PITCH PERFECT doesn’t deliver any of the gooey good times that come with any piece featuring young people who find happiness in song and dance. It’s just that its pitch never comes anywhere near perfect. Anna Kendrick leads the charge, for the first time in her career actually, and, after seeing her play such sophisticated, adult characters in the past (50/50, UP IN THE AIR), watching her regress into a character that is actually more her age feels somewhat forced and beneath her. This is especially true here because the film is so formulaic and predictable. It calls itself out on that one too, as if that is supposed to excuse it for not trying to be original. Still, Kendrick, along with standouts, Brittany Snow (BRIDESMAIDS) and Anna Camp (THE HELP), bring everything they have to their characters and provide PITCH PERFECT with scattered moments of hilarity and tenderness.

Cute is the only word I can truly use to describe PITCH PERFECT. These days, calling something cute though is something of a double-edged sword. Yes, it made me giggle and I may start adding “aca” as a prefix ahead of all the aca-awesome things I say on a regular basis. That said though, cute also implies that the film tries really hard but never quite gets it right, like giving a little pat on the head to a toddler who did his best at a dance recital when you know they will never really make it anywhere in the field. These young folks sing their little hearts out, occasionally hitting notes you don’t see coming, but never belt it out of the park. It all just fell a little flat for me.

Review: Pitch Perfect (2012)

Beca (Kendrick) and "The Bellas"

Directed by Jason Moore
Produced by Elizabeth Banks, Paul Brooks, and Max Handelman
Written by Kay Cannon (screenplay); Mickey Rapkin (book)
Starring Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Rebel Wilson, Adam Devine, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, John Michael Higgins, and Elizabeth Banks

****

A cappella singing has never been so appealing. Fresh out of high school, Beca (Kendrick) dreams of being a record producer, but she enters Barden University at the insistence of her father, a professor. On campus, she joins the "The Bellas", which is a girls a cappella group and one of four serious a cappella outfits at the university. In this world, the competitions are intense, and there's even an international collegiate championship. While Beca interns at the school's radio station and practices with the group, she meets Jesse (Astin), who is in "The Treblemakers" - a rival guys a cappella group. The girls in her group are not supposed to sleep with them, but Beca is conflicted, because deep down she really likes him. Meanwhile, the big competition is nigh, and the girls must work through the escalating tension to give a great performance on their big night. 

Although this film borrows from TV's Glee (which I hate) and other films, director Jason Miller's cinematic debut is far better. The film is loaded with thrilling musical numbers, hilarious one-liners, and charming performances from the ensemble. Obvious standouts in the cast are Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson, but Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, and Skylar Astin also fill their roles quite well. The screenplay walks a thin line with this formulaic plot, yet it never oversteps its bounds. Everything feels right. This is a glorious fusion of hit songs and pop culture references, and it somehow combines the feeling of a cult classic with a refreshing new story. Though stories like this are frequently told, this film goes all in, and never holds back. It's a well-executed, little gem that essentially came out of nowhere, and it's one of the year's best. I can't recommend this one enough. It's charming, heartwarming, and, for lack of a better word, it's just cool. There are plenty of memorable moments worth mentioning, but I won't spoil them. Just go see it. 

Oscar Potential: None