The Big Picture

Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut,
Woman of the Hour
, explores true stories of victims linked to Rodney Alcala.
The film emphasizes women’s experiences, not glorifying the serial killer, making it a unique genre piece.
Actors Nicolette Robinson, Autumn Best, and Kathryn Gallagher praise Kendrick’s direction and focus on empowering roles.

After a wildly positive reception at festivals, Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut Woman of the Hour finally drops on Netflix this week. A brand-new way to tell a so-called “serial killer” story, the film has been called deftly directed by Kendrick, with a powerful storytelling foundation exploring violence and misogyny in modern society.

Woman of the Hour explores the true stories of the victims surrounding “The Dating Game Killer.” In 1978, Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) appeared on the iconic TV program, The Dating Game, winning a date with Chery Bradshaw (played by Kendrick), who had no idea Alcala had already murdered five women. The film also stars Nicolette Robinson (One Night In Miami…), Kathryn Gallagher (Broadway’s Jagged Little Pill), and Autumn Best in her film debut.

Collider’s Steve Weintraub had the pleasure of sitting down with Robinson, Best, and Gallagher to talk about Woman of the Hour. The four discuss their unequivocal pride in the film, illustrate the important “secret language of women,” and chat about the infinite advantages to being directed by a fellow actor. You can watch the full conversation in the video above or in the transcript below.

‘Woman of the Hour’s Cast Reflect on Their Wild Journey

COLLIDER: Let me start by saying, you guys all did great work, and Anna did such a great job with this. I am so curious what it’s been for the three of you, your reaction, with everything that’s happened. This is a small movie, 24 day-shoot, it goes to a festival, and it’s the first thing bought by Netflix. Now it’s going to be on Netflix everywhere in like a week.

KATHRYN GALLAGHER: It’s excellent!

NICOLETTE ROBINSON: I just got a little nervous.

GALLAGHER: I know, I did too. My palms are sweating.

ROBINSON: Well, it’s also been almost two years since we shot it.

GALLAGHER: I had a mullet [Laughs]. Things have changed.

ROBINSON: It feels a little surreal. It’s very exciting. I’m really, really proud of what Anna made and what we all came together to create. It feels really cool that people are gonna get to finally see it!

AUTUMN BEST: I’m just so proud of this film watching it. I feel, as an actor, especially a brand-new actor to the industry, it’s so rare to have one of your first projects be something that you’re so deeply proud of. Do you know what I mean? I feel so, so lucky to have this as my film debut. I’ve just been waiting for it to come out because I also am really proud of the work that we all did, and the work that I did in this film. It feels really nice for people to say that.

Related ‘Woman of the Hour’ Review: Anna Kendrick’s Directorial Debut Is a Haunting, Surprising Serial Killer Story With strong direction from Kendrick and a terrifying performance by Daniel Zovatto, ‘Woman of the Hour’ is a fascinating directorial debut.

GALLAGHER: Yeah, it’s really cool. You know, none of us worked together.

BEST: I didn’t even meet Kathryn until a couple of months ago.

GALLAGHER: It’s really cool. I mean, Nicolette and I have known each other for years in the Broadway community. To get to watch the movie and be such a fan of it as someone who gets to see all these brand-new parts. Then to think that so many people are gonna get the opportunity to get to see this movie, it’s thrilling. It doesn’t really get better than that.

Anna Kendrick is an Actor’s Dream Director
“You’d feel so safe to try things, to be new at things.”
Image via Netflix

Anna has never directed before. She did such a great job with this. But I’m so curious because she’s an actor and has worked with such talented directors. What was she like giving direction on set? Because she obviously knows exactly what you’re thinking because she’s been there. So what was that like?

GALLAGHER: The dream! There would be so many times where she’d be like, “Okay, this feels crazy, I know, because you’re pretending to talk to nobody on the phone and that’s insane, but I just need a little bit more of this.” She would talk to you because she knows exactly what it’s like. You’d feel so safe to try things, to be new at things.

ROBINSON: She’s really good at communicating in a way that, as somebody who’s been on the other side of the camera, in front of the camera, she does it in a way that we really understand. It can penetrate in a way that creates performances that feel really grounded and don’t feel pushed. She’s awesome. She’s just incredible. I hope she continues to direct more and more.

