Anna Camp

Summary

Podcrushed Episode: Anna Camp

Release Date: May 14, 2025

In this episode of Podcrushed, hosts Penn Badgley, Nava Kaplan, and Sophie Ansari engage in an intimate and engaging conversation with actress Anna Camp. The discussion traverses Anna's tumultuous middle school years, her early passion for acting, personal anecdotes from her youth, and her illustrious career in the entertainment industry.

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1. Introduction to Anna Camp

The episode begins with a warm introduction of Anna Camp, highlighting her notable roles in "Pitch Perfect," "True Blood," and "The Help." Anna humorously mentions her upcoming film "Bride Hard" alongside Rebel Wilson, setting a lighthearted tone for the conversation.

Anna Camp (00:46): "You're a gynecologist now, he's a gynecologist. And we did see each other later in life, so we did. For an appointment or kind of story guy."

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2. Early Life and Middle School Struggles

Anna opens up about her upbringing in Columbia, South Carolina, sharing feelings of isolation and shyness during her middle school years. With an older sister who was a high achiever, Anna often felt like the opposite, yearning to be an actor from a young age.

Anna Camp (05:25): "I felt very... I guess I wanted to be an actor. I knew I wanted to be an actor. Like second grade, I was a dare commercial. That was my very first job."

She discusses her limited friendships and how the drama room became her sanctuary away from the popular kids.

Anna Camp (07:40): "The drama room was where I got to breathe and just be around people that I felt like weren't judging me."

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3. Passion for Acting and Early Experiences

Anna recounts her first acting job in second grade, playing a drug dealer in a school play. Her parents' support, particularly her mother's focus on her appearance for the role, adds a humorous touch to her early acting endeavors.

Anna Camp (00:16): "I had to memorize something that my dad had to say when he was a freshman in college... I, private cadet camp, request to remove my gross mass of protoplasm from your highly exalted presence, sir."

She emphasizes her sister's influence on her acting aspirations, watching classic films together that fueled her passion.

Anna Camp (20:17): "She was the person to inspire me to become an actor... We would watch old movies together, like Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable."

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4. Dealing with Bullies

A poignant moment in the discussion is Anna's account of being bullied in sixth grade. She describes a traumatic incident where a girl pulled her hair and used it to floss her teeth in front of the class.

Anna Camp (14:55): "She proceeded to pull my hair out of my head and then floss her teeth."

Years later, Anna encounters her bully at a gas station, culminating in a moment of closure that allows her to move past the trauma.

Anna Camp (16:41): "I have closure now... I feel great about it."

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5. Maintaining a Poetry Journal

Anna speaks about her childhood poetry journal, a deeply personal project she maintained for nearly a decade. This journal served as her grounding place and a form of journaling, filled with poems, photos of friends and boyfriends, and mementos of first experiences.

Anna Camp (09:43): "It became my grounding place where I would go... It just became something really beautiful to me."

She reflects on why she stopped updating it after meeting her first husband, hinting at life’s evolving priorities.

Anna Camp (10:52): "I stopped after I met my first husband. Life just kind of took over."

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6. Career Highlights and Challenges

Anna delves into her significant roles, particularly her experiences in "Pitch Perfect" and "Equus." She discusses the physical and emotional challenges of performing nude on Broadway, highlighting the liberation she felt despite the initial nerves.

Anna Camp (36:00): "I have to do it. There's a reason why I got the part... Don't worry about your body. This is a chapter in your life that you would really regret walking away from if you didn't do it."

Her candid recounting of the rigorous filming process in "Pitch Perfect," including a particularly messy scene involving a fire hose rigged with tomato juice and other mixtures, showcases her dedication and sense of humor.

Anna Camp (46:18): "I was literally just vomiting everywhere... It was really wild."

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7. Personal Relationships and First Crush

Anna shares a heartfelt story about her first crush, Adam, a skater boy who was also an actor. Their relationship was brief but impactful, marked by a first kiss that left Anna feeling disillusioned.

