Anna Kendrick Says 'F--K You' to Director Who 'Embarrassed' Her By Dissing Her in Front of 100 Extras

10/28/2024 12:57 PM

"It really felt like a very specific power move thing to embarrass me, to gain dominance. It was very icky," The Woman of the Hour actress said of the situation. "And then the thing that I improved ended up in the trailer."

Anna Kendrick has a message for a director who embarrassed her on-set.

During a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Kendrick was asked to name the worst note she ever got from a director while filming, and she answered by calling out one filmmaker for making her look bad on set in front of dozens of extras.

Kendrick said the director mocked her improv skills, only for said skills to end up being featured in the film's trailer months later.

"I remember a director once in a room full of 100 extras or something being like, 'Hey, on this next one just try something. Just make something up. Just improv something,'" the Pitch Perfect star recalled. "And I did it and then the director called cut and came over and, once again in front of 100 extras, was like, 'Oof, let's go back to the script!'"

She continued, "It really felt like a very specific power move thing to embarrass me, to gain dominance. It was very icky. And then the thing that I improved ended up in the trailer. So f--k you!"

While she did not name the director in question, the story came as a shock to the live audience at the Happy Sad Confused podcast, as they gasped when it was revealed how the filmmaker dissed her to her face.

Kendrick, who has stepped into the director chair herself, also remarked on her experience behind the camera while making Netflix's Woman of the Hour.

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"It's a lot easier for me to talk in extreme detail about certain moments in certain scenes, or about movies that were inspirations than it is to answer the questions that come up the most frequently — 'Why this project? Why did you want to direct?'" Kendrick told Variety.

"I think there is a bit of an expectation that I speak quite eloquently about the unique experience of being a female director," she added. "And then you're going, 'I've done this one time. I probably shouldn't be, like, representative of those kinds of big questions.'"

Woman of the Hour is now streaming on Netflix.