With the release of NBC Universal's Pitch Perfect less than a week away, a cappella fans are anxious for anything they can find out about the film. After a pre-screening Sept. 21, a few student journalists from around the country held a roundtable Skype-interview with the cast and crew. Below are excerpts from sessions with Anna Kendrick and Brittany Snow, and Workaholics star Adam DeVine.
Interview with Anna Kendrick (AK) and Brittany Snow (BS)
Q: The chemistry with the rest of the cast seemed really genuine. Was it like that off the set as well as in front of the camera?
AK: (jokingly) No, we hate each other. (laughs). I hate Brittany Snow so much.
BS: (laughs) Thanks. Yeah, we very weirdly liked each other. Almost to where we were hanging with each other so much that it got abnormal and I think that's really something that's different than other movies. I think it's because we we're singing and dancing and there was such a group aspect to the movie that we were constantly around each other. And the chemistry I think shows on camera as well, hopefully.
Q: How different was it to prepare for a music singing film as opposed to a theatre musical?
BS: I think the rehearsal process was probably similar in the fact that there was a month long of rehearsing and singing and dancing and a little bit of training and tweaking things. But then actually shooting it was definitely different than doing a play because you have a lot of things that are pre-recorded. And then also you're not in front of a bunch of people every night so you don't get the same energy, but we had each other to feed off of.
Q: I've got to ask - Was it hard to shoot the shower scene with a straight face? The entire audience was laughing out loud when they were watching it.
BS: That's good. Our being naked in the shower - that's funny, so good. Laugh it up.
AK: (laughing) We started that day genuinely pretty uncomfortable. And I really, truly, didn't want to have to do it... and then by the end of the day the environment just happened to be really hot and humid. So by the time the end of the day rolled around they kept asking if we wanted our modesty robes back and we were like, 'Nah, just forget it. We're fine. It's hot up in this piece.' And like we've seen everything at this point. It's fine. We're fine.
Interview with Adam DeVine (AD)
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Q: Your character experiences little redemption in the film. How was it playing a douche?
AD: Uh, well I'm a douche in real life, so it really hit home for me. No, it was kind of fun to play the total maniac. Because in Workaholics I'm a maniac, but I'm a fun loving maniac that's kind of everybody's friend. With the character Bumper in Pitch Perfect? No friends. He spends a lot of time looking in the mirror, that guy. (laughs) So, it was fun to do.
Q: Are Ders and Blake (co-stars of Workaholics) jealous that you landed a movie role before them?
AD: I don't think that they're too jealous about it. I mean, I do hear Ders crying in the other room a lot and just muttering "Pitch Perfect," but I don't know. He loves to sing himself, so maybe, it might have hurt him.
Q: What was your favorite song to sing?
AD: (singing) Please don't stop the music! (Laughs) I sang that so many times. It was like the opening number of the whole movie and we shot it like 80 different ways. So it was a lot of fun at first, and then it got to be like, 'Oh my God, we're doing this again?' But that's when you get to find the really weird, cool moments of just where you're trying to have fun for yourself, and I think a lot of that will end up on the DVDs.
Q: What do you expect people to walk out of the theater with from Pitch Perfect?
AD: Probably singing a lot? I came back from Louisiana and my friends were like, "Will you shut up?" Because the whole time I was like, (singing) 'Please don't stop the music!' And they're like, 'okay, that needs to stop right away.' And it took like six months to get out of my system.
There was over 45 minutes of questions and answers. See the rest at miamistudent.net to check out the full interviews with the cast and crew, including producer Elizabeth Banks, director Jason Moore and singer Ester Dean. Be on the lookout for Pitch Perfect, opening Oct. 5.
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