Anna Camp (26:21): "He was my first kiss... he grabbed me and he, like, smashed his face into my face to that song."

She fondly recalls meeting Adam years later, turning a painful memory into a moment of closure.

Anna Camp (16:33): "I have closure now... I feel good about it."

---

8. Joining the Show "You" and Acting Dynamics

Anna discusses her role in the series "You," exploring the complexities of playing dual characters and the unique challenges of acting directed at the camera. She emphasizes the importance of humor and grounding oneself amidst intense scenes.

Anna Camp (75:00): "It's about giving, doing what I want, getting what I want from the other person... I don't want to be overly concerned with what my face is, what I look like in that certain dress."

She shares behind-the-scenes anecdotes with Penn Badgley, highlighting their camaraderie and the humorous moments that helped maintain a light atmosphere on set.

Anna Camp (83:10): "I would give my 12-year-old self a hug and just say, it's gonna be okay, you're cool. Don't be so hard on yourself."

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9. Advice to Younger Self and Personal Growth

Towards the end of the episode, Anna offers heartfelt advice to her younger self, emphasizing self-acceptance and confidence.

Anna Camp (83:10): "I would give my 12-year-old self a hug, a huge hug and just say, it's gonna be okay, you're cool. Don't be so hard on yourself."

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10. Conclusion

The episode wraps up with Anna expressing gratitude for being part of Podcrushed and sharing her aspirations beyond acting, including ethical animal care in Montana. Her closing remarks reinforce the themes of personal growth, resilience, and embracing one's true self.

Anna Camp (84:10): "I want to be in Montana on a ranch somewhere with lots of animals. That is a dream of mine."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Anna Camp (00:16): "I had to memorize something that my dad had to say when he was a freshman in college... I, private cadet camp, request to remove my gross mass of protoplasm from your highly exalted presence, sir."
• Anna Camp (07:40): "The drama room was where I got to breathe and just be around people that I felt like weren't judging me."
• Anna Camp (14:55): "She proceeded to pull my hair out of my head and then floss her teeth."
• Anna Camp (09:43): "It became my grounding place where I would go... It just became something really beautiful to me."
• Anna Camp (26:21): "He was my first kiss... he grabbed me and he, like, smashed his face into my face to that song."
• Anna Camp (36:00): "I have to do it. There's a reason why I got the part... Don't worry about your body. This is a chapter in your life that you would really regret walking away from if you didn't do it."
• Anna Camp (83:10): "I would give my 12-year-old self a hug and just say, it's gonna be okay, you're cool. Don't be so hard on yourself."

---

This episode of Podcrushed offers a deep and relatable exploration of Anna Camp's journey from a shy middle schooler to a confident actress. Her openness about personal struggles, coupled with her humorous and heartfelt stories, provides valuable insights and inspiration for listeners navigating their own teenage years.

Transcript

[Sophie Ansari]

Lemonade.

[Anna Camp]

I had to memorize something that my dad had to say when he was a freshman in college. I had to memorize it when I was a little kid.

[Sophie Ansari]

Wow. He passed that on to you.

[Anna Camp]

Finish eating at the dinner table. They would go, anna, say it. And I go, okay, if I can do it. My sufficiency has been quite so falsified such that any more will prove to be super sanctimonious. Such that I, private cadet camp, request to remove my gross mass of protoplasm from your highly exalted presence, sir.

[Penn Badgley]

Welcome to podcrushed. We're your hosts. I'm Penn.

[Nava Kaplan]

I'm Nava.

[Sophie Ansari]

And I'm Sophie.

[Penn Badgley]

And I think we would have been.

[Anna Camp]

Your middle school besties slinging drugs and jorts.

[Penn Badgley]

Welcome to PodCrushed. I'm joined by my lovely co hosts, Sophie Ansari, Nava Kavlan. And we're doing a little mixing it up. Our guest is for the intro.

