“Sheryl is doing everything she can to feel like she exists and matters, but she’s looking to the men around her to give her that, which is her mistake,” Kendrick adds. “Ian really used Sheryl as the place to tease out the thematic elements of these pervasive gender issues.”

It was territory Kendrick was eager to explore. Since making her screen debut in 2003’s Camp, Kendrick has earned high marks for her general moxie and supremely quick wit (and even quicker line delivery), portraying smart women who know how to read a room. She brought her signature verve to the Twilight and Pitch Perfect films, though she’s proven equally adept with drama as evidenced by her work in Alice, Darling and Up in the Air, the latter of which earned her an Academy Award nomination. In truth, Kendrick was tipped for success early on — she received a Tony Award nomination for her turn in the Broadway musical High Society when she was only 12.

Intrigued by the idea of portraying Sheryl, she initially signed on to star in Woman of the Hour in 2021 and remained involved throughout the development process. When the time came to take the reins as director, Kendrick was as prepared as anyone to steer the production. “As a director, Anna’s passionate and meticulous,” offers screenwriter McDonald. “She’s able to go deep into how characters feel and behave while also keeping the larger narrative in mind. She also just had a very clear, uncompromising vision for how she wanted the film to look and feel, which was inspiring.”

Collaborating closely with members of the behind-the-scenes team, including cinematographer Zach Kuperstein (Barbarian) and production designer Brent Thomas (The Art of Racing in the Rain), Kendrick sought to create a sustained atmosphere of uncertainty and suspicion. “Throughout the movie, I wanted there to be this dissonant feeling, like a question mark about whether you’re misreading a situation,” Kendrick says. “I wanted to put people in that off-balance feeling about what they’re really seeing because humans are very good at hiding certain parts of their nature.” 

Alcala himself, both in his daily life and on The Dating Game stage, was a predator lurking in plain sight. Selected for the dating show for his good looks and charms, Alcala was never subject to any kind of background check — meaning that producers had no idea he’d previously appeared on the F.B.I.’s most-wanted list and that he’d already been convicted of assault. To play the all-important role, Kendrick landed on Daniel Zovatto (It Follows, Don’t Breathe) after seeing him as an enigmatic cult leader in the limited series Station Eleven.

“Rodney seemed like an impossible ask,” says Kendrick. “It’s such a demanding character. Danny was beyond what I hoped for. I couldn’t get over how terrifying he could be in some scenes and how open and vulnerable and safe he was in others. He knows how to balance eruption and restraint. It’s just masterful.”

Shot in just 24 days in Vancouver, Canada, Woman of the Hour moves backward and forward through time, recounting in present day how Sheryl comes to her fateful Dating Game appearance and showing scenes of Alcala claiming his victims in flashback. On set, Kendrick juggled directing, producing, and performing duties with grace and efficiency, creating a comfortable environment for her actors to do their best work.

“She is an incredible director,” says Autumn Best, who plays Amy, a homeless teen who meets Alcala in a 1979 flashback. “Nobody understands the experience of being an actor on a set the way other actors do and that definitely informed the way she directed. She was so good about taking care of us and making sure we were knowledgeable about what the shots were and why they were happening. To have a director care so much about your safety and well-being is so special.”

Echoes Kathryn Gallagher, who plays Charlie, another of Alcala’s victims: “I just want to live in her brain. She’s so smart and a joy to be around. There’s a respect and an ease with which she talked to me that I just cherished. I found it very helpful to work with a director who’s an actor as well, because she knows what it’s like to be on the other side [of the camera].”

For Kendrick, Woman of the Hour proved to be one of the most challenging but creatively satisfying endeavors of her decades-long career — and she’s hopeful that audiences will not only become invested in Sheryl’s journey but also take time to ponder the film’s larger points.

“Our intention was to say something about people who don’t have power and all the invisible ways that our culture protected and still protects the people who benefit from having the power,” Kendrick says. “I hope the movie speaks to anyone who has abandoned themselves to stay safe. I think it’s for anyone who has made themselves small and pleasing because they were just trying to survive physically or financially or mentally. It’s for those of us who have thought, Thank god I listened to my gut — and certainly for those of us who know the pain of thinking, I wish I had listened to my gut.”