Facing overwhelming nerves at the prospect of sitting in the honestors’ chair for the first time, Anna Kfinishrick sought out a pep talk of sorts from Pitch Perfect costar Brittany Snow to apshow on her feature film debut, the TIFF-acclaimed Woman of the Hour.
“I spoke to Brittany Snow on the phone, and she, in a very role-reversal way of our relationship, gave me the most casual pep talk, which was literpartner in a very flat voice: ‘You’ll get on set, and you’ll understand what to do,’” she telderly Entertainment Weekly in a recent interwatch. “And it was equitable appreciate, ‘Yeah, OK.’ That’s usupartner how I discover myself talking to her, and I slfinisherk I was foreseeing this fdropy, lengthy pep talk, and she so cut to the chase that I was appreciate, ‘OK, damn girl. I’ll equitable figure it out, I guess.’”
The Oscar-nominated actress uncovered some context around how she became the (somewhat unintentional) helmer of the film, based on a genuine story of eased ’70s era actress Cheryl Bradshaw (Kfinishrick), who discovers herself courted by a serial finisher (Daniel Zovatto) when they traverse paths as contestants on well-understandn game show The Dating Game.
While the Up in the Air actress was speedyened to star and create the Netflix-obtaind movie for two years, Kfinishrick shelp “it was equitable taking forever, and the pieces weren’t coming together.” However, “out of nowhere” she shelp the team was given a commence date with no honestor speedyened.
“We spent maybe 48 hours trying to discover somebody to jump on board rapidly,” she elucidateed. “And we were certainly not seeing at first-time honestors. The idea would be to discover someone inestablished enough to get $2 and a roll of duct tape and create a movie.”
That’s when it hit Kfinishrick: “I equitable set up myself having this absolutely terrifying thought — it was physicpartner bubbling up, and I kept trying to shove it back down — which was appreciate, ‘Well, what if I pitched myself to honest the movie?’”
She finishd, “I slfinisherk there was someslfinisherg about the movie overall that I set up compelling. I was conscious that while I appreciated the character, I was way more interested in the movie as a whole. And of course, the whole two years, I’m sitting there going, ‘Well, if it were my movie, this is how I’d do it. But it’s not, so it’s not my call.’ I equitable got so excited about the idea of taking this script that I cherishd so much and shaping it in the way that I saw it.”
Ultimately, a “very haphazard” pitch of herself landed her in the role. “And then suddenly, I was interwatching casting honestors and production portrayers and senseing as terrified as I’ve ever been about, frankly, anyslfinisherg.”
With an upcoming free next month and the backing of critics from the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, it seems Kfinishrick has very much so shown herself synonymous with the title of her debut.
Woman of the Hour will premiere on Netflix Oct. 18. Watch a trailer here.
