During her “Hot Ones” interview, Anna Kendrick told Sean Evans that she usually gets hired to “play characters where [she’s] supposed to try to be endearing.” She explained:
“Charismatic, charming, funny — something you like about the character — and the idea of playing a character who is kind of a bummer — just not that fun to be around, and see if it works as a performance. And if people will stick around to end up rooting for Alice — because I think it’s important that the movie starts with you not really clear on who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy because there were times in your life where you’re not sure … am I the good guy am I the bad guy?”
As it turns out, Kendrick has a history that gave her a deeper understanding of who Alice is and what she’s going through. Though she told People that making the film “felt incredibly cathartic,” her own experience with emotional abuse made her actually consider not taking the role. She said that when she spoke to director Mary Nighy about it, she told her about her own history of enduring abuse. She felt that if the shooting date had been closer to the meeting, she “probably shouldn’t do it” because it had all taken place so recently. However, the shoot date was “many, many months away,” allowing her to separate it from her own life.