Anna Kendrick Reveals the Untold Truth About Working with Blake Lively—And It’s Not What You Expect!

Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively’s on-screen magic first dazzled in 2018’s A Simple Favor, a twisty thriller where Kendrick’s earnest vlogger, Stephanie Smothers, tangled with Lively’s enigmatic fashionista, Emily Nelson. Off-screen, their vibe’s been a rollercoaster—playful promo banter one minute, whispers of a feud the next. As Another Simple Favor debuted at SXSW on March 7, 2025, Kendrick’s latest take on working with Lively offers a fresh lens: it’s all about the weird, wonderful chemistry, feud rumors be damned.

Back in 2018, the duo’s press tour for the original film was a hoot—think Kendrick and Lively trading quips with MTV’s Josh Horowitz like old pals. But by April 2021, the narrative shifted. A TikTok from Celebrity Memoir Bookclub claimed they “hated each other” by wrap, with an anonymous Lionsgate source spilling to Pedestrian.tv about Kendrick’s alleged competitiveness—demanding extra promo, even photoshopping her cleavage to rival Lively’s. “They HATED each other,” the source insisted. Henry Golding, their co-star, begged to differ on Watch What Happens Live in 2022: “Definitely no friction that I noticed.” The rumor mill churned anyway, primed for the sequel’s 2022 announcement and 2024 shoot in Europe.

Fast forward to October 2024, and Kendrick’s tune with People was all sunshine. “She lives on the East Coast, I live on the West Coast, so we don’t get to see each other often,” she said. “But it was lovely, and I think that those characters have such weird chemistry that it’s so fun to just get the gang back together. And it does feel a little bit like riding a bike.” No venom, just vibes—a nod to a dynamic that clicks despite distance. The SXSW premiere cemented it: on the Paramount Theatre stage, they laughed through a Q&A, Lively gushing that Emily’s her “favorite character,” per People. Director Paul Feig, fed up with the gossip, told People on March 8, “Um … you’re wrong,” slamming a YouTuber’s tension claims as “total BS.”

Still, the red carpet told a split story. Lively beamed to Today.com, “It’s the best! I’m so happy to be here,” while Kendrick’s “Oh, you know” to Entertainment Tonight (HuffPost) felt curt. TikTok sleuths pounced—“She didn’t try to make up something nice,” one griped—reading dismissal into her brevity. Context matters, though: Lively’s embroiled in a legal spat with Justin Baldoni over It Ends With Us, and Kendrick’s sly “Why, what happened?” to SheKnows about global impacts hints she’s dodging that mess, not Lively herself. Their stage giggles suggest the film, not feuds, is the focus.

The old rumors? They’ve got legs but little meat. A 2016 Kendrick quip—“I thought she seemed nice but little did I know…”—and stiff promo body language (Mirror Online) fueled the fire, but an October 2024 Yahoo insider said they’d “put aside personality differences.” Feig’s January 2025 Independent dismissal—“total BS”—nails it shut. What’s left is two pros who don’t hang daily but spark when they do. Kendrick’s take says it all: it’s the oddball chemistry—Stephanie’s quirks, Emily’s edge—that makes it work, on-screen and off. Hollywood loves a catfight, but this duo’s pedaling past it, one bike ride at a time.