ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Scott Pilgrim Takes Off stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ellen Wong about the animated Netflix series. The duo spoke about the process of reprising their characters and the ongoing appeal of the franchise. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
“Scott Pilgrim meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers, but learns he must defeat her seven evil exes in order to date her,” reads the series’ synopsis. “Then things get even more complicated. Based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley.”
Tyler Treese: Mary, I’d love to know your initial response when you found out that it was a new Scott Pilgrim story and that it was centered around Ramona more than Scott.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: It was really amazing. I think, when I first heard about the idea, it was very vague — that we were going to do an anime version of Scott Pilgrim. I think, like everybody else, I was just so excited and happy to be a part of it. I didn’t really expect that there would be this whole new side of Ramona that we’d get to see, or that it would focus on Ramona. I didn’t have those expectations at all. I just kind of wanted to be a part of it, because it was such a special experience for all of us and it just felt like such a great opportunity to get to do something together again, even if we were all in different places.
I think it didn’t really hit me until I was recording it, how much more it was centered on Ramona, how much that would affect me, and how much that would mean to me. It was an incredibly special thing to be in the recording booth, exploring her further, and getting to bring all these different shades of her out. It was a really special journey for me to go on and I was really grateful to BenDavid [Grabinski ] and Brian [Bryan Lee O’Malley ] for writing those scenes and giving me the opportunity to do that. It was deeply special for me.
Ellen, Knives is such a pure character. What did you like most about revisiting that sense of a teenager who’s very much experiencing so much for the first time where so much is new for her?
Ellen Wong: I mean, it brought me back to a time when I was going through that, too. I mean, we’ve all been there. That sort of teenage-y, angsty period in our lives where everything just feels so fresh, and you feel like you want to get everything right. Except, this time, I got to revisit her with the wisdom of my age. [Laughs]. So I just had so much more empathy, and I loved her so, so much more in a way that, 10 years ago when I played her, I think I also had that nervousness that she had. Whereas this time, I was like, “I got you, girl!” [Laughs].
But it was really interesting. Going back to her voice was something I actually had to work on, because I felt like every time I would say her lines, I was like, “She sounds too old. She sounds like she’s got more years on her. I’ve got to lighten her up a little bit.” So it took a little time to go to that younger place, and I feel so happy with how much she’s grown to and how she gets to flourish in this series. We get to see her find her own path that doesn’t involve Scott and come into her own. [Laughs].
Mary, the first episode features a lot of very familiar scenes. How was it going back and recording a lot of those same scenes?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: I went into it sort of thinking, “I guess they want me to just do what I did in the film, vocally.” I sort of thought, “Okay, I’m going to have to remember exactly what I did and replicate it,” because there are so many scenes that are really the same or almost the same. And BenDavid and Brian were really great because they allowed me to let that go. They were sort of like, “Don’t worry about it. Of course you’re still Ramona and that needs to be there,” but I got to play the scenes how they felt to me in that moment as well without trying to be an exact carbon copy of what I did before.
That was great, because I got to come at it knowing the journey that we were going to take Ramona on this time and the sides of her that we were going to get to see and explore. To be able to have that and go back, like Ellen was saying, with the wisdom of the age we’re at now, going back and playing those scenes with something deeper to bring to her was really fun to get to explore, with all of that knowledge behind it.
Ellen, you talked about Knives growing beyond Scott. We also get to see her artistic side really shown, which leads to some really fun moments in the show. What did you like most about the evolution of Knives and getting to see this whole new arc for her that goes beyond the scope of the original movie and the comic?
Ellen Wong: I think it’s amazing. Getting to see Knives grow into her own person without Scott is great. She’s figuring out who she is. She’s figuring out what she loves. She’s figuring out what she’s good a. She’s experimenting and trying new things and she’s surprising herself, and that’s all part of growing up. She had her heart broken. Sometimes the heartbreaks are those big down moments are where we find our truest destiny and passions. I think that’s sort of what Knives is going through, and it’s really cool to see her flourish and to find the positive out of something that was hurting her so much.
