Anna Kendrick has a decent interview and editorial in the new edition of pret-a-porter.com’s online magazine, The Edit. You can see the full editorial and interview here. She’s promoting her musical role in The Last Five Years, based on the stage musical. I think that’s the film where there are no speaking parts? Every line of dialogue is sung? I think so. As I’ve been saying, I really like Kendrick these days and I think she’s about to take it to the next level. It won’t necessarily be with this film, but I’m expecting Pitch Perfect 2 to make crazy money and be a gigantic success. It would make me happy if Kendrick was the big movie star of the year, you know? Here are some highlights from The Edit:
Her heroines: “Women who are willing to show themselves and be honest, and be a little ugly”, namely comediennes such as Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Amy Schumer, Chelsea Peretti and friend Aubrey Plaza. “I love it when people don’t want things to be polite and comfortable. Sometimes I catch myself self-censoring in that way, where it feels like I’m being kind of edgy and subversive, but I know that I’m not; I know that I’m playing it safe.”
Why she’s so active on Twitter: “I love seeing what people respond to and think is funny; it’s kind of a puzzle. Trying to express yourself in 140 characters can be this little word game,” she explains. Kendrick regularly puts her tweets through multiple drafts before sending them out into the ether. “Some people play Candy Crush; I try to perfect my tweets.”
Is she pretending to be “normal”? “I guess, maybe… It feels dishonest to me to let anybody in the world think that my farts smell like lavender, or something.”
She cater-waiter’d to make ends meet in the early days: “I kept wishing, when I got these jobs that were barely enough to keep me afloat, could they just keep me a little more afloat? Maybe a little more than the bare minimum I need to keep the lights on?”
She only got rid of her waitress uniform two years ago: “It was this underlying sense of, ‘Well, I definitely have to keep those, in case I need the extra cash.”
Aging in the industry: “I know that things will be more complicated as an older actress, in ways that I can’t anticipate, but I would really enjoy getting to the point where the reason I’m getting roles or not isn’t based on if somebody thinks I’m hot enough. I feel like I’ve always been a character actress, and this is a blip in my career where I’m playing the ingénue. I’ll be a lot more comfortable and get excited when I’m playing women who aren’t supposed to be pretty.”
That’s very smart for Anna to approach her career like, “I’m a character actress at heart.” Too many young actresses don’t realize that about themselves. I think Anna will end up having a lengthy career because of it, although she’s probably got another six to seven years of playing the ingénue or the “girlfriend” or the hot girl. As for her lavender farts…obviously, her farts smell of sunshine and musical theater summer camp.
Here’s the latest trailer for Pitch Perfect 2. YAASSSS.
Photos courtesy of Victor Demarchelier/The Edit.
She needs to stop with the whole pretty thing…or people say I’m hot…,we get it
Not wanting to be mean but…I always get confused when she talks about being pretty and hot and that being the reason to get roles. She looks to me pretty average. She’s cute not hot. I never watched a movie with her so maybe that’s the thing (oh no, I checked it, I watched two movies where she starred and I can’t remember her anyway). On the other hand, she comes across as really nice person.
Agreed
I think she can look quite pretty from some angles, but in general, I agree. I know plenty of women in the small town I live in who are prettier. But I thought she was saying that she knew she wasn’t beautiful when she said she would be more comfortable when the roles weren’t about being pretty. I could have misunderstood, though.
@GoodNamesAllTaken
That’s an interesting take on what she said. That would make sense and she does seem to be a savvy one 😉
I agree, but my 24 year old son thinks she’s gorgeous, so go figure? I think she looked very plain in Into the Woods, but sometimes (like in some of the pics above) she can look very pretty. I guess it depends on what people find attractive.
On talk shows she has a funny personality like Emma Stone (without being crude). I could see guys being strongly attracted to that even if her features aren’t perfect. Also, she has a good figure. I’m not really convinced that guys are THAT into Mega Fox even though the media says that’s what guys are into.
Duplicate post.
I’m super confused too cause while she has a good personality she looks Mousy as F*ck to me… as in actually rodenty
The thing is…most of these actresses like Jen Lawrence, Emma Stone etc are average in looks, and dare I say it, basic.
But they are put in these roles meant for ‘hot girls’. That’s sort of that whole WP in Hollywood thing…make the average girl feel good about herself and think she’s hot and we’ll get more tickets sold while also upholding the status quo = win-win.
They can act though. There are prettier women (one of those ladies on the CW?) , but I’m not sure which ones of them in their age range can actually act. I think someone like Marion Cotillard or Penelope Cruz is very beautiful but they’re older, and most likely would have aged out of playing a role in Spider Man. Sure, that Victoria’s Secret model Candace What-s-Her-Face is pettier than everybody else in Hollywood, but can she act? Somehow, I doubt it.
I think Emma is stunning. STUNNING. Like, Angelina Jolie level beautiful.
I do not really understand this American attitude that stars need to be gorgeous or they do not “deserve” their fame. They just should be good actors and beliavable in their roles, not model gorgeous. Movie stars in my country look like normal (well a bit prettier) people.
