Hi, I'm Anna Kendrick,

and this is the Wired: Autocomplete Interview.

[upbeat jazzy music]

I'm gonna start,

and this might be a window into hell for me.

[upbeat jazzy music]

Okay, did Anna Kendrick enjoy Pitch Perfect?

Did people really Google this?

That's so weird.

Yes, yes.

This is kind of what makes this interview hell

because you're like, Wait, what?

What do people like think that I don't?

Those girls are family.

Does Anna Kendrick ever come back to Maine?

Hi, stalker.

I think that I tend to go back in the wintertime.

In the last couple years, I tried to go back in the summer

and was like, Oh, right,

this is a really popular tourist destination,

and I can't just like book a hotel super last minute.

But yeah, I feel very lucky that I grew up in Maine,

and I try to get back when I can,

but, you know, it's very far away.

How old was Anna Kendrick in Scott Pilgrim?

Again, this is really getting Googled?

I think I was 23.

Really curious about

why people specifically wanna know that.

But I guess I can't Google back.

What is Anna Kendrick vocal range?

Girl, I don't know.

I don't know, you're the musician, not me.

I'm really not a strong musician.

You know, however I sing is however I sing,

that, whew, is very much your call if you enjoy it or not,

but it's embarrassing how little I know about music.

Nee.

Okay.

Anna Kendrick Up in the Air monologue.

Oh, but I think there's two, that I think at one point,

I go on like a little self-pitying rant

about like how at age 23

what I thought my life was gonna be,

and then I go off on George Clooney at one point.

So I don't know if it's that, that was a fun day.

I got to get really angry, and I remember it was something

that like I didn't really get to express in real life.

So like yelling at someone

who's like one of the most famous people on planet Earth,

pretty cathartic, highly recommended it,

if you ever get the chance.

But not me, I'm not famous enough.

So don't like come up to me and yell at me.

Anna...

Guys, what are we doing?

Anna Kendrick owl?

I think I took a picture once with an owl.

I think I put an Instagram post because there was an owl,

I think the scene got cut, but there was a scene

where an owl was supposed to like fly near my head

in A Simple Favor one.

Is that what this is about?

[Host] Yeah, and you looked a little serious.

You kind of were making an owl face, and then it got memed.

Oh, I'm a meme, and I didn't know it?

I mean, what's the point of being a meme

if you don't know you're a meme?

How to do, what, where is this going?

How to do Anna?

Ah, yes, of course, how to do Anna Kendrick cups?

If you're Googling this,

and you live at home with your parents, please stop.

Because they will come up to me on the street,

and they will be pretty upset,

and all I can do is apologize.

I feel like I will probably spend the of my life

apologizing to parents on the street

because they come up to me with a very tight smile

and go, My kid won't stop doing the cup song,

and I am just so sorry, so very sorry.

So maybe at least go into your room

and lock the door before attempting this.

And I say that from experience.

'Cause when I learned to do it,

my roommates were really, really annoyed with me.

[Host] Do you remember how to do it?

I think I could do it now.

I think it's like probably like riding a bike.

I think I could do it.

[Host] Do you have interest right there?

Oh, I see what you're doing.

I see what you're doing.

I'm not forcing you. No, no.

I see what you're doing.

'Cause then I'm gonna look like the guy that was like,

Does anyone have a cup?

Me? No, I couldn't possibly.

Gimme the cup.

No, so nice try.

How does Anna Kendrick have such a perfect face and body?

I mean, I don't.

Oh, oh my God, that's so nice!

I was being sassy.

Gosh, do I? That's awesome.

That is a mystery because I am mostly Irish and Scottish,

and, yeah, I feel like we age like cheese.

I would assume that it is my lifelong aversion to the sun

and the outdoors in general.

So being an insufferable couch potato has served me

in at least one way.

How did Anna Kendrick get her start?

I feel like over the years, I've tried to come up

with like an interesting, non-convoluted version of this,

and I don't know how successful I've been.

I started in community theater when I was a little kid.

I was really into it.

Then a national open casting call

for the Broadway revival of Annie,

and any little girl who liked to belt her face off

and annoy her parents wanted to audition to be Annie.

Spoiler alert, I did not get the job,

but I ended up like getting an agent in New York City

who was probably, in retrospect,

a very shady cliche of like a child agent.

Like, you know, just smoking cigarettes.

They could get me into an audition

that wasn't just like a full open cattle call,

as they liked to call them.

And that was like gonna be my best shot

at being Annie on Broadway, and I still didn't get the job.

But that agent was like,

We'll send you out for other things, doll.

And so they did,

and eventually I got a show called High Society

on Broadway when I was 12.

Then I kept trying,

and it was kind of a slower and more humiliating process

than I would like it to have been.

Was Anna Kendrick on SNL?

I did get to host SNL.

It was the single most nerve-wracking experience of my life.

I remember being, you know, behind the opening doors

and hearing the announcer say my name

and thinking, I could just run, I could just run for it.

Like what are they gonna do? Tackle me?

I could flee to Mexico by morning.

And, and that being a very, very tempting proposition.

And then I just blacked out, and then it was over.

So it was great [laughs].

Is Anna Kendrick really singing in Pitch Perfect?

I am really singing in Pitch Perfect.

I think that all of the group songs are prerecorded

'cause it would just be too complicated

to get everybody, you know, singing and dancing,

you know, perfectly every take.

But like in the first movie,

the cup song that I do as my audition,

I was just singing that live.

So [laughs] it is pretty impressive.