Mary, one of the elements that I liked the most about the show was getting to see more of Ramona’s backstory, but it also humanizes her exes more. They go beyond more of a villain and we see the people they are. What did you like most about going into her past and learning so much about what informs her decision making?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: It was pretty emotional for me to get to explore that, I think because, again, like Ellen was saying, when we made the movie, I think we all really identified with our characters in a lot of ways. We were at similar points in our lives, so Ramona feels very close to me in that way and very close to who I was in my 20s.
To look back at that version of Ramona as well as that version of myself and bring up emotional backstories and histories that made her who she was at the time, which was maybe a bit guarded and a bit sad, and to figure out what’s behind that and to get to show that I think was really meaningful. Because when we made the movie, all of that is sort of unspoken. Sso to get to speak to that was a really lovely thing to get to do.
Ellen, the fanbase is so passionate about Scott Pilgrim. How has the reaction been to the fact that this was a curveball and told a completely different story? I’ve seen so much positivity and I feel like with some other fanbases, they might be like, “Oh, this isn’t the Scott Pilgrim that I know and love,” but I’ve really seen an embracing for the new and loving that they were surprised and going on this journey.
Ellen Wong: Similar reactions. It’s been a very open, happy, excited, embracing reaction for the series. It’s just really cool that we get to explore each character in a much more nuanced and in-depth way that we don’t really get to see in a two-hour movie. We get to see Young Neil in a way that we’ve never seen him — I’m rooting for him! [Laughs]. You get to see all the evil exes — maybe they’re not so evil after all. They’re also going through it. [Laughs]. It’s really cool that we’re getting to see each character and their flaws and what makes them who they are and what makes them so vengeful and what makes them so angry. We’re all kind of in this place of figuring out who we are.
That’s what I love about Scott Pilgrim, the series. It’s that all of these characters … you could find yourself in any one of them. I feel like my late-teenage, early 20s self has a little bit of every character in me, you know? That’s why there’s so much love for the series. It’s so relatable. All the characters are just so grounded, even though it’s such a fantastical, crazy world.
The cast in the movie was so incredible and we’ve seen everybody go on to do such interesting work since then. Having everybody back has to be this real full circle moment, because there has been enough time since the original movie for you to revisit these characters with fresh eyes, like you said. What did it mean to have everybody say “yes” to this and be so eager to come back?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: I think it just speaks to how much this experience meant to all of us making this film. It was a really rare and special thing to get to do and be a part of. There’s no other film like it, and there’s no other experience of making a film like it. I think, for any of us, whether we were on set for four months or a week or however long it was, I think everyone felt something that was like, “This is special.” We all jumped at the opportunity to get to feel some of that energy again, to bring it back to life in some capacity. We just love one another.
There are so many on this cast who I’m still so close with. Ellen, for example, is one of my best friends, and there’s so much of the cast who I haven’t seen in years, but I would still say I absolutely love them as people and as talents. I have so much respect for all of them. I think there’s such an excitement for all of us to get to work together again and explore this material together again. We’ve all grown, and with that comes the wisdom of being able to look back and go, “Oh, this was something that not very many people get to experience,” and having gratitude for that.
The Scott Pilgrim movie is so quotable. Are there any lines that people come up to you and say still?
Ellen Wong: I think the biggest one is “Chau down” for me, because … obviously. [Laughs]. But “bread makes you fat” is a big one. I don’t know if you get that a lot, Mary?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: I do, I do. “Bread makes you fat.”
Ellen Wong: That’s just one thing that just will not go away. [Laughs].
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: I think you’re right. I think that’s the main thing. If I have to sign a quote or someone wants something signed from Ramona, the quote is usually “bread makes you fat.”
How was it voicing the future version of Ramona? Did you try to change your performance any?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: It was interesting, playing both a younger version of Ramona in terms of myself trying to sort of reach back to being younger again. Then, in a way, future Ramona is closer to the age that I really am now. So I was able to drop down a bit more into where I am now, being almost 40 at this point and being a little bit more grounded, a little bit more tired, and kind of using that and bringing that to her a little bit. [Laughs].
I didn’t want to push it too far in any one direction because she’s still Ramona. I like to think that the Ramona that I was in the film versus who I am now is far apart in a sort of subtle way, vocally. I tried to be subtle about it, but to bring a little bit of age and wisdom and groundedness to future Ramona.
