Anna Kendrick And Director Mary Nighy Dive Deep Into The Important Cinematic Storytelling Of ‘Alice, Darling’

Both on-screen and in our everyday lives, terms like “gaslighting” and “toxic” have often been used when discussing unhealthy relationships. Embodying a similar tone, what the new Lionsgate and Elevation Pictures film Alice, Darling might do best is draw attention to the quiet battles happening from within, while bringing its much-needed message to the surface.

The story follows Alice (played by Anna Kendrick), a woman who finds herself trapped in an abusive relationship, doing everything possible to please her boyfriend (played by Charlie Carrick). Alice’s over-accommodating efforts result in a direct effect on her physical and emotional state, as she strives to hide her pain from her two life-long friends (played by Wunmi Mosaku and Kaniehtiio Horn). Kendrick, known to many for her easily lovable characters in the Pitch Perfect films and A Simple Favor, brilliantly showcases her acting depth like never before in Alice, Darling and delivers an uncomfortable intensity that is displayed on-screen so authentically in helping get this film’s important yet difficult message effectively across to moviegoers.

As I began speaking with Kendrick remotely over Zoom while she was in Toronto promoting Alice, Darling at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), I quickly shared with her how what Alice goes through in the film somewhat resonated with even me and my past relationship. Kendrick starts off by saying, “I’m really glad that you said that because I think a lot of people have been focusing on what this film might mean for women and I don’t see it as a gendered issue. I think that mistreatment and abuse can happen in any combination of gender and sexual orientation dynamics.”

Mary Nighy, Alice, Darling’s director, also spoke with me from TIFF about why she decided to take on this serious subject matter as her next project.

“For me, it was really exciting as a director to explore a character where so much that’s happening to her is hidden,” Nighy continues. “It’s really internal and to try to draw out the psychology of what she has gone through and make it visual, when it’s very much beneath the surface. On the more hopeful, joyful side, I was really drawn to the friendships between women.”

Kendrick recalls the supportive environment that Nighy created for her from the very beginning while filming in and around Toronto last year, saying, “Before we started working on [the movie], she was like Listen, if you ever need to signal to me that you need a break or it’s getting overwhelming, you can always tell me. It just didn’t ever feel like that because it felt like such a safe set and such a boundaried set.”

Knowing Nighy also comes from a background in acting, I asked her if her previous experiences working on-screen has helped her better understand and engage with her actors as their director now.

“I think it’s useful for directors to have done some acting because I think it gives you a bit of a sense of how exposing that can be for actors and how vulnerable that can make them. It allows you to understand that all actors have different processes, obviously, and no two actors are going to approach anything the same. I think it does make you understand a little bit what they’re up against. I hope it helps me create an environment where actors feel they can do their best work.”

Kendrick goes on to applaud her main scene partners, Mosaku and Horn, telling me that she could not have asked for “a better set of energies” around her during filming, crediting her co-stars for creating “ a great environment to explore all of this in.”

Kendrick not only committed to her role on-screen in Alice, Darling, she also worked behind-the-scenes as an executive producer on this project. I asked director Nighy how Kendrick’s efforts beside her off-screen positively impacted the overall creation of this film.

“The conversations that Anna and I had over Zoom before we got to set and then also when we were on-set were extremely useful,” Nighy says. “I think she’s got great taste. I know she’s extremely clever and informed some of the dialogue. Also in the edit, she gave great notes and that informed a lot of the smaller choices we made. It was great insight across the board.”

Speaking to her own experiences executive producing Alice, Darling, Kendrick says, “I think I was more involved in the edit on this movie than I’ve been in any others. I’ve now seen so many cuts of this movie (laughs). That felt really empowering as well to sort of be putting the puzzle pieces together in the end. We all knew that we were kind of walking onto a tightrope and having the access that I had during the edit was really helpful for me. Obviously, it’s Mary’s call at the end of the day, but she was really generous in terms of making sure that I was happy with how it was coming together.”

Kendrick recently told People Magazine that she had “a personal experience with emotional abuse and psychological abuse” during a past relationship, which led her to have an even greater interest in taking on Alice, Darling. So after choosing to speak out, I wondered if Kendrick’s experiences making this film were at all helpful in healing her own abuse.

Kendrick responds, “I always think there is a danger in assuming that art will be healing, so I never want to imply that’s the path. I mean certainly, the reason it resonated with me, the reason it resonated with everybody involved through every department was because [screenwriter] Alanna [Francis] had captured this really subtle thing that is so hard to put into words. It’s so valuable that she managed to create this atmosphere and this world where there’s this question hanging over the film but you can feel it in your bones.”

With a female-led team on Alice, Darling, both in front of the camera and behind the lens, I was curious what Nighy’s thoughts are on Hollywood and the international film community. Does she see the industry giving more and more opportunities to women in these leadership roles today?

Nighy responds, “Well, I suppose I watch the movies I watch because they resonate with me. I often find myself watching a film, not because it has a female director but because the story is something that I relate to and that I enjoy. I think what’s interesting people on the finance side is what I’m noticing is that budgets, there are a lot more projects by female directors getting financed, which is really exciting, and from directors of all backgrounds, as well – but what tends to happen I’m being told is that it sticks around a certain budget level. I think it’s about trusting people with bigger budgets and allowing them to tell stories on a broader canvas because once you open that up, think of all the amazing stories that could be told.”

As I began to conclude my conversation with Kendrick and Nighy, I asked these Alice, Darling filmmakers what message they might have for women and men who are quietly struggling themselves in real-life and feeling trapped in an abusive relationship.

Nighy responds first with, “I think that’s a great question. I would say the first step is to identify that your relationship isn’t right and to be able to step out of the denial that sometimes accompanies being in a relationship like this and be able to see what you’re in. I hope that when people watch this film, if they are in a relationship like that, that they will be able to get a bit of perspective on their own situation because I think the first thing is just really to recognize where you are.”

Kendrick follows up with, “Obviously, the thing that we all hope is that people see themselves reflected in the movie and that it feels validating and feels hopeful. Every day that we went to set, it was like there’s a reason we’re all here and it’s hopefully so that people will feel seen.”