Anna Kendrick has revealed that she was terrified while working with George Clooney on the set of their 2009 drama Up in the Air, until he told her that he was “insecure”.
Both actors received Oscar nominations for their performances in the film, but shared major doubts about their abilities while shooting.
“To other people he is kind of capital-G George, and he works really hard to make you forget that and feel comfortable,” Kendrick said on an episode of the podcast Who’s Talking to Chris? .
“The very first shot that he and I did together was my first shot in the movie. We were standing on this people mover, and we’re kind of waiting and the camera is pretty far away and he said, ‘God, do you get nervous? On the first day, I get so nervous. Do you get insecure? I get really insecure.’”
Kendirck shared that Clooney struggled with what appeared to be impostor syndrome as he wondered if the filmmakers had made a mistake in hiring him.
“And I was like, ‘Yes, I do, George, I do. I totally get nervous. I totally get insecure,’” she continued. “And he was doing this whole thing about, like, ‘I worry. Like, did they even hire the right guy?’”
Years later Kendrick felt that perhaps the Ocean’s Twelve and Wolfs star had exaggerated his feelings a little in a bid to make her feel more comfortable.
“It wasn’t for years that suddenly that memory popped into my brain, and I thought, ‘No, no he does not get nervous. He does not get insecure or worry that they’ve hired the wrong guy,’” she continued.
“Maybe that’s something he dealt with earlier in his career, but it was such a gift for him to say that because it felt like, ‘Oh, okay, I can bring my anxiety into the moment and someone is going to hold space for that and be cool with that.’ It really, really set me at ease. And was a complete fiction.”
It comes as Kendrick continues her press tour for the Netflix film Woman of the Hour. The actor revealed she had donated the entire proceeds from the making of the film to charity, after feeling “gross” about profiting from the story.
Woman of the Hour is streaming on Netflix now.
