Woman of the Hour: Anna Kendrick’s Directorial Debut Lands at Netflix

Anna Kendrick’s latest movie is headed to Netflix. On Monday, reports confirmed that the streaming service has acquired the rights for Woman of the Hour, an upcoming film starring and directed by Kendrick. The film reportedly did not sign a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement amid the ongoing Hollywood strikes, resulting in Netflix making the deal on the ground of the Toronto International Film Festival. Netflix reportedly paid $11 million for Woman of the Hour. The film, which is Kendrick’s directorial debut, is going to be released on the platform at a later date. 

Woman of the Hour is written by Ian McDonald, with producers including Roy Lee, Stephen Crawford, Andrew Deane, J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules.

What Is Woman of the Hour About?

Woman of the Hour is based on the true story of Rodney Alcala, a prolific serial killer who was convicted of murdering at least eight women in the 1970s. While Alcala (played by Daniel Zovatto) usually lured his victims by posing as a fashion photographer, he is now notoriously known as “The Dating Game Killer”, after appearing on the long-running game show in 1978, in the middle of his known murders. In his appearance, Alcala actually won a date with Cheryl Bradshaw (played by Kendrick), a young woman who later refused to go on the date because she found him “creepy.”

“One wonders what that did in his mind,” criminal profiler Pat Brown later said of Bradshaw rejecting Alcala. “That is something he would not take too well. [Psychopaths] don’t understand the rejection. They think that something is wrong with that girl: ‘She played me. She played hard to get. She wanted to live.’”

What Are Anna Kendrick’s New Movies?

In addition to Woman of the Hour, Kendrick is attached to return for the Scott Pilgrim Netflix animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, as well as a currently-untitled sequel to A Simple Favor. As she revealed in an interview earlier this year, having such a prolific filmography has actually impacted her ability to enjoy movies as a viewer.

“I think that when you start making movies, there’s a period where they’re kind of ruined for you, because you’re just thinking of behind the scenes and how the sausage gets made of it all,” Kendrick shared with First We Feast. “And now, I feel like it’s just sort of second nature that’s a running script in the back of my head. So when a movie is really bad, it’s so much worse, because I can see like, ‘Why that choice? It would have been so easy to do this or whatever.’ And when it’s good, the running script is not just like, ‘I’m immersed and it’s great.’ There’s a running thing in the background like, ‘Oh, my God, every department just nailed it.’ I kind of get this bonus appreciation for all these people who came together and made this thing.”

What do you think of Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut ending up on Netflix? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

h/t: Deadline