Alice, Darling Resonated With Anna Kendrick Because Of Her Personal Experience With Abuse
In "Alice, Darling," Academy Award-nominee Anna Kendrick ("Up in the Air") plays Alice, a woman dealing with a psychologically abusive boyfriend named Simon (Charlie Carrick). Things come to a head when she heads off on a secret vacation with her girlfriends (Kaniehtiio Horn and Wunmi Mosaku), who don't know about her relationship. As Alice slowly begins to fall apart free of Simon's manipulative efforts, her friends attempt to break through the walls she's built around her.
Then Simon shows up without warning.
It's a harrowing story and one that is all too familiar for so many people. Anna Kendrick is perhaps more well-known for her comedic and musical roles in films like "Pitch Perfect," "Into the Woods," and "Trolls," so this might seem like a bit of a departure. It certainly did to "Hot Ones" host Sean Evans who asked her about it when she appeared on the show. If you aren't familiar with "Hot Ones," Evans has each guest eat a series of successively hotter and hotter sauces on either chicken wings (meat, veggie, or vegan) as he interviews them. (Seriously, watch a few. It's a wonderful YouTube show.) Evans asked Kendrick about the role, stating that he was surprised to see her in a film where he wasn't "immediately falling in love with [her] character." Kendrick told him a bit about what drew her to the character, including her own personal connection to Alice's experiences.
A cathartic experience for Kendrick
During her "Hot Ones" interview, Anna Kendrick told Sean Evans that she usually gets hired to "play characters where [she's] supposed to try to be endearing." She explained:
"Charismatic, charming, funny — something you like about the character — and the idea of playing a character who is kind of a bummer — just not that fun to be around, and see if it works as a performance. And if people will stick around to end up rooting for Alice — because I think it's important that the movie starts with you not really clear on who's the good guy and who's the bad guy because there were times in your life where you're not sure ... am I the good guy am I the bad guy?"
As it turns out, Kendrick has a history that gave her a deeper understanding of who Alice is and what she's going through. Though she told People that making the film "felt incredibly cathartic," her own experience with emotional abuse made her actually consider not taking the role. She said that when she spoke to director Mary Nighy about it, she told her about her own history of enduring abuse. She felt that if the shooting date had been closer to the meeting, she "probably shouldn't do it" because it had all taken place so recently. However, the shoot date was "many, many months away," allowing her to separate it from her own life.
A feeling of vindication
Anna Kendrick elaborated with People a bit about her history. She said, "I was coming out of a personal experience with emotional abuse and psychological abuse," and that she thinks her representative sent her the script because "he knew what I'd been dealing with." Kendrick said that a lot of movies she'd seen about abusive relationships didn't look like the one she was in. Of the relationship itself, Kendrick explained:
"I was in a situation where I loved and trusted this person more than I trusted myself. So when that person is telling you that you have a distorted sense of reality and that you are impossible, and that all the stuff that you think is going on is not going on, your life gets really confusing really quickly. [...] And I was in a situation where, at the end, I had the unique experience of finding out that everything I thought was going on was in fact going on. So I had this kind of springboard for feeling and recovery that a lot of people don't get."
"Alice, Darling" is available to rent or buy on several services, including Apple TV+ and Prime Video.
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support on their website.