Anna Kendrick had the perfect response to a red carpet reporter who asked about the legal drama surrounding her co-star Blake Lively.
Kendrick, 39, and Lively, 37, have reunited for a sequel to their comedy crime-thriller A Simple Favour, which was released in 2018.
The follow-up, titled Another Simple Favour, premiered at the SXSW film festival in Austin, Texas on Friday (7 March).
Both actors were present for the red-carpet event, with Lively attending amid her ongoing legal dispute with Justin Baldoni.
Seemingly in reference to her co-star’s highly publicised drama, one journalist vaguely asked Kendrick: “How do you feel that the movie is being impacted by everything going on… in the world?”
The Pitch Perfect star laughed it off and feigned ignorance, smiling as she replied: “Why? What happened? I did Ayahuasca and the last year of my life has just gone, but I’ve heard the movie is amazing!”
A clip of the moment has circulated on social media where several fans have applauded Kendrick on her “Oscar-winning evasion” of the question.
“Anna Kendrick mastering the art of saying a lot without saying anything at all,” wrote one person.
Another called it the “best response” she could have given, with a third writing: “She’s a freakn’ national treasure.”
“She’s a pro,” someone else wrote, with a fifth person agreeing. “Anna Kendrick couldn’t have answered this better.”
In January this year, A Simple Favour director Paul Feig shut down online rumours that a feud between the movie’s stars, Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, had indefinitely shelved the now-released sequel. Feig called the speculation “total BS”.
“Sorry. The movie is finished and coming out soon. Don’t believe anything you read on social media these days,” the Bridesmaids director warned at the time.
Rumours of a feud between Lively and Baldoni began to circulate last year when they appeared to keep their distance from one another while promoting It Ends With Us, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel, which Baldoni also directed.
In December, Lively sued Baldoni for sexual harassment and claimed that he had tried to “destroy” her reputation. Baldoni has denied the allegations.
He then filed a $250m lawsuit against The New York Times after it published an article detailing Lively’s claims, and later launched a $400m countersuit against Lively and Reynolds.
See a full timeline of their legal row here.
Last month, Lively’s husband, the actor Ryan Reynolds appeared to allude to the high-profile row between his wife and Baldoni in a joke at SNL50, a star-studded celebration of the comedy show’s milestone birthday.
When he was asked “how’s it going?”, Reynolds responded with “Great! Why? What have you heard?” in an apparent reference to the scandal.
Released in 2018, A Simple Favour was a twisty black-comedy mystery film based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Darcey Bell, which follows Stephanie as she tries to solve the disappearance of her mysterious, glamorous friend.
Another Simple Favour will follow Stephanie and Emily as they reunite on the beautiful island of Capri in Italy for Emily’s extravagant wedding to a rich Italian businessman.
The film will launch globally on Prime Video on 1 May 2025.