GAME CHANGER | ANNA KENDRICK THE NEW ACTRESSES DRAWING ATTENTION TO THE INDUSTRY’S SEXISM Anna may downplay the situati<strong>on</strong>, but at the same time she w<strong>on</strong>’t pretend it didn’t happen – and as such she’s part of a new wave of stars who are drawing attenti<strong>on</strong> to the industry’s sexism. From Patricia Arquette’s barn-storming Oscar acceptance speech calling for equal pay (which had Meryl Streep rising from her seat to cheer) to Jennifer Lawrence’s essay <strong>on</strong> how it felt to learn that she was paid less than her male co-stars, women in Hollywood are becoming less and less willing to stay silent and play nice. Of course, these are enormously well-paid women, and Anna is aware of the privileged positi<strong>on</strong> she occupies – though that doesn’t mean she w<strong>on</strong>’t speak out. ‘Sexism exists and it’s a f—king problem,’ she says. ‘But pinpointing it to Hollywood isn’t helpful. Women everywhere deal with this s—t; it’s a global problem. Resisting diversity is bizarre but it’s good that [some stars] are bringing that issue to light. Hopefully that will trickle through all areas of the workforce.’ Certainly the rise of female-led comedy, and its poster girls Tina Fey, Amy Schumer, Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, making combined billi<strong>on</strong>s at the box office, are helping to close the film industry’s gender gap. ‘Tina Fey is an influence <strong>on</strong> every man, woman and child alive and Amy Schumer is a genius,’ says Anna. ‘Great comediennes, like them, take issues like sexism that you feel str<strong>on</strong>gly about and pinpoint them in such a way that you completely agree. Bette Midler movies, Janeane Garofalo stand-up and The Catherine Tate Show were always part of my life. But now men are noticing and going, “Wow, women in comedy, this is a thing.” And we’re saying, “Yeah, we’ve always been here. Had you not noticed?”’ HOW KENDRICK HAS NAILED COMEDY Anna should really include herself in that comedy hall of fame. The Pitch Perfect movies, centred <strong>on</strong> her character, college a cappella star Beca, are a hugely successful franchise (over $300m worldwide with a third film <strong>on</strong> the way), and she has been a hilarious, scene-stealing presence in everything from the Twilight saga to 2009’s Up in the Air, which bagged her that Oscar nod. In Mike and Dave, the wedding scenes include drug-taking, motorbike racing and orgasms – and that’s just the girls. ‘[When] Adam and Zac ‘i like letting men think they’re in c<strong>on</strong>trol’ were cast first, from the <strong>on</strong>line forum c<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong>s, every<strong>on</strong>e thought it was just another bro-comedy,’ explains Anna. ‘Then Aubrey and I were announced and [the reacti<strong>on</strong>] was more like, “Oh, right, so it’s a comedy for women as well.” That was humbling. Instead of assuming we were just playing the dumb dates, it felt that we were taken seriously as comedy actors.’ HOW HER SELF-DEPRECATING SENSE OF HUMOUR HAS MADE HER A SOCIAL MEDIA SENSATION There can be risks to speaking out about issues of sexism. Lawrence described the dilemma well in her essay: ‘I didn’t want to seem “difficult” or “spoiled”… Every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being “difficult’ or “spoiled”.’ Lawrence and Kendrick share a similar soluti<strong>on</strong>: they are quick to poke fun at their own star status, and to use selfdeprecating humour to soften the sting of criticism. Kendrick is also a socialmedia sensati<strong>on</strong> (5.7 milli<strong>on</strong> Twitter followers and counting), allowing her to speak directly to the world – or more often to laugh at herself, the industry or her peers. Her Twitter biography reads, ‘Pale, awkward and very, very small. Form an orderly queue, gents.’ Her most notorious posts include, ‘Ugh – NEVER going to a Ryan Gosling movie in a theater again. Apparently masturbating in the back row is still c<strong>on</strong>sidered “inappropriate”,’ and ‘I’ve always heard that Tom Cruise is tirelessly positive and upbeat and I’d love to work with him <strong>on</strong>e day. I think I could break him.’ EMBARRASSING HERSELF IN FRONT OF COLIN FIRTH In November, her collecti<strong>on</strong> of essays and anecdotes, Scrappy Little Nobody, will be published. ‘There’s a lot of me trying to navigate Hollywood and high school,’ she says. ‘I embarrass myself c<strong>on</strong>stantly. I was <strong>on</strong>ce at a party and started telling Colin Firth a story about watching Bridget J<strong>on</strong>es <strong>on</strong> a plane after taking [the prescripti<strong>on</strong> sedative] Ambien. I thought the story was going to sound funny but he was like, “So the movie was better when you were <strong>on</strong> drugs?” I was like, “No, that’s not what I meant. Never mind.” I shouldn’t be allowed to talk to people.’ The fact that Kendrick is disarmingly small and feminine, 5ft 2in and wearing a beautiful blue Prada shift dress when we meet, may help her get away with such embarrassing moments. But she is somewhat c<strong>on</strong>flicted about the publicity aspect of the job. ‘It’s awesome at first, getting trussed up. Then you’re thrown in fr<strong>on</strong>t of the cameras and it’s really overwhelming. It’s a skill I’m still perfecting.’ It has deadened any dreams she might have had of a big wedding (Anna has been dating cinematographer Ben Richards<strong>on</strong> since 2014, when they met <strong>on</strong> the set of Drinking Buddies). ‘I’ve been to so many fancy events in fancy dresses, the idea of planning an event just makes me tired,’ she sighs. ‘I’d probably go to City Hall in a pair of C<strong>on</strong>verse. Fortunately, my day-to-day life is still pretty simple.’ TM | MARCH/APRIL <str<strong>on</strong>g>2017</str<strong>on</strong>g> 112
ANNA KENDRICK | GAME CHANGER 113 MARCH/APRIL <str<strong>on</strong>g>2017</str<strong>on</strong>g> | TM
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