Anna Kendrick Reveals What Made Her Hate Movies
Anna Kendrick says directing movies made her hate them.
Anna Kendrick has been making movies for twenty years, and while she’s built a lucrative career for herself as an actress, the A Simple Favor star says that her time in Hollywood has ruined movies for her, according to MovieWeb. The Pitch Perfect actress started her career with a supporting role in the Twilight saga and then made her way up the Hollywood ladder of fame as she began starring in her own films, including the Pitch Perfect franchise, Trolls, and Up in the Air. Having created films in various genres, the actress stated, “I think that when you start making movies, there’s a period where they’re kind of ruined for you, because you’re just thinking of behind the scenes and how the sausage gets made of it all, and now, I feel like it’s just sort of second nature that’s a running script in the back of my head.”
In a comment often made by filmmakers of all types, Anna Kendrick explained that after someone starts working in movies, they begin to understand “how the sausage is made,” meaning they no longer get entrapped by the story and can’t stop thinking about the behind-the-scenes. Kendrick admitted that when she watches a terrible movie, she can’t stop wondering why the filmmakers made the decisions they did because she can see the changes they could have made to improve the film. On the other hand, when she watches a good film, she doesn’t get engrossed in the story the way a movie watcher is meant to, but rather she keeps thinking about how well each department in the film did to make the movie good.
Anna Kendrick explained that it isn’t necessarily a bad thing to know the inner workings of how a movie is made. While her knowledge of filmmaking ruins the magic for her, she now has a deeper appreciation for the artists and collaborators behind excellent films.
Anna Kendrick’s movie career began in 2003 after a brief stint on Broadway. The actress won a Tony for the 1998 Broadway musical High Society before taking off to Tinseltown and debuting in her first film, Camp, a musical comedy. The actress’s musical background has stuck with her for her entire career. She has starred in many music-heavy productions, including the Pitch Perfect series, the movie adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods, the musical The Last Five Years, and the DreamWorks animated musical Trolls and the sequel, Trolls World Tour.
Over the past twenty years, Anna Kendrick has starred in 61 film productions and has four upcoming features in the works, including Trolls 3 and the actress’s directorial debut, The Dating Game. The Dating Game is the true story of an American serial killer who joined a dating game show while amidst a killing spree. In addition to directing the feature, Kendrick will also be starring and producing.
The Dating Game will be Anna Kendrick’s sixth producer credit. Kendrick also recently starred, and executive produced the 2022 thriller Alice, Darling, a film about a young woman trapped in an abusive relationship. Kendrick apparently took the role of Alice as a way to help her heal from her own abusive past.
Although Anna Kendrick’s prolific experience in making films may have ruined movie watching for her, it has made the actress-producer and soon-to-be director an even better filmmaker.