JLaw might have that all-american girl next door look, but she’s still pretty. And personally, I think Emma Stone is quite beautiful even with hardly any make-up on. Have you seen her in Magic in the Moonlight? She didn’t have much make-up in that role but she was really captivating.
I think maybe she means that she always thought she would be getting ugly best friend roles, and she’s not getting those. She’s getting love interests. And in Hollywood, you have to be “pretty” to get love interest roles. I don’t think she’s putting that label onto herself. Quite the opposite really. She thinks other people put this label on her and she doesn’t see it.
That’s my take on it too **sighs**. Anna is a smart cookie, she’s not overly into herself and to me she is quite pretty but she doesn’t want that to define her which is a good approach.
I thought she was trying to say that ingenue roles, or roles for women in their 20s, are primarily defined by their looks (like “are you pretty ENOUGH for this role?” as opposed to simply being pretty), but a character being solely defined by one’s looks becomes less of a concern for roles when you’re older. Given her youth, she’s probably in an odd position where her looks are gauged on a spectrum among other people whose looks are gauged on a spectrum. (I actually wonder if roles not defined by looks exist for people in their 20s. Even the secondary roles are generally required to have an attractive person in the role)
I love her for her honesty. I haven’t seen too much that’s she’s been in, but every time I read bits of interview she’s given, I love her even more. I could be friends with her.
Who knew Net-a-Porter had a magazine operation?
I confess that I never really thought about Anna Kendrick’s farts and I don’t intend to do so ever again.
Yeah, that’s not the first thing to enter my mind when I see a pretty woman. Thankfully.
Well, I must admit, I’ve have often wondered what her farts might smell like. I was thinking more like roses, but I stand corrected.
P.S. @Kaiser – I saw The Last Five Years and yes, they sing almost every word in the film. Kiddo – you would love it.
I actually know someone who gives himself rose water enemas so his farts could smell like roses – it was his “thing” … seriously
Just thought I’d share 🙂
Whoever thought it would? Stars shouldn’t flatter themselves! Do your thing and go home.
I think she’s realizing she’s not beautiful, and there should be more roles where beauty is not needed. When she says her heroines are “women willing to show themselves and be a little ugly”, she’s just relating to them.
True modern heroine? really? okay. lol
She seems nice, but (and this is really shallow) I find her voice to be very annoying and have a hard time watching movies that she is in because of it.
I love her and can’t wait fof Pitch Perfect!!!!!
I love her. She had me at Twilight. Then Up in the Air. Cute is what she is. I think she’s more attractive at her – dare I say – natural weight. Lately, or rather since 50/50 where she starred with Seth Rogen and Gordan Levitt, What to Expect When Your Expecting with Chris Pine or a lookalike of Chris Pine and Night Watch where she was Jake Gyllenhaal’s love interest – her weight drastically dropped and methinks those were the types of roles with an expectation of hotness and she delivered on the character aspects but fell short in the sexy b/c it seemed emaciated was supposed to drive home the hotness. I feel like she is uncomfortable playing the love interest to pseudo sex symbols. Contrarily, Anne Hathaway can own the flirty seductress girlfriend roles unlike Anna Kendrick who also isn’t essentially gorgeous. They both look good and beautiful at times but not Hollywood’s idea of vamp b/c they’ve got more to offer than sex. Perhaps Anne Hathaway’s body is closer to the beauty ideal – height and curves.
Whoa.
So I’m a straight dude here and it seems I gotta clear out the water on this whole “Is Anna Kendrick cute/pretty/hot issue?”
Guess what? We are into her, very much soooo into her. So into her that we’d watch musicals with her. Sure, she doesn’t have “soft” facial features like the typical blonde starlet, but it makes for an interesting face, the kind that stands out in a crowd, and that’s something you can’t say of 85% of VS models. Plus, hers are the facial features that last in time.
She also has a cute body in a small frame, with hidden but cute bust, so there’s that.
But the most important thing is her personality, she is witty, funny self-deprecating and mostly transparent. She doesn’t look like the girl next door, she IS a gnd that coyld we could approch (disclaimer: We wouldn’t actually approach because we are socially akward boobs and we couldn’t utter a single coherent sentence near girls like her, whether stars or not). (disclaimer 2: ok, maybe not “we” more like “I”).
Ok, that was funny. And realistic.
When I went to Into the Woods, there were two guys sitting behind us who were obviously there together, but as friends rather than on a date. My friend suggested that they were there for Anna Kendrick.
I think it’s because she’s got that available halo around her, not in the offensive way, of course. But seriously, if I were a dude, and I saw Anna Kendrick and Amanda Seyfried together, I wouldn’t take any chances with Amanda, even in the imaginary world.
Loved her in up in the air
Anna Kendrick is an AMERICAN TREASURE. The last five years was very good, but super depressing.
She’s skeletal … not just small but skeletal. I find it disturbing that people think it’s attractive.