What Anna Kendrick Fans Don't Know About Dummy
This content was paid for by Quibi and created by Looper.
It seems as if, for every new streaming service, there is a corresponding Anna Kendrick series or film to check out. In the case of Quibi (short for Quick Bites), it's the comedy Dummy, for which Kendrick serves as both star and producer.
If you haven't seen Dummy yet, here's the gist: Kendrick plays Cody, a woman who discovers that her long-term boyfriend Dan (Donal Logue) has a love doll. On its face, that's a little unusual, but not a relationship deal breaker. Things go extra-sideways, however, when the love doll, Barbara (Meredith Hagner), starts talking to Cody.
What results is a 10-episode self-discovery road trip adventure that just so happens to co-star a love doll. Whether you've watched Dummy in its entirety already or are just about to dive in, there are a few things that you, the Anna Kendrick fan, may not know about the series.
Dummy really happened. Kinda.
Hopefully it's obvious that love dolls don't actually talk, but that doesn't mean there isn't a kernel of truth to Dummy. Created by Cody Heller, the story of Dummy is based in part on her relationship with her real-life fiancé, Rick and Morty creator Dan Harmon.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Heller recounts how she became fixated on Harmon's real-life love doll. "I found myself thinking about her a lot," says Heller. "Whereas Dan saw it as an 'it' and an object, I saw her as a person. I found myself applying a personality to her, humanizing her, and feeling jealous, asking myself: Do I live up to her? Am I as pretty as her? What does she look like? What is she like? I became obsessed with this doll, and it was taking up a lot of my mental space."
Dummy is partly an expression of the anxiety Heller feels in her romantic partnership with Harmon, but it's also about her anxieties as a creator. "I wondered if I was a smart enough or good enough person to be with Dan," says Heller, "Who I idolized at the beginning of the relationship because he was so much more successful than me."
As a result, the story of Dummy revolves as much about Heller's real-life relationship as it does with her desire to work more as a TV and film writer.
The dummy on Dummy was a diva
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Heller revealed, "I had seen sex dolls, but I had never been formally introduced to one." Kendrick, in turn, admitted that, "She's impossible to move."
Yes, while it may not be appropriate to speak about another human's weight, it's probably safe to acknowledge that, without any prior love doll experience, anyone could be surprised at the heft issue.
In an Instagram live video, Heller and Kendrick talked a little more about their unexpected struggles. "We tried to, like, move the doll around in our first rehearsal to see how it would work," revealed Kendrick. "That was actually a moment where I was like, 'Oh, no.' It was a sinking feeling — it's so heavy!"
Heller agreed, adding, "She was such a diva." Obviously, the heavy love doll conundrum was real, but thankfully, eventually overcome, with Kendrick concluding on the subject of love doll ownership, "That is a level of commitment that ... I'm in awe."
Dummy was a weirdly fun set
In her Daily Beast interview, Heller referred to the 18-day Dummy shoot as, "The best 18 days of my life. We had such a magical time together." Kendrick found that magic in an unexpected place – the brutal murder scene! "I don't know what I can say without giving stuff away," she says. "This isn't necessarily 'give it away' because you don't know why it happened, but there was a day wherein Cody was flicking fake blood on me. That was fun."
Apparently what made the experience so enjoyable was Heller's need for splatter perfection. "I have a thing with blood," says Heller. "Once I had to do that on another set where there was supposed to be blood on ice. I have a lot of thoughts about blood. I'll get in there. That's the kind of creator that I am. I'll go and be like let me make this look authentic — for the blood. It's always blood related."
There was one Dummy scene Kendrick would not film
Yes, Dummy is fun both to watch and to film, but that doesn't mean that every idea Heller had in her brain made it to the screen. There was one idea, specifically, that no amount of money or alcohol could produce.
"What was the thing I wanted to shoot?" asks Heller in the Instagram live video, "That you were, like, 'get me a bottle of wine and maybe.'"
"We shot a version of the scene where I kiss the doll," Kendrick explained. Heller, excitedly added, "I wanted Anna to do a sex scene that was more of a sex scene. It winded [sic] up not needing it and it was classier."
"I feel like you just wanted to make me do a sex scene," Kendrick said, laughing.
While the final result may not be as raunchy as you might expect a series about a love doll to be, it is still full of blood, fake genitals, and gas. "My other favorite thing is when I made you fart in sound effects," said Heller. "You didn't allow it on set and I was, like, 'I'm gonna add a fart in post' and you were, like, 'don't you dare' and, did I anyway? Yeah, I did."
Truly, Dummy has it all. You can watch the entire series now streaming on Quibi.