Why Anna Kendrick Says Directing and Starring in Woman of the Hour Felt Like Working ‘with a Blindfold On’ (Exclusive)

Anna Kendrick did double duty Woman of the hourdirecting the film and also playing the lead role.

But the balancing act, she tells PEOPLE, “was a little bit like directing blindfolded.”

When she’s done performing in a scene, “I might actually run to the monitor, ask to see 30 seconds of the middle of that take, and say, ‘Okay, I’m crossing my fingers that there are no surprises when I go into the edit,'” Kendrick continues.

“And there were some surprises, but we just had to keep going. We had 24 days [to shoot] and we had the resources that we had and we just had to get on with the transportation.”

Anna Kendrick tells the terrifying true story of a serial killer who appeared on the Dating Show in Woman of the hour Trailer

The Pitch Perfect star is proud of himself for taking on the project — the chilling true story of serial killer and rapist Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto), who appeared as a bachelor on Dating game 1978 and won a date with contestant Cheryl Bradshaw (Kendrick) — though she says she sometimes felt lost.

Anna Kendrick and Tony Hale in ‘Woman of the Hour’.

Leah Gallo/Netflix

“There was a day in pre-production when everything was falling apart,” recalls Kendrick, 39. “It really felt like, ‘I don’t know if the train is going to derail.'”

She went to her car, put on a Weezer album and thought how proud her younger self would be to direct a movie. “No matter how stressed I was, I thought, ‘A 15-year-old would be overjoyed.’ So that helped me get through the hurdles.”

Anna Kendrick on October 10.

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty

When she arrived on set, suspicions lingered for the Portland, Maine, native who began acting on Broadway at age 12 before moving on to films like Twilight franchise. “Is there some secret director thing I’m forgetting to do that everyone knows I should be doing, besides wearing a beret and having a megaphone?” she remembers thinking.

Anna Kendrick directed, starring Woman of the hour An announcement about the true story of a serial killer on the Dating Show

But Kendrick gets nothing but rave reviews from the cast. Autumn Best, who made her film debut as one of Alcala’s potential victims, says the director was a complete professional and made her feel welcome.

Anna Kendrick and director of photography Zach Kuperstein work on ‘Woman of the Hour.’

Leah Gallo/Netflix

“She was very willing to talk about my disability,” recalls Best, who was born with only a thumb on her left hand. “She said, ‘It’s really important that we portray you in a way that gives you confidence.’ ”

Kendrick has yet to line up her next directorial project as it will be hard to top her first experience.

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“I’ve read the scripts and there’s some amazing material in there, but I also think I’ve really hit the jackpot [with Woman of the Hour]. The script was so great, the cast and crew, I don’t know what I did to deserve them,” she says.

“So there’s definitely a sense that I’d like to care about the next thing as much as I care about this,” Kendrick continues. “And I think it’s a difficult task because I think I’ve been incredibly lucky.”

Woman of the hour is now in select theaters and streaming on Netflix on October 18th.

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Source: HIS Education