BEST: I was so worried she was going to get sick of me because I was like, “Anna, can I just follow you around all the time?” I would just show up to the set on days that I wasn’t working and follow her around, watch her direct, take notes, and soak it all up because I didn’t really know a lot about film from a technical standpoint. That helps me grow so much as an actor. I feel so much more confident walking onto a set now because I have an understanding of what’s actually going on. She was really nice to let me do that.

That’s actually something I’ve spoken to Bryce Dallas Howard about. She’s talked about how she went to set on certain days with her dad [Ron Howard] just to study things. You can learn all you want in an acting class or through friends, but it’s really being there and seeing what it’s really like on a take and when you have one take to get it right.

BEST: Exactly. We all — them more than me — are theater people. It’s just such a different medium. I feel like theater is an actor’s medium, but film really is more of a director and camera medium, if that makes sense. So, as an actor, you feel so alone in your process and disconnected from the goals of the project sometimes.

ROBINSON: It wasn’t that way with Anna.

BEST: Not with Anna! She was so good at being like, “This is what’s happening behind the camera, we’re all on the same page, and we all have the same goal.” It makes a huge difference. It really does.

Kathryn Gallagher Describes the ‘Secret Language of Women’
“Oftentimes, that comes into direct conflict with your instinct and your sense of danger.”
Image via TIFF

I actually want to read something. Kathryn, you gave a quote I was reading in the press notes, and something really struck me: “I think there’s a secret language of women. I think we’ve all been in the room when you suddenly stop feeling safe, and it’s a language you learn when you’re way too young to learn it.” I thought that was very honest and astute. Not enough people talk about that. Can you talk about that quote and how it also plays into the movie?

GALLAGHER: I think that, especially growing up as a young girl, you learn to be polite and to make people feel comfortable and make them feel happy. And oftentimes, that comes into direct conflict with your instinct and your sense of danger. And oftentimes, you’re put in a situation when you feel danger and you feel threatened. You see that a lot in the film. You have a choice. One is, “Am I strong enough to get out of this situation, or do I have to play dumb? Do I have to be nice? And what’s going to be the safest route out? What’s the safest path to home?”

Oftentimes, especially in this film, you see it, we make the choice to be palatable, and we make the choice to be like, “Oh my god, I’m being crazy.” I’ve done it a million times in the last month. “I am being crazy. There is no danger. I’m being dramatic. This is insane.” There are so many times later you get that confirmation where you’re like, “I wasn’t wrong.”

ROBINSON: You almost learn to gaslight yourself.

GALLAGHER: You do all the time. All the time. As you grow older, you really learn, “Oh my god, I can’t believe I survived being 21.” [To Best] You’re surviving beautifully.

BEST: Thank you so much, baby.

GALLAGHER: You’re surviving very beautifully. [Laughs] I just think it’s something we learn way too young, how to protect ourselves, how to walk on the side of the street that has an exit route, how to look over your shoulder. It’s a language we all speak and have for a very long time.

Definitely.

Anna Kendrick Turns the Focus to the Women
“This can hopefully be the start of the conversation in many ways.”
Image via Netflix

One of the other reasons why I think the film is so good is that it never glorifies the killer, never glorifies the “crime porn,” if you will. It’s very much focused on the women. Can you talk about that aspect of the film?

ROBINSON: It was really important to Anna to create these characters that people could really connect with and could be interchanged with anybody in your own life. It was really important to focus on the women versus the serial killer, which I think is an incredible shift from many genre films out there. This can hopefully be the start of the conversation in many ways, or the continuation of a conversation.

BEST: It is kind of a different genre than a normal serial killer movie. I think Anna really didn’t want it to be a horror movie, like a thriller. I think that really informs the acting, as well, because it feels really grounded.

GALLAGHER: Yeah, I’d agree with that tenfold. You really see the lives that are robbed, and that has a big impact.

Woman of the Hour is now streaming on Netflix.

Cheryl Bradshaw, a single woman looking for a suitor on a hit 1970s TV show, chooses charming bachelor Rodney Alcala, unaware that, behind the man’s gentle facade, he hides a deadly secret.Release Date September 26, 2023 Runtime 94 Minutes Writers Ian MacAllister McDonald Distributor(s) Netflix

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