Original-Cin Q&A: Alice, Darling Star Anna Kendrick on Learning to Trust Her Gut
By Bonnie Laufer
Anna Kendrick is back with her most personal performance to date. In Alice, Darling she plays Alice, a troubled woman pushed to the breaking point by Simon, her psychologically abusive boyfriend. The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, is the directorial debut of Mary Nighy, daughter of famed English actor Bill Nighy.
Alice begins to rediscover herself and gains some much-needed perspective while on vacation with two close girlfriends. However, Simon's vengeance is inevitable and once unleashed, it tests her strength, her courage, and the bonds of deep-rooted friendships.
Our Bonnie Laufer spoke with Kendrick about digging into this character and shooting on location just north of Toronto. Alice, Darling opens in select theaters and digitally on February 3.
ORIGINAL-CIN: I’m speaking to you from Toronto where the film had its premiere last September. You also shot it here!
ANNA KENDRICK: I'm so happy that the film premiered in Toronto and that we made it in Toronto and that we got to set it in Toronto! I was speaking to someone the other day and they said, ‘Oh, is that the scene when you guys are in New York?’ And I was like, ‘Do you mean Toronto?’ We're Canadian in the film and we live in Toronto. It was nice to not have to hide the Canadian landscape and the Canadian city where the movie was set. They're just Canadians living in Canada. People do live there and have lives.
O-C: Your performance in Alice, Darling is riveting. I don't know how you found a way to relate to Alice and make her so real.
AK: The first thing people have been asking me when I discuss the film is if I did a lot of research. I didn't have to do a lot of research because Alice is very relatable. I think a lot of the people who worked on this movie came from that place of feeling intimately connected to the story. That meant that I really got set up to give a very vulnerable, naked performance because there wasn't anybody working on this project who was insensitive to the material and my performance.
Everybody on set had open feelings about everything in the script that they brought to their job in every department. Both the cast and crew were very thoughtful about what was happening and were empathic to the performances that were going on. I felt so lucky to be able to explore something that was very personal to me and scary to step into, surrounded by people who had a similar lived experience.
O-C: It absolutely must have made it much easier on you with such great support.
AK: Oh definitely, and I think that the movie is the kind of thing where either you've been in this situation or you know somebody who's been in this situation. So regardless of your gender or your age, or your sexual orientation, I think that it really speaks to something that ultimately is so hard to describe.
O-C: You really have mixed up your performances over the years whether it has been comedy, musicals, or dramas. But I would think that working on this film was your most personal performance to date. What did you learn about yourself after working on Alice, Darling?
AK: It's tricky. I think that what helped me most going through this process was knowing that there were some wonderful moments of collaborations with the cast and crew. Charlie Carrick, the guy who plays Simon is just the sweetest guy and the most talented actor and you have to keep telling yourself, ‘He's not like his character at all.’ He was all-in and that really helped me with my performance. So even little moments of collaboration with him were so special to me. But also, I was sort of learning how much better it felt to trust myself, even if I might be wrong.
Everybody has their opinion and we're so often wrong, but I would rather trust that I know the experience and trust that this will work as a whole performance even if a particular scene feels a little low energy. I trusted that it should feel dead for a little while because I believe that the audience will still be willing to come along with Alice's side of things.
O-C: I would think that’s a huge challenge for you?
AK: I wanted it to feel challenging because sometimes when somebody is in that situation, they're not the most pleasant to be around. In the scenes when she's with her friends, and she's distant and uptight, I think those are elements of the character that might be revealed if anyone were in this situation. So, trusting myself was a huge learning curve making this film. That felt more valuable to me than trying to get that instant validation from watching the takes and making sure I was kind of the apple polisher because that's usually what I'm striving for. It was more satisfying and rewarding learning to go with my gut.