Pitch Perfect 3: Anna Kendrick Refused This Proposed Beca & Theo
"Pitch Perfect 3" saw the Barden Bellas cast reuniting two years after their climactic victory in "Pitch Perfect 2," having all graduated from Barden University. Complaining about their boring post-college careers at a bar, the Bellas decide to join a USO tour at the recommendation of Aubrey Posen (Anna Camp), sending them on a wild musical journey overseas.
Along the way, they cross paths with DJ Khaled and his young music producer Theo (Guy Burnet), who immediately grows close with franchise lead Beca Mitchell (Anna Kendrick) and asks her to leave the Bellas to sign with him. Although their relationship remains strictly professional throughout the film, actor and singer Kendrick said the original script contained a romantic storyline between Beca and Theo –- one which she rejected upon reading.
"The guy who shows up [Theo] originally was written as a romantic interest," Kendric said during an interview with Collider. "I pushed back pretty hard on that because I thought it was a little problematic that a guy was coming into [Beca's] life and being the more active character."
Kendrick went on to emphasize that her real opposition to this storyline was the amount of agency that Theo would have in Beca's life — among other changes to Beca's story arc jumping from "Pitch Perfect 2" to "Pitch Perfect 3."
Anna Kendrick was reportedly not happy with Beca's character in the early script for Pitch Perfect 3
On top of her apparent distaste for this romantic storyline, Anna Kendrick was not sold on Beca's entire character arc for "Pitch Perfect 3," which saw the character taking on a solo career path and separating from the Bellas.
"I had to be sold on [Beca's solo career turn] because Beca, while she has dreams, she's not especially ambitious," Kendrick said. "She's not particularly driven in that she would ask for things she didn't feel like she deserved — so, I guess, a character would have to open her up to that idea."
Additionally, Kendrick pushed back on several instances within the script that saw Beca becoming flustered by Theo because she found him so attractive.
"The idea of Beca being really intimidated by dudes just didn't work well." Anna Kendrick's comments make it clear that the longtime "Pitch Perfect" star had plenty of concerns with the way that Beca's story was initially presented in the script for "Pitch Perfect 3." Fortunately, the final product seems to have taken all of her concerns into account.
Not only was the romantic relationship between Theo and Beca scrapped, but Beca becomes Theo's boss by the end of the film. Although it's clear that Kendrick had a slew of misgivings about Beca's character in "Pitch Perfect 3," it seems like her input helped get the story back on track by the time that filming began.