Anna Kendrick calls out director for pulling a ‘power move’ to embarrass her on set: ‘F**k you!’

Actress Anna Kendrick has recalled an “icky” experience she had with a director when he tried to diss her on-set.

Anna Kendrick recently made her directorial debut with Woman of the Hour, but the actress has been quite candid about the problematic experiences she’s had on the other side of the camera.

During a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, host Josh Horowitz asked Kendrick if she could share the worst feedback she’s ever received from a director. The Pitch Perfect star could recall one such moment, and revealed how she still came out on top in the end.

“I remember a director once, in a room full of 100 extras or something being like, ‘Hey, on this next one just try something. Just make something up. Just improv something,’” she recalled. “And I did it and then the director called cut and came over and, once again in front of 100 extras, was like, ‘Oof, let’s go back to the script!’”

“It really felt like a very specific power move thing to embarrass me, to gain dominance. It was very icky,” Kendrick said.

The actress did not name the filmmaker or specify the set. And although the director may not have been happy in the moment, the scene eventually made it into the trailer later on.

“And then the thing that I improved ended up in the trailer. So f**k you!” Kendrick exclaimed, prompting the Happy Sad Confused audience to applaud.

Anna Kendrick shared her story during a recent episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad podcast.

Kendrick recently made her own foray into directing for the very first time with the Netflix movie Woman of the Hour.

The thriller follows the crimes of California serial killer Rodney Alcala, who appeared on a dating show in the ’70s right in the midst of his ongoing murder spree. Kendrick stars as aspiring actress Cheryl Bradshaw, who unknowingly wins a date with the serial killer after she finally lands a gig on the ’70s game show.

The actress recently made her directorial debut in the Netflix film Woman of the Hour. Picture: Valerie Macon / AFP

Kendrick recently revealed that one dark moment from the movie was directly influenced by a comment someone made about her during an audition.

“There’s this scene at the beginning where I’m in a casting office, and I stole little things from my real life,” she shared during a recent appearance on The View. “There’s a moment where they ask me if I do nudity and they make this really weird specific comment about my body that’s lifted verbatim from a thing that happened to me when I was 19.”

She was referring to a scene where Cheryl tells the casting directors that she isn’t comfortable with nudity, to which one man replies, “I’m sure they’re fine,” while staring directly at her chest.

“It’s funny in the movie. We can all laugh at my humiliation,” she told the audience. “That’s funny. We’re allowed.”

This article originally appeared in Decider and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Anna Kendrick calls out director for pulling a ‘power move’ to embarrass her on set: ‘F**k you!’