Anna Kendrick talks 'New Moon' fever and George Clooney (original) (raw)

Anna Kendrick plays Bella’s human friend Jessica in the Twilight series, EW spoke with the 24-year-old actress about how the New Moon craziness compares with Twilight, and being teased by George Clooney – yup, that George Clooney.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So does the New Moon experience compare to Twilight?

ANNA KENDRICK: It felt a little bit bigger than last year, but ultimately I think it was about as packed as it could have been for Twilight and if there were more people it just meant that they were packed tighter and a little further away. It felt a little bit like déjà vu. But I was a lot less nervous this year.

What’s your most memorable fan encounter?

There was a girl in Vancouver who came up to me in a store and asked me to give something to Taylor the next time that I saw him, and I just said I wasn’t sure the next time I would see him, so I didn’t want to take it. Because I didn’t really know what it was going to be. She said it as though she had it with her, as if she carried it around just in case she ran into a Twilight cast-member on the street. So I was a little too nervous to take it, but I still wonder what it was.

What would you say this role has done for your career?

Obviously this is the most visible thing that I’ve really done, but both Up in the Air [her upcoming film with George Clooney, for which Kendrick is garnering Oscar buzz] and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, I got because of a teeny film called Rocket Science. Both of those directors asked to meet with me because of that film. It’s strange because on the one hand, most people who approach me and know who I am and want to talk to me know me from Twilight, but most filmmakers don’t.

Do you think that Twilight could ever have a negative effect on your career?

I don’t think so. I understand that there is always going to be backlash for something that is really popular. But I think especially because I just play this silly girl, it’s not as though people see me in Twilight and can only think of me as a vampire queen or something.

Tell me about working with George Clooney in Up in the Air.

It was amazing. This year has been really exciting but really stressful in the best kind of way. Working with George was pretty intimidating. He actually teased me about Twilight a lot because I was shooting New Moon at the same time and when I came back from shooting pieces of New Moon, he’d treat me like a traitor when I came back to set.

Photo Credit: Kimberley French