Into the Woods: Just Chatting with Anna Kendrick

To start with, I was wearing a Christmas sweater when I interviewed Anna Kendrick. It was a bright green thing covered with reindeer. Christine Baranski and Tracey Ullman walked by and both offered their compliments about it, and Anna Kendrick felt compelled to comment as well. And that’s how it started: interviewing the co-star of Into the Woods and talking about just about everything but Into the Woods until the last couple of minutes.

So this is what it’s like to sit down with Anna Kendrick and just gab for a while, talking about the interview process, how movies about movies sometimes get it wrong, her theories about how the Academy Awards work and some great animated films. Just because that’s what we started talking about. By the end we finally talk about her musical career, and why she doesn’t think she’s necessarily the best singer.

Into the Woods arrives in theaters Christmas Day, 2014.

Anna Kendrick: Oh, this is the best sweater ever. Oh boy.

CraveOnline: Everyone seems to like this… I’m going to tell my Mom the celebrities approve.

There was a whole wardrobe mix-up, which was totally my fault anyway. “I’ll just do my interview in my hoodie. Who cares?” And now I’m really jealous of you.

Well, you can put the hoodie back on. I’m sure it goes with everything.

It’s okay. It says “Not Your Wifey” on it, which I enjoy.

I like that. It would be appropriate because neither of us are each other’s wifeys. 

No, that’s true.

That is true. I really cracked that case open. How you doing?

I’m good. First interview of the morning. Getting the old juices flowing. It’s going to be great.

Do you actually enjoy this process?

I find it’s fun when the person is genuinely interested, because then it feels like a conversation. [Laughs.] Imagine that. Sometimes it just feels like, “Here’s a list that my boss told me to ask.”

That sounds atrocious.

That part’s not fun.

Yeah. How could you not be interested?

I don’t really know how a lot of this works. So, for all I know it’s just like, whoever was free and bothered to wear makeup that morning for the on camera interview. Like, “Oh, just send Joanne because she’s…” And she hasn’t seen the movie. But I don’t know.

“I’m always amazed when entertainment gets entertainment wrong.”

Have you seen Chris Rock’s Top Five?

I haven’t. That’s supposed to be really good, though!

It’s pretty good! There’s certain aspects of it that aren’t really reality. He had to smoosh some things around about the junketing process, for example. Like, who organizes a junket on the opening day of a movie? That almost never happens.

Oh yeah. I’m always amazed when entertainment gets entertainment wrong. When films get the process of filmmaking wrong? Who is that serving?

I think the theory might be that the audiences don’t care about how it really is…

Sure, I guess…

Maybe they don’t want the illusion entirely ruined. The thing that fascinates me is, whenever there’s a movie within a movie, it’s always super fake.

Yes!

It’s always super cheesy. And I think that’s so the audience can always completely get that it’s not the “real” movie we’re watching.

Yeah, and you don’t suddenly go, “Wait, that movie feels like a real movie. I’m suddenly imagining that the whole movie that I’m watching is just a bunch of people with cameras, and it’s ruining the illusion of reality?” 

Right, but the downside is, it always makes the people within the movie look like they make crappy movies.

Yes, completely. I’ve found that to be especially true about Home for Purim, the movie that they’re making in For Your Consideration.

I never saw that movie. That’s a comedy though, do they get away with it?

It’s a comedy, but it’s based around the idea that these people are getting Oscar buzz while they’re making the movie, and then the movie is so convoluted and sort of insane that it’s slightly confusing. At any rate…

“I’m sure the statute of limitations on offending anybody has passed…”

Did you ever watch “Extras,” the Ricky Gervais series?

Some of it. Not much.

Did you see the Kate Winslet episode?

Yes!

Where it’s like, “If you want an Oscar, you’ve got to be in a Nazi movie.” And then she’s in a Nazi movie and she won an Oscar.

Yes!

How weird was that?

I know that was so weird.

How did she not thank Ricky Gervais on the stage?

[Laughs.]

I would have. Oh my God.

That was such an odd one, because I always felt like it was one of those funny things where, it felt to me like she was really winning – and who am I to say something like this? – but it felt to me like she was really winning for Revolutionary Road?

Sometimes it does feel like, “Well, we didn’t give Jimmy Stewart his Oscar for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, we’ll give it to him for The Philadelphia Story.” I don’t know if that’s how they think but it’s how it looks.

Yeah, that’s how I felt. Like some votes got split in the nominations process so she didn’t end up nominated for Revolutionary Road, which to my mind was this transcendent performance. Obviously she’s exceptional in The Reader, she’s exceptional in everything, but yes, it made me wonder how many times through history… Because I have watched, I’m sure the statute of limitations on offending anybody has passed, but there were just certain movie stars from the ‘50s and ‘60s where I go, “Oh, she won an Oscar for that. I’ll watch that.” And I’m going, “She won an Oscar for that? She’s so much better in all this other stuff!” And you just wonder if you had to be there to understand, “Oh, she was really winning for the thing that she didn’t get nominated for.”

Well, you also have to look at the competition that year. Like, Martin Scorsese didn’t get an Oscar until The Departed. The Departed is fucking awesome, but it’s no Goodfellas. It’s no Raging Bull. It’s like that was the year when the competition didn’t have something really crowd-pleasing.

Yeah. There’s, I think in certain animation studios, a feeling of, “This was a bad year to be good.” Because other certain animation studios usually take the prize every year? [Laughs.]

“[Persepolis] was my favorite film of that year.”

“Certain” animation studios. Yeah. That is frustrating though. I was really rooting for ParaNorman because that movie ruled. But there’s always like this one really interesting film, like The Secret of Kells, where you’re hoping, “Could somebody please see it?”

