14 DAY TRIAL // Anna Kendrick has a new interview in pret-a-porter.com’s online magazine, The Edit, and she strives once more to remove herself from the stereotypes and prejudices that roam about in Hollywood, while tackling one of the hottest topics in the industry: ageism.
Kendrick may have gotten her start on “Twilight” as Bella Swan’s mortal friend, but she’s had a very impressive career so far. Still, she knows that she could do better - and she hopes she will be allowed to do just that once she grows out of the stage she’s at right now.
Kendrick loves real characters, hates the way the industry lies to us
One thing that this actress has been struggling for some time with is showing the world that she’s real, in the sense that she’s not an empty package put together by the marketing machine that rules Hollywood.
Just like many pop stars (think Pink, for example), Kendrick stands out from the crowd through her insistence that she’s not a “type” that’s being pushed forward through marketing, but a real woman who wants to play real characters.
This is why she tweets so much and works hard to establish a genuine connection with her fans. In all fairness, this is also why she’s such a hit online, being considered one of the most popular “quirky” actresses around. She might not be fully mainstream, but she counts on the support of a very loyal fanbase.
Part of Kendrick’s appeal is her honesty, something that has often landed her comparisons to Jennifer Lawrence, another quirky, relatable and down to earth young actress. Speaking of her attraction to real characters, women who are smart and strong and not afraid to get “a bit ugly too,” Kendrick says this is the image she’s also trying to project of herself.
“It feels dishonest to me to let anybody in the world think that my farts smell like lavender, or something,” she says.
Ageism in Hollywood
Hollywood isn’t exactly the most tolerant employer when it comes to gender, age and race, and this Sunday’s Oscars are probably the best example of that, as this edition is the whitest in history. It’s also male-centric as regards nominees.
Kendrick remains refreshingly candid on this topic as well: she knows that, right now, she’s a character actress and she’s ok with that, because at the very least it provides her with financial security beyond her wildest dreams back when she was just a waitress.
However, at 29, she’s already dreading the moment when she’ll grow out of the “hot girlfriend” / ingénue stage, which is pretty much where she’s at right now.
“I would really enjoy getting to the point where the reason I’m getting roles or not isn’t based on if somebody thinks I’m hot enough. […] I’ll be a lot more comfortable and get excited when I’m playing women who aren’t supposed to be pretty,” she says.