7/28/2019 Newsday "Fast Chat" - Anna Kendrick

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/newsday-fast-chat-anna-kendrick 1/1

+

c3

faStChat Anna l(endrickost child actorseither burn outorfade away. At12, Anna

ttor:noo

at

t U I Kendrickearneda Tony Award nomination forBroadway's'High Societf in199& becoming the third-young-est nominee after ll-yearoldDaisy Eagan (1991,'The SecretGarden") and lGyear-old Frank-ie Michaels (1966, "Mane"),both ofwhom woru Yet whilethose two worthies went on toarrlass, respectively, few and noothet credits, Kendrick has

continued a steady rise thatnow finds her "tlp in the Air."

That's the title of the newserio-comic filnu opening inlimited release Friday andwide on Christmas Day, inwhich George Clooney andshe spar as reluctant mentorand protege in a corporate-downsizing consulting firnr-The Portland, Maine, nativematches the established starblow for blow, showing thesame fierce talent she's dem-onstrated in such disparateroles as a manipulative, high-school debater barracuda in'Rocket Science" QOOT) andboy-crazy best friend fessicain the "Twilight" films.

Now 24, Kendrick spoke atthe Wddorf Towers in Man-hattan with frequent contribu-tor Frank Lovece.

You're known to cult audienc-es for your knockout perfor-mance in the underseen butcritically acclaimed'RocketScience," and for a YouTubeclip of your knockout song"The Ladies Who Lunch" inthe movie "Camp" (2OO3)

bil,"or

Oh, no? What oh, no?

[Laughsl No, it's iust funnythat for whatever reason onlythat one number has reallyresurfaced on YouTube, and itmakes me regret that peopledon't see the whole movie [inwhich she played a supportingrole as a socipathically ambi-tious teen actress in a perform-ing-arts srunmer campJ. Imean,I understand it, and I'mhappy people are watchingany piece of it, but peoplereally should see the wholemovie!

That's a Yery modest way oflooking at it. So you have fans

Who know your work and'you've got this indie careerand a role in the'Twilffi"movies. How did that back-ground lead to co-starring

with George Clooney in a bigstudio picture?People assume, and rightly so,

that it was this gnreling audi-

tion process and I must havescreen-tested with George andprobably went in five times.And what actually happened

I UU t7 414ffi A #tvl t'J1?1

:?{r

See trailers for'New

the Air,'and

of the stars

4nentsdqy.c{trr??/movies

is I went in once, thought Iblew it, and then two or threeweeks later I got a call sayingthey were going to offer methe iob. And I was completelythrown. fason lReitman, thedirector and co-writerltoldme that he had written it withme in mind.

He knew your work from

. ..

From "Rocket Science." And Ibasically had to come in andprove I had the goods, be-cause from a studio stand-point why wouldn't you hireNatalie Portman or somebodylike that? Nobody's heard ofme - like, why would you putme in a movie with GeorgeClooney? That's ridiculous!

What went through your headwhen yor heard who yourco-star was?I had heard that George wasattached to it, but I iust as-

sumed it was one of thosethings they just say on a

movie when there's a slimpossibility it will worh just togenerate interest, and therewas no way it was going towork out, because why wouldI be given the opportunity toso much as audition for aGeorge Clooney film? Andthen when I was cast, I hadlunch with fason and he wastelling me about "me andGeorge" and how excited hewas to do the film, and I waseating my taco trying to act

Iike it was the most normalthing in the world, for me tobe doing a movie with GeorgeClooney.

What's next?'Twilight" sure-ly raised your profile.It's funny - I was cast [in "Upinthe Air"l before "Twilight,"actudly. "Twilight" is this hugephenomenon, but I've yet to getaiob from it! fiaughsJ I was castin "Scott Prlgdm vs. the World'lher next filml for ages before'Twilight" came out. Andlasonsaw "Rocket Science" and

didn't even know what "Twi-light" was. He actually textedme after seeing it and sai4 "OttI loved'Twilight,'great iob, butI prefer when you play a ge-

nius." As strange complimentsgo, that's pretty good!

oF

-U(,

=FFg(9

{{{;{8.o:sao3

zm€L/rI

acza

Izom

=mvNJ

-\o

N)oo\o

tI

a

I

I

t

I

I

I