That movie was so interesting.

Have you seen his new movie, Song of the Sea?

No!

Oh my God, it’s fucking phenomenal.

Really?

I think it’s better than the first one. I was actually just interviewing him this morning.

Is that same style?

Similar! Very similar. It’s not based on that aggressively 2D artwork from the old parchments, but it’s influenced. It’s got selkies and it’s really confrontational about the way it deals with loss. Which is interesting in a kids movie, because usually in a kids movie – and I was telling Tomm Moore this – but there’s loss, but it’s when a parent dies and a kid meets a dog who can play basketball. And then everything’s okay.

Interesting.

And here it’s really focusing on what it’s like to lose a mom. But with fantasy elements.

That’s interesting. To me, sometimes I wonder with that category, are we talking about an animated film or are we strictly talking about family films? Because I think, I hope I’m not getting this wrong because otherwise my whole rant will be useless, but I think Persepolis was nominated for [Best] Foreign Film, not animated film?

I don’t know.

I’m not sure, but that for me was one of the greatest films. That was my favorite film of that year. So the idea that you couldn’t look at a film that really transcends the idea of a foreign film and an animated film, for me that was my favorite film that year. I’m sure it went to Pixar for something…

Probably. I’m looking this up on my phone. This is going to drive me nuts…

…which was, I’m sure, wonderful, but…

No, it was nominated for Best Animated Feature!

Was it?!

It lost…

To…?

Eh… my phone is stupid. It’s 2008 so I’m sure it’s Pixar. [Editor’s Note: It was Brad Bird’s Ratatouille.]

Yeah. I mean, yeah, for Persepolis, say, it was a tough year to be good.

Well, it’s always a tough year to be good in that category.

Yeah.

It’s also tough to be the film that isn’t that good, that squeaks in because there’s only so many animated films, you know?

Yeah.

There’s sometimes this one mass-marketed product that’s full of product placement, and it’s just like, “Eh… we needed five.” And then they get to put “Oscar Nominee” on their DVD and I die inside.

[Laughs.]

“I’m not Yo-Yo Ma over here.”

You were in Into the Woods. We have not talked about that AT ALL.

Sure!

It’s fine. You were great in it by the way.

Thank you!

And incidentally I saw The Last Five Years in Toronto and I fucking loved it.

Oh great. Thank you.

You’re incredible in that movie.

Yeah, very different. Very, very different process.

But they both required a lot from you musically. I’ve come to find that you came from Broadway and you did High Society, but I only discovered you in films where you didn’t get to sing.

Yeah!

You really should have been given a number in Twilight.

[Laughs.] Oh, I’m going to steal that line, buddy. I’m going to steal that.

Do it. Do it. I guess my thing is, are you classically trained? You’re really good.

Thank you! [Air quotes.] I had “singing lessons” when I was very young…

What is with the air-quotes on “singing lessons?”

Meaning it was an hour every other week or something, or maybe half an hour, maybe an hour. Just learning songs, and using the muscle. You know, I was seeing a kids vocal teacher in Maine. Some friends of mine actually went on to study opera at Carnegie Melon and stuff like that, and it makes you realize, “Oh, I haven’t been trained at all.” I mean, I don’t even understand the concept of vocal technique. So for me it’s like I just sort of have an instrument and I don’t know exactly how to play it, but I’m just sort of going for it. I’m the Johnny Cash of my own instrument.

I love how you managed to make “I’m the Johnny Cash” sound almost self-effacing.

Well… I mean, I’m not Yo-Yo Ma over here.

I get it.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is sometimes it works, sometimes I’m just banging away. I don’t know.

It seems like it pretty consistently works.

[Laughs.]

Is there something we haven’t seen? Like, “We did this one musical but we pushed it under the rug, I was terrible, I didn’t hit a single note…?”

I will say that on The Last Five Years I was… you know, Jeremy Jordan is a Broadway guy, so I was the one who struggling to keep up and hanging on by the skin of my teeth. There was definitely a feeling of… I was given notes when it wasn’t right. That’s just how it was. Then I showed up for this [Into the Woods] and everyone was like, “Oh, Annie! You’re the singer!” Because they knew that I had done other musicals. I don’t know how I went from being the worst singer on set to being the best singer on set! [Laughs.] 

I’m like, “Please don’t look at me. I’m [not] going to have an easy time with this.” I think because I was so worried that people expected me to know what I was doing, that I just sort of killed myself to make sure that I did. So I did drive myself to a little bit of a Beautiful Mind kind of breaking point with the music and recorders, and I had a big set up in my apartment.

Did you get the weird passive-aggressive note that Meryl Streep got?

What?

Apparently Sondheim gave her a note that said, “Don’t fuck it up.”

[Laughs.] I did not!

I just read that the other day and went, “That’s awesome.” Nothing like that? There was no one adding undue pressure on you, I hope?

No, no. I mean, Paul Gemignani, if you want to get really nerdy…

Please.

Paul Gemignani was our musical director. He was our musical director on High Society when I was twelve, and A Little Night Music when I was 17, so he has always been a tough nut to crack, and he’s supportive but he’ll definitely push you. He was the guy that I was worried about.

Is he like a Whiplash kind of guy? Is he throwing things at you?

No, not Whiplash, but definitely he shares this quality with Sondheim which is that he doesn’t suffer fools, and he’s not going to give you a compliment unless you earn it. But in that way you can really put your trust in him. It’s the same thing with Sondheim. When Sondheim is happy you don’t have to go, “Oh, he’s just saying that.” Because he’s not going to say it.

It must be nice to reach that point. That you don’t have to be nice if you don’t have to.

Yeah. That’s my dream for you and me.

William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.