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Anna Kendrick is having a moment. Unfortunately for her, it’s a rather precarious one.
The 28-year-old actress has been working in film for over a decade, and has an Oscar nomination (for 2009's Up in the Air) and a budding new franchise (Pitch Perfect 2 is due in 2015) to her credit already. For a while, it seemed like Kendrick was going to be the hip alternative to the most popular girls in Hollywood; the IPA to Jennifer Lawrence’s Bud Light.
But Pitch Perfect changed the game and made her a sensation. Her song “Cups (When I’m Gone)” from the film was a surprise commercial and radio smash, and suddenly, Kendrick was ubiquitous. Just this year, she’s starring in this weekend’s indie release Happy Christmas, has a plum supporting role in the theatrical adaptation of Into the Woods, and will also star in The Last Five Years, another musical making its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Kendrick’s moment is striking while the iron is at its hottest – Emma Stone isn’t setting the world on fire recently, and after what our Joe Reid called Lawrence’s “Zellwegerian Cold Mountain march to the sea” in American Hustle almost led to an embarrassing second Oscar win, she seems to be laying low as well. This is the perfect time to break out for a would-be It Girl.
Ugh Anna Kendrick.
— Jadey (@paralesbian) July 22, 2014
To qualify my Anna Kendrick position: millionaires being falsely self-deprecating is never charming
— Richard Lawson (@rilaws) July 24, 2014
I hate Anna Kendrick so much. I refuse to watch a movie if she's in it. Terrible acting, busted face and a stupid voice. Hate her.
— LaneNewbern (@LaneNewbern) July 22, 2014
It is also, apparently, the perfect time to break a would-be It Girl. Like almost every starlet that came before her, Kendrick is about to face a massive backlash. Call it getting Hathaway'd: a celebrity suddenly drowning in social-media hatred due to perceived irksome behavior. It can seem pretty unfair – and, considering it's usually women who are subject to it, sexist – but such is Hollywood.