At the press day for Up in the Air, Anna Kendrick talked about how much she enjoyed working with George Clooney, and gave some insight into her recently completed role as Stacey Pilgrim in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, due in theaters in 2010.

Q: What did you enjoy most about your character, Natalie?

Anna: I love that she's unapologetically ambitious. I don't have that and I wouldn't really want that for myself, but I admire it so much, in her. I love that she's independent and strong. I know that the audience really falls for her, after she completely melts down, and I love her even when she's in her bratty mode. There was almost a desire for me to not show as much as Jason [Reitman] wanted me to show, and keep her protected and not give as much away because I feel protective of her and I wanted her to maintain her dignity. I love her, even when she's a nightmare.

Q: Did you tap into your own inner control freak for this role?

Anna: I think she's a control freak, and I think I'm a control freak, but we react to being out of our element in very different ways. I get more awkward and I fumble and things immediately fall apart. And, Natalie's rigidity and self-awareness increases exponentially, when she feels out of control. She tries to cling to anything that she can control or keep orderly, whether it's her hair or her computer. It makes for some very interesting comedy.

Q: Your character got to tell George's character that he was too old. Is George Clooney too old for you?

Anna: Yes, George Clooney is too old for me. It's funny, a friend of his, who was his age, was dating somebody younger than me, and he thought that was fine. And, I was like, "What would you say to me, if I was dating somebody your age?," and he was like, "Oh, no, absolutely not!" He had this older brother thing with me, where he had rules for me about dating and stuff. It was really sweet.

Q: How was it to work with George?

Anna: He is amazing to work with. If you'd told me how much I was going to end up making fun of George Clooney on this set, I probably wouldn't have believed you. He gave me a hard time, all day, every day, so it was just like, "Okay, it's on! Bring it!"

Q: With such great dialogue in this film, did you have a favorite line or moment?

Anna: I loved yelling at George and telling him off. I loved telling George that he was a 12-year-old. I was so looking forward to that scene, almost to the extent that I was concerned that it was gonna be an indulgent thing. And, Jason reassured me and made sure that I stayed on track, but I was so looking forward to that, when I read that scene in the script. It was like every ex-boyfriend that I've ever had, in the form of George Clooney, on a boardwalk. So, telling George Clooney that he was 12 was a lot of fun.

Q: The writing in this film is so tight. Was there any room for improvisation at all?

Anna: Not much. But, when I was drunk Natalie, there was room for more improv. I don't know if Jason would have let me stray from the page more than I did, but I didn't really have a desire to. The dialogue was so sharp and so smart, and I felt like I wanted everything to be very exact, when I was in rigid Natalie mode. When I was in drunk Natalie mode, the improv was a little more fun.

Q: This movie shows how modern technology has replaced actually spending time and interacting with other people. In your own life, do you text more than you see people?

Anna: I try not to. I've tried iChat now. I've tried Facebook, but I'm off Facebook. I can't do any of that Facebook or MySpace stuff. I feel like it's a really false way of staying in touch. There are people I want to keep in my life, and there are people that I've had to let go of because I feel like a texting relationship or a Facebook relationship is a false relationship. I try to be better about staying in touch with people I'm close to. If it has to be over text or phone then so be it, but I'm much better at in-person interaction.

Q: So, you'd never break up with someone by text then?

Anna: No. When I was 11 years old, I broke up with my boyfriend over email. That's true. But, email was new, so it was still okay to do that.

Q: Jason Reitman said that he considered your character and Vera's character the same person, but with 15 years difference. Do you see that, in 15 or 20 years, Natalie would be where Alex was?

Anna: I think they're certainly on a similar path, and I think there's a possibility that that's how her life could have gone. Maybe this epiphany that she's having at 23, leads to a lot more. Maybe she becomes fun-loving, or maybe she has an affair. But, I think that there's hope for her, in the end, and there's hope that she can find a real balance in her life and accept compromise. In a way, I think that's what Alex does. Alex has to accept compromise. Maybe there is an element of Natalie needing to accept compromise in the way that she has, but I'd like to think that there are other ways for Natalie.

Q: Have you had any airplane experiences that stand out for you?

Anna: I just did a press junket for this movie on a plane, which was strange. That was definitely the first time that I've ever seen a concert in a plane. Sad Brad did his song from the movie. Flying into Vancouver is always weird because I look like such a bum when I fly and Vancouver is the one place there's always sure to be Twilight paparazzi, so there's tons of pictures of me online, in the exact same hoodie. I'm like, "Well, you really needed that picture, didn't you? I look exactly the same, in the same outfit."

Q: Did you learn anything about acting from George?

Anna: Yeah. The lesson from George is just about how incredibly present he is on set. I think a big part of that is because he's been a director. He is so aware of your performance, especially when it's your coverage and your close-up. He is so there for you, and he will alter his performance to a place that wouldn't have been appropriate for his side, but just to try to get you to a place that the director is trying to get you. I think that's really, really rare. You almost never find that, and to find that with somebody like George, who's been doing this for so long and is so famous, it sets a real example for the way that actors should treat each other.

Q: Do you have any beauty secrets for being in Hollywood?

Anna: I can't really stick to a work-out regime. I'm the worst. But, I did yoga while I was shooting the movie. I tried yoga, for the very first time, in St. Louis, and that was pretty fun. I don't know. I'm boring.

Q: Would you go back and do Broadway again?

Anna: I don't have any immediate plans to do that, but I would certainly love to.

Q: Can you talk about who you play in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World?

Anna: I play Stacey Pilgrim. I actually got to meet the "real" Stacey Pilgrim, which is Bryan Lee O'Malley's sister, who's named Stacey. Basically, I judge Scott's (Michael Cera) choices in life and his choices in love, and I'm yelling at him. I just pop up to be what I think is a moral guide point.

Q: What was Edgar Wright like to work with, as a director?

Anna: Edgar is great. I am certainly not opposed to specificity, and he's the most specific director I've ever met. When you shoot things, you're always wondering if they're going to use the medium or the close on this shot. And, for my parts especially, it was literally like, "It will be this shot for this sentence, and this shot for this sentence." If you didn't get it right, it was like, "Well, that's it." There was no question of, "Well, maybe they'll use the two-shot for this one." It was like, "We only shot these sentences this way." I was a split-screen with Michael and I had to time it to the performance that he had done a month before, and that they'd already edited together. I had to just listen to that and do my part.

UP IN THE AIR opens on December 4th

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