It has almost no vocal range,

but that was really me singing live.

Anna Kendrick... [laughs]

Okay, it's fine, it's fine. I'm not mad.

Anna Kendrick, Woman of the House [laughs].

I am hoping

that people mean Anna Kendrick, Woman of the Hour,

which is the film that I directed

that will come out soon.

This is fascinating.

I guess, I confess

that when we decided to call the movie Woman of the Hour,

it was kind of a last minute change.

You know, naming any movie

after an idiom is a little risky.

I did not anticipate people going, Woman of the House.

That's a phrase, right? Woman of the house?

This feels slightly like a smear campaign

from some of my friends because I don't leave the house.

I am the ultimate couch potato.

So in a way,

this feels like it's kind of stepping on my neck.

Get outta here.

So sorry!

So sorry about that.

Are you okay?

[Director] Maybe you should stay home.

Maybe I should stay home?

This, okay.

Okay, no, I like it.

I like the sass, keeps me on my toes [laughs].

What was Anna Kendrick first movie?

A non-union little diddy

that I got paid $75 a day to do, called Camp.

You'll be shocked to find out,

it was about a bunch of little theater nerds

at a nerdy little theater camp.

Kind of a mind-bending experience

because we were all actually living at the camp

that the movie was based on, and there was no cell service

and no wifi and no TV,

and we all got really, really close

because there was nothing else to do.

So I was inconsolable when that movie was over,

and I probably haven't had a movie experience

that was quite that intense since then.

So every time that actors are like,

Oh, making this movie was like summer camp,

I'm like, You don't even know the half of it.

What is Anna Kendrick best known for?

I don't know.

Based on my anecdotal experience,

I guess Pitch Perfect, right? Probably.

But honestly, I feel unqualified to answer this question.

'Cause how could I say if it's other people's experience?

I will say that recently there's an uptick in people

asking me if I'm that girl from Twilight,

'cause like there's something going on with that series

where like people have rediscovered it,

or maybe the younger generation is discovering it

for the first time.

But that's been happening like in the last year,

like I'd say like maybe every fifth person

asks me about Twilight.

So didn't see that coming.

[Host] You said you're unqualified.

I know she's quite familiar with your filmography.

Do you have an opinion?

Yeah, is that why you're so sassy, you fucking bitch?

Yeah?

I mean, I have no one to blame but myself.

[Director] No, I loved you in The Last Five Years.

Oh, now she's being nice.

Now I feel bad about calling you a fucking bitch.

[Director] No, that's okay.

I always do feel closer to someone

once they've insulted me.

Hey, yeah, we're locked in now.

[Director] Now let's start doing riff-off.

Take it easy.

What is Anna Kendrick like in real life?

I mean, what, she should be answering these questions.

What do you think I'm like in real life?

[Director] Very nice, we had a good interview.

That is a lie, you do not think I'm nice.

What has Anna Kendrick been doing? [laughs]

I don't know, I've been watching Love Island.

I mean, who hasn't?

Honestly, even when someone in my personal life is like,

What have you been up to?

I'm like, Oh, don't do that.

That's just gonna make me feel really, really unproductive.

How about that?

Thank you.

Oh, this is gonna get interesting.

Who was Anna Kendrick in Twilight?

Here we go.

Is this what you wanted?

I see what you're doing.

Yeah, so in Twilight, I was,

I got to just be like the idiot best friend.

I don't even know that I was supposed to be the best friend.

I think I ended up like being around a lot more

because in the first movie, I just like, I don't know,

I was like willing to make a fool of myself.

And so then later on they were like,

Why don't we just like throw you in this scene?

And you can be like a big dumb dummy in that too.

But I basically got to do like the easy part.

Everybody else was like wrestling

with like the very nature of good and evil

and like their eternal souls.

And I just got to show up and be like,

What's up with you guys?

You guys are like, you guys are being really serious.

Did Anna Kendrick...

Okay, this I think is actually because I tweeted once,

Holy shit, I forgot I was in 'Twilight'.

And I didn't know that that tweet was gonna go

as viral as it did.

Obviously, in one sense,

of course, I didn't forget I was in Twilight.

But there have been genuinely moments

where when people will talk about Twilight

as like a cultural touchstone of this like moment

where people just like lost their minds,

and it was this huge thing

that people weren't really expecting to be that huge.

And people, you know, will say things like, Oh,

I'll bet this book series is gonna be the next 'Twilight,'

and they're gonna turn it, you know, whatever.

That I feel so removed

from the cultural phenomenon part of it,

'cause again, I just showed up

and was like a big dumb dummy on screen,

that I will start to think about it

and even like reference it

as though it's something that's totally separate from me.

And then be like, Oh my God, I was in those.

Who was Anna Kendrick in Trolls?

I was Princess Poppy.

She's like a little like four-inch fuzzy,

crazy hair, all-singing, all-dancing lunatic.

And I love her so much.

When I finally saw the last movie, the third one,

I was like, Oh, this is like kind of emotional.

I feel like this is like my inner child or something.

That's really, that's an intense thing to say.

I know I'm being annoying,

but I love making those movies so much.

Who is Anna Kendrick friends with?

Wouldn't you like to know me?

Nee.

Well, that's all the boards.

In some ways, what I thought it was gonna be.

And there's a couple head-scratchers in there

that I feel like I'm gonna go home

and Google some of that stuff,

just to be like, What is the origin of this?

I feel like I'm getting sucked into the mystery

with you guys, love that for me.

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