-New- Interview with Anna Kendrick

Last year, she delivered an Oscar-nominated turn opposite George Clooney in 'Up in the Air'; this week we'll see her in Edgar Wright's cult feature, 'Scott Pilgrim Vs the World'. Now 25, the actress is clearly destined for the big time, with many A-list actors lining up to work with her. Not bad for someone whose dream as a young girl was simply to sing and dance...

Michael Doherty: First of all, belated happy birthday, Anna. Having just reached 25, it must be very gratifying that you're still able to convincingly pull off teenage roles?

Anna Kendrick: Thank you very much and yes, it is very gratifying! I actually got downgraded from 19 to 18 for this film, so I don't quite know what that says about me! I feel a little silly but as long as people can still buy me as a teenager, then I'm flattered.

In Scott Pilgrim . . . your character is modelled on the writer's own sister, Stacy, whom you met before shooting started. Was that a bit weird or a bit daunting?

No, it was really cool. I was a bit nervous about meeting her but she is so lovely. She basically told me that the relationship between Stacy and Scott in the books is the real relationship she has with her own brother. She gave me her Stacy badge to wear from when she worked in The Second Cup, the coffee shop in the movie, so that was cool.

Edgar [Wright, director] is known for his many takes and you were also working on a movie with a heightened, comic-book sensibility Did that make Scott Pilgrim... a demanding movie to work on?

Well, for my first scene I had to turn my head, react, say my line and then wait for the crash zoom and I did that 20 times and it wasn't quite right. I was getting embarrassed because there were so many takes, but Mary Elizabeth [Winstead], who plays Ramona, basically leaned in to me and said, 'don't worry, this is a rite of passage. You aren't a real Scott Pilgrim cast member unless you have done 20 takes of one scene!' So yes, it was really challenging, but very satisfying when you see it all come together.

Between this film and the Twilight franchise, you've completely captured the fanboy and fangirl markets. I'm assuming it must be difficult for you to walk around any shopping mall in the States?

I don't know! To be honest, they don't really say very much in LA because they are too cool for school and don't want to bother anyone. I do get little girls coming up to me in malls and screaming but generally people are discreet in LA and they will come up to me quietly when I'd be sitting in Starbucks say 'FYI, congratulations'. That sort of thing.

Looking at your CV, you began life as a musical star and indeed were the second youngest [at 12] performer ever to be nominated for a Tony award on Broadway, for 'High Society'. When are we going to see you in a musical on screen?

The truth is, I desperately want to do a movie musical but I have to be careful because desperation doesn't always lead to good choices. I want to do a musical for the right reasons and not just because I'm anxious to perform in one.

At this stage in your career, how is the whole fame thing working out? Are you able to comfortably walk around or are the paparazzi starting to appear?

There was, like, a week around Oscar season where there was a paparazzo outside my house and it was terrifying. It was that moment when you realise, I thought this just happened to other people and yet, I can't just go outside and say, 'what the hell are you doing?' Where I come from, my brother and his friends would beat you to a pulp if you were hanging around his little sister's house. It was essentially a guy in his 40s stalking a girl in her 20s and in most places, that's bordering on criminal activity. It was definitely really weird but, touch wood, they've left me alone after that. I also think that the more boring you are, the less they follow you, so all I had to do was to be myself for a week and they were like, this girl doesn't do anything cool!

You did do something very cool with your Twitter page; photographing yourself holding your username (AnnaKendrick47), thereby negating the other 46 false sites in one fell swoop.

That might seem so silly, but I was really proud of myself for thinking of that! I saw a picture once of an actress holding a sign that read, 'yes, it's really me', and I thought that was so clever, but in theory anybody could take that photo and copy it to their site. I don't come up with many good ideas but that was a killer way to dispel the imposters and all the misinformation on the net.

READ THE REST AT THE SOURCE: RTE.IE