Anna Kendrick admits she felt like ‘a bystander’ to Twilight cultural phenomenon

Anna Kendrick portrayed Jessica Stanley in the ‘Twilight’ film franchise, which lasted from 2008 to 2012

While Anna Kendrick may have starred in Twilight in her early career, she believes her experience was far different from her co-stars.

The Pitch Perfect star, 39, reflected on her time filming the beloved vampire franchise – based on the fantasy book series by Stephenie Meyer – in an interview with Business Insider published on October 18.

When asked whether she views her experience differently looking back on the Twilight films, Kendrick admitted that her contribution to the series “was really unique” compared to others in the cast.

“Almost everyone else in the cast had to treat every moment like life and death, good versus evil, our eternal souls are on the line – and all I had to do was show up and make a snarky comment as I kind of pass through the frame,” she said.

“So I really felt like such a bystander to it in a way that I was very grateful to be privy to this kind of cultural phenomenon without it really impacting me in the ways that I think would’ve felt really challenging and overwhelming,” Kendrick continued.

“The fans of those books are so invested that even if you came into the franchise really late and you had one line, but you were playing a vampire or a werewolf, they’re obsessed with you. They’re picking apart every detail of your costume and your gestures and whatever, and I just didn’t have that level of responsibility.”

Anna Kendrick and Kristen Stewart in the 2008 film, Twilight (Summit Entertainment)

She added: “I could imagine people saying, ‘Oh, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to the whole Twilight set,’ and I am like, ‘Oh, I kind of got to be that.’ I just really wasn’t in the thick of it.”

Kendrick portrayed Jessica Stanley in the Twilight saga, appearing in three out of four films: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn: Part One. In the movie adaptation, Stanley is a friend of Bella Swan’s (Kristen Stewart) at Forks High School, where Bella meets Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and his vampire siblings.

The Twilight movies went on to gross more than $3.3bn worldwide across the entire film franchise, which lasted from 2008 to 2012. The films also transformed romantic leads Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart into household names, with the latter earning nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Kendrick has also gone on to achieve success in her own right. She starred opposite George Clooney in the 2009 film Up in the Air, which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and starred in three Pitch Perfect films. She has also voiced the lead role in the animated movie musical franchise Trolls since 2016. Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of the Hour, hits Netflix on October 18, 2024.

This isn’t the first time that Kendrick has opened up about her atypical experience working on the Twilight films. In fact, she’s even previously described filming the series as being in a “hostage situation.”

“The first movie we filmed in Portland, Oregon, and I just remember being so cold and miserable,” Kendrick told Vanity Fair in 2020. “I just remember my Converse being completely soaked through and feeling like, ‘You know, this is a really great group of people and I’m sure that we would be friends at a different time, but I want to murder everyone.’”

“It was also kind of bonding. There was something about it like if you go through some trauma event. Like you imagine people who survive a hostage situation, and you’re kind of bonded for life,” she said.

The Simple Favor star added about the films: “They all sort of blend into one at some point, because my whole job was to just go, like, ‘This family of very pale people who we never see eating – they’re really weird, right?’”

Kendrick also expressed her confusion at some of her character’s creative choices, particularly when Jessica was made to give an emotional speech to Bella’s graduating class in the third film.

“I remember thinking like, ‘Why did they make my character the valedictorian? She’s very obviously not a good student’,” she recalled. “But they just wanted me to have something to do.”