Up in the Air's Anna Kendrick on Getting Hired, Not Fired

Rocket Science (2007)

I know Rocket Science was an important film for you, and Ginny Ryerson was a pivotal role.

Rocket Science is really where I fell in love with filmmaking, I think. Camp was incredible, but it was so bizarre, and I was trying to find my footing in this world where you don't have an audience for immediate validation.

How did you get the role?

I auditioned the old-fashioned way. I went in and read for Jeff Blitz -- I went in a bunch of times for that role, actually. They were trying to find the right boy [for the part of Hal], so I went in and read with a ton of potential Hals. You know, it's funny -- I've heard Jeff talk about my first audition, how after I finished, he wrote on his little notepad, "Anna Kendrick is Ginny Ryerson." I never knew that, though. Throughout the entire audition process, I was thinking, "I could lose this at any time."

Was it a particularly daunting audition? So much of that character hinged on her ability to talk really fast in debate -- "spreading," I think it was called.

They didn't send me the spreading at first. I just thought it was a fast talker, and people tell me I talk too fast all the time! [Laughs] I thought it was going to be a breeze, and then they showed us videos of what spreading was, and I was like, "How the hell am I gonna do that?"

It's such an eye-catching performance. Did that movie become a touchstone for casting agents and directors who wanted to meet with you?

I would say that every job I've gotten since Rocket Science has been because of that movie. I know a lot of people think my big break was Twilight, but it was definitely Rocket Science. Jason Reitman saw Rocket Science and started writing this role for me [in Up in the Air], Edgar Wright saw me in Rocket Science and asked me to be in Scott Pilgrim, and Catherine Hardwicke was on the jury at Sundance and she asked me to come in and read for Twilight.

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