Mary Elizabeth Winstead got to revisit the role of Ramona Flowers for Netflix’s animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. The character has meant so much to her and revisiting her has reinforced that in so many ways. Simply getting a bit older has allowed new insight into herself and the character of Ramona. And how cool it was that Ramona got to take center stage this time around was an added bonus.
Awards Daily: What was it like getting back into the character of Ramona?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: It was amazing! I think initially I thought it was just going to be really fun to revisit the character, and it’s such a fun group to be involved and hang out with in any capacity. I was excited about it and not really overthinking it or analyzing it in any way and just jumped in. Once I was in it and doing it, it really struck me in my heart just how amazing it was to get to go back to being Ramona again and carry her through this journey. It was a really beautiful thing.
Awards Daily: Voice acting is very different than being on screen. How was it different approaching her as a character in that way?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: It was interesting. I think initially I thought they just wanted me to do Ramona again. Especially with the first episode, we have a lot of scenes that are scenes from the movie and then it diverges from there. But Bryan [Lee O’Malley] and BenDavid [Grabinski] obviously wanted the voice to be there, but it’s okay if it deviates from that because we wanted to feel real. In that way it was like acting in front of a camera because they were looking for that authenticity. As opposed to a vocal performance that was bigger or less natural that some animation work asks for. The lovely thing was that I got to really explore different colors of Ramona. It was kind of liberating to know I could do that in my own way as long as it came out vocally. Everything else didn’t really matter because there was no camera there.
Awards Daily: Speaking of exploring different aspects of Ramona, we get a lot more about her backstory, especially with her evil exes. Then throughout the show she gets a degree of closure with a lot of them or at least they have a conversation. What was it like getting these new details of her character?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead-It was really special. Ramona meant so much to me because I played her when I was 24 years old, and that age is such a formative part of your life. All of us in the cast were going through that together, being in this amazing movie that we all loved, Playing these characters from these books we all loved. So it had a huge impact on us, and on me particularly from my experience. So I didn’t realize until I was in the character how much she still meant to me. Every time I would go back into the recording booth it felt like a therapy session in some way. Going back to this younger version of myself and getting to inhabit that again. Getting to look back on her with a new kind of wisdom, which is what I think this show does for all the characters and for all of us who were involved in making it.
Awards Daily: At what point did you know that Ramona was going to be the lead of this version of Scott Pilgrim?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: You know, I don’t know if it was ever really presented to me that way. In a very BenDavid fashion he emailed me and said, by the way, Ramona is going to be super kickass in this, just so you know. I thought, oh great, that’ll be cool. I just kind of threw myself into it and I didn’t expect it to really be to the level that it was. I have been acting for so long, and you get told that your character is going to be the one that is everyone’s favorite or this or that, and sometimes it turns out to be true and sometimes it doesn’t. Regardless, you just enjoy the work and go along for the ride. I didn’t put too much stock into it, but when I was doing it, it really struck me how special it was to get the opportunity to have her take the reins, because in the film she is a bit more passive, and that was something that it needed to be for the story we were telling at the time. I think it’s very fitting that coming forward in time to get to see this part of the story, to see Ramona taking over and being active and making the choices, and then getting to see what comes after that. It was really exciting to get to handle it that way.
Awards Daily: The other version of Ramona we get is in the future where she and Scott have broken up, and he has become immature again and she has to take him on in an almost cosmic role. Did you have to approach her differently there or was it still the same Ramona?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: I looked a bit to myself for that because I’m a bit closer to the age that that future Ramona is. I thought about how much I’ve changed since I played Ramona, and the subtle change in my voice and the way I carry myself. I tried to think about that a lot more. There is a weariness to her but she’s a bit more frank, not taking any bullshit like she did when she was younger (laughs). So I tried to reflect that a little bit and I think the writing reflects that as well so that is certainly there. I think it was a great collaboration. They helped me there and it came out feeling natural.
Awards Daily: Was there a moment or scene with her that you particularly enjoyed or seemed special to you?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: God, there were so many moments. I think the scene with Roxy is really beautiful when Ramona apologizes for the way she treated her, and has that realization that oh, my god, I’ve been running away from people who love me my whole life. That she is afraid of getting close to people. I think that she hadn’t really realized that until that point, that she had been hurting people. She had simply been putting that out of her mind so she could move forward. So I thought that was really special to see her get that realization and connect with those feelings and express her regret to Roxy. Also the ending was just beautiful, the way she chooses to love herself ultimately and understand the key for her happiness. I loved recording that, and the way Bryan and BenDavid guided me through the different voices, tones, and versions of Ramona, and layering them all together to create this super Ramona. It was really fun to get to do.
Awards Daily: Going through all this with Ramona–did it change how you think about her in any way?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: I think it changed my relationship to the project. I think it was really cathartic for all of us to go back and look at our younger selves and the people that we were when we made this movie. Realizing we’ve all grown so much, and how we are reflecting on that. I think what Bryan wrote spoke to me and my progression in terms of where I was then and where I am now. In a way that I was like oh, my god, I didn’t realize we were the same person! (Laughing) It resonated with me so much, and I know a lot of the cast members and people involved felt the same way. I think it just speaks a lot to the feeling of growing up, and you don’t just grow up from when you’re a kid to when you’re 25, you grow up from 25 to 40 a whole lot. I think that kind of growing up is something we don’t really speak to that often, and it was great to get to explore that together.
Awards Daily: You also have A Gentleman in Moscow this year, and you had Asoka last year. So you’ve been doing a lot of television recently. Is that something that’s been appealing to you more, or just where the opportunities have been, or is it just a script by script basis?
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: I think it’s a project by project basis. You know there’s so much wonderful TV out there right now, and so many great opportunities to play truly great roles where you can grow with the character over time. I absolutely love that. I don’t really put one type of medium over the other in terms of projects that I do. I choose the things that speak to me the most. I did a film that hasn’t come out yet, so the films are still coming. But ultimately it’s just where the great material and parts are, and I’ve been really lucky that I’ve had a few recently.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is streaming now on Netflix.
