Kendrick: Cinderella frightened me

Anna Kendrick found the prospect of playing Cinderella in Into the Woods “really frightening”.

The 29-year-old actress stars in the upcoming family comedy fantasy with Meryl Streep and Chris Pine.

And when she was called about the fairy tale-centred story, Anna was surprised about what producers had in store for her.

"I grew up thinking that it would be fun to play Little Red Riding Hood. Oftentimes, Little Red Riding Hood is played by a grown woman on stage and, in fact, when I found out they were making Into the Woods I assumed when my agent called me, I was like, 'Oh great, I'll audition for Little Red,' and they're like, 'No, a real child is going to play that part because it's a film,'" she told Access Hollywood. "So, playing Cinderella was really, really frightening.”

Anna is a comedic actress who has appeared in hilarious movies like Pitch Perfect and Drinking Buddies.

She found portraying Cinderella challenging because the type of acting required was a huge leap from what she’s used to performing.

“It's a completely different vocal range than I'm used to and really a sensibility I'm not used to, which is being open and kind and soft and vulnerable and I usually play kind of funny, hard characters,” she explained. “I think it's just a testament to the creativity of [director] Rob Marshall to see somebody like me as a Cinderella figure."

Into the Woods centres on a witch, played by Meryl Streep, who is committed to teaching valuable lessons to Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Jack, of Jack and the Beanstalk. The picture is released to US theatres on Christmas Day.