What was it like to walk around Comic-Con and see people who were dressed as Ramona?
It was pretty wild. It was overwhelmingly positive, though. I think we were all kind of nervous about it, like, "What are reactions going to be to this movie?" But people were just so excited about Scott Pilgrim and so passionate about the books, and you could just feel that everywhere. It was a really wonderful experience, especially the screenings. I don't think I've ever had as fantastic a moviegoing experience as seeing this movie with the fans at Comic-Con.
Did you watch all three screenings of it at Comic-Con?
I did, I went to all three. I wasn't planning on it, but we were introducing the films, and each time I was like, "OK, I've got to stay and watch a little bit of it," and then I would get sucked into it and watch the whole thing.
You were worried about what the reception might be, and I think some people wonder if there might be a generational divide with this movie, a la Fight Club, in that younger viewers will really respond to it, but older people might be left scratching their heads. Do you think there's any truth to that?
Yeah, I think that's a general concern that people seem to have, but what's been interesting is how many people who are not considered to be part of the target audience who've been coming up to me at press events or junkets to say, "I didn't think I was going to like it, but I loved it." It's interesting, because I'm getting so many of those comments that I wonder if that generational gap isn't as much of a concern as people think it is. I think it's a great story and really funny and refreshing and unique, and those are all things to me that any person who enjoys film would be entertained by. We'll wait and see, I guess.
Ramona can very guarded. How do you play that without her coming off as unreadable?
It definitely was challenging, the most challenging part I ever had to play. It was a daunting task when I read it and started to prepare for it, like, "How do you play someone who's so guarded that you never really know what she's thinking or feeling, yet she's still human, so there still has to be some level of emotion there?" I had to figure out a way of keeping her in a very emotional place all the time, but at the same time, covering that all up and putting up a wall. It was really helpful to be able to talk to [comics creator] Bryan Lee O'Malley and get some insight into the character. Some of the things he told me really gave me an understanding as to why she is the way she is. Hopefully because I understood it, other people will understand it.
What kind of backstory did Bryan give you?
The main things that I really took with me were about her childhood, and several things that were very sad, these traumas that she had been through. It made me realize that she was a pretty dark character and somewhat sad, and this hardened shell that she puts around herself is just a facade to keep people at bay. She's got so much emotional baggage that she carries around everywhere she goes, so to me, I needed her to feel like she always had this weight on her shoulders, the weight of what she'd been through in her life.
You worked on this film for about seven months. Is that the longest amount of time you've ever spent on a movie?
Definitely. That was my life for quite a while. [Laughs]
What was the bulk of your fight training like?
We actually didn't really start into the fight choreography until a few weeks before shooting. Most of the training was to get us prepared physically and get us familiar with the fundamentals of kung fu. For two months or more -- because we actually started in LA before we went to Toronto, so it was more like three months -- every day, we would have bootcamp training in the mornings when we would do push-ups and run. Then we would rotate to different training sessions of kung-fu, or I would go practice wushu or go work with my hammer or staff, or Mae [Whitman] and I would be put together to spar and learn hand-to-hand combat. Once we had all the fundamentals down, then they would actually teach us choreography, which was almost like learning a dance.
That battle with Mae is actually my favorite evil ex battle, and it does feel like a dance.
It's like a musical, especially the way Edgar is so influenced by music and that's such a big part of all of his films. We knew that we would be fighting to a beat at certain points, so it definitely felt like dancing. Michael and I actually learned swing dancing to prepare for that puppeteering part of the fight. At one point, that was actually much more elaborate, and I was swinging Michael around me. [Laughs] I would swing him over my back and lift him up and carry him and all sorts of stuff. We actually rehearsed a lot more fighting for that segment, which was a lot of fun, but I think it turned out to be a bit much.
What was the process like of actually shooting that fight? It goes by in the blink of an eye, but I'm sure it took much, much longer.
It did. I think at least fight took at least a week or week and a half to shoot. It was pretty intense, long hours of physical stuff take after take. It's funny because it goes by so quickly on screen, but we spent months training for it and weeks shooting it. Still, it looks brilliant and I'm incredibly proud of it.
**What was it like to shoot so many of those tiny, blink-of-an-eye shots the movie is littered with? Anna Kendrick talked about learning the art of acting during a crash-zoom
It was challenging. There were a lot of days where it might be a sixteen-hour day, but all I'd be doing is a shot of me flipping my head to the right really fast, and something would go off in the background and the camera was going to zoom in on my face and it had to be the right focus at the right time. There were always so many elements to perfect that went beyond giving the right performance, and it was definitely a unique filmmaking experience because there was so much going on that the actors weren't doing. I think we all had to take one for the team and know that we were in good hands and that we'd be a part of something that would be amazing. We took a cue from Edgar and worked really hard for the finished product, because he works harder than anyone.
SPOILERS
Let's talk about the ending, because I heard that Scott ended up with Knives Chau in the original cut. When did Edgar have you go back and reshoot that, and what did you think of the change?
I think the main thing was wanting to be true to the books. When we originally shot it, the sixth book hadn't been written yet, and Bryan didn't know necessarily what he was going to do. So when the sixth book was finished and our ending was very different than the book's ending, I think it just felt kind of wrong to a lot of people for it to be so vastly different. Also, I think having some hindsight and seeing the film again after having been away from shooting for a while, I think that Edgar just felt that it was right to change it. I don't want to go into too much detail to give stuff away about the ending, although you obviously already already know it, but I think it was mainly about being true to the books.
END SPOILERS
Bruce Willis was recently quoted as saying that Die Hard 5 was imminent. Have they checked on your availability yet?
They have not. I don't know the validity of that, or if they have any interest in Lucy McClane, but I'm waiting. We'll see!
Can we please talk about the fact that once upon a time, you were on Passions? I think that aside from Scott Pilgrim, that may be the most out-there project on your resume.
I know! It's funny, I keep getting Passions questions lately, and I haven't in years. But yeah, that's gotta be more out-there than anything. Not only were there witches, and Hell was in my basement at one point, but I was also having to perform monologues to myself and ridiculously cheesy stuff. [Laughs] So yeah, I've been there, done that.
So if Edgar Wright asks you to pull a giant hammer out of thin air, you don't even flinch at this point.
"No big deal!" I've done far crazier stuff in my day.