‘Pitch Perfect’ Star Anna Kendrick Reveals ‘The Cup Song’ Was Never Supposed to Be in the Film
It’s hard to think about Pitch Perfect without thinking about The Cup Song. Played by Anna Kendrick‘s character, Beca Mitchell, The Cup Song is used for Beca’s audition for the college acapella group, The Barden Bellas. But, The Cup Song, known formally as “Cups (You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone)” wasn’t just a fan-favorite part of the film. It became a viral sensation with thousands of people eager to learn the unique musical number.
But, The Cup Song was actually never supposed to be in the film. In fact, it wasn’t in the script at all. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Kendrick got candid about how the song made it into Pitch Perfect and why she was attracted to the creative project to begin with. According to the Twilight actor, she and her fellow castmates were completed enamored with the script for Pitch Perfect and how sharp the writing was.
Anna Kendrick on what drew the ‘Pitch Perfect’ cast to the movie
“I mean, every cast member, we’ve all talked about how the thing that got us excited about the movie is Kay Cannon’s writing,” Kendrick shared about Pitch Perfect. “You know, she wrote for 30 Rock and this script was the kind of thing that you read and you think you know what it’s going to be. It’s like, OK, it’s a competition thing. It’s a college thing. We know the beats of this. And then the script was so funny and dark and weird and really kind of pushed what was OK to say,” Kendrick shared about why she was eager to jump on board.
But if The Cup Song wasn’t in the Pitch Perfect film initially, how did it make it into the film? Funnily enough, it was the song that Kendrick actually auditioned for the film with. Cannon ended up liking the audition so much that she swapped it out for what was originally in the script.
The Cup Song wasn’t in the original script
“At the time I hadn’t sung in a film,” Kendrick told Vanity Fair. “So I just kinda needed to prove that I could sing. And I actually brought in a cup and was like, ‘I can do this dumb thing, like the cup.’ And so they put that in the movie. Originally, that was the audition song and the first movie was I’m a little teapot, which I still to this day, I keep meaning to ask, ‘Hey Cannon, like what would that have been? How would that have worked?'” the Pitch Perfect star questioned.
Kendrick reveals that she and the ‘Pitch Perfect’ director searched for the perfect cup for the scene
Once Cannon decided to swap I’m a little teapot for The Cup Song, there was still work to be done. Kendrick actually recalled the process of finding the perfect cup for Beca’s audition scene. “The director, Jason Moore, and I were like going around like collecting cups that we would just see on set to see like what would make the best sound for that scene. And we had this little collection of like a dozen cups to try once we actually got to that location and I could test them out on that stage,” the singer shared about the unique process.
Clearly, more effort than we thought went into making The Cup Song a memorable part of Pitch Perfect. We’re sure fans of the movie are grateful that Kendrick chose to audition in such an unusual way.