[Anna Camp]

Weird.

[Penn Badgley]

Awkwardly.

[Anna Camp]

Nervous. Awkward. Awkward. Thank you.

[Penn Badgley]

Who we have is the lovely Anna Camp. So you presumably know her from this season of my show. Now our show. You. You might also know her from the Pitch Perfect franchise. Also True Blood. There's also the Help. Most recently, you've got a film coming out June 20th.

[Anna Camp]

That is correct.

[Penn Badgley]

Bride Hard. I'm going to assume it's a traged.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah. Starring me and Rebel Wilson. It's gonna be so sad.

[Penn Badgley]

Awesome. Awesome. You're gonna love this one.

[Anna Camp]

Jazz hands. Yes, Jazz hands. Stick around. You're not gonna wanna miss it.

[Megan]

Hi, I'm Megan, and I've got a new podcast I think you're going to love. It's called Confessions of a Female Founder, a show where I chat with female entrepreneurs and friends about the sleepless nights, the lessons learned, and the laser focus that got them to where they are today. And through it all, I'm building a business of my own and getting all sorts of practical advice along the way that I am so excited to share with you. Confessions of a Female Founder is out now. Listen wherever you get your podcast.

[David Duchovny]

Hi, everyone. I'm David Duchovny. Join me on my podcast, Fail Better, where we use failure as a lens to reflect on the past and analyze the current moment. I speak with makers and performers like Rob Lowe, Rosie o' Donnell, and Kenya Barris, as well as thinkers like Kara Swisher and Nate Silver, to understand how both personal setbacks and larger forces impact our world. Listen to Fail Better wherever you get your podcast.

[Penn Badgley]

Anna. Anna. I stole that from Jiminy Glick. Anybody Know Jiminy Glick.

[Anna Camp]

I do. I love Jiminy Glick. Are you kidding? I'm obsessed with Jiminy Glick.

[Penn Badgley]

Let's get into that.

[Anna Camp]

It's so perfect. He's amazing. I mean, I've watched him forever. Let's. Should we wait for it or should we get a new.

[Penn Badgley]

Let's wait for it. Let's wait for it. Okay, now.

[Anna Camp]

Yes.

[Penn Badgley]

Anacamp. Let's start at.

[Anna Camp]

But you know what? How about we.

[Penn Badgley]

That's Jiminy Glick.

[Anna Camp]

Yes, I know. Keep going. Don't forget.

[Penn Badgley]

Well, I'm saying it for them because they're like, what is that?

[Nava Kaplan]

It's a Martin Short character.

[Anna Camp]

Martin Short, Yes. It's like, I think his best character agrees.

[Penn Badgley]

I'm so tempted to do the rest of the.

[Anna Camp]

Please do the entire.

[Sophie Ansari]

I have to say, Nava told me right before you guys arrived. She said, you'll see Anna and Pen. When they get together, it's just like a different thing.

[Penn Badgley]

It's chaos.

[Nava Kaplan]

It is chaos.

[Anna Camp]

It's fun.

[Nava Kaplan]

It's fun. Yeah. Is it that worse?

[Anna Camp]

Tell me when your parents marriage fell apart.

[Penn Badgley]

To pieces and left you.

[Anna Camp]

Oh, my God, he's in a whole suit. It's the whole thing. It's beautiful.

[Penn Badgley]

Truly. Seriously though, can you start?

[Anna Camp]

Let's get serious. Finally.

[Penn Badgley]

What do you know? Are you familiar with the premise of this show?

[Anna Camp]

Wait, we're on a show right now?

[Penn Badgley]

I thought you said that.

[Anna Camp]

All over now.

[Nava Kaplan]

Okay, that one was for me.

[Anna Camp]

I am familiar. I have seen and watched and heard of Pod Rushed. Yeah, so.

[Penn Badgley]

Yes, I'm kidding. I know you're a fan of the show.

[Anna Camp]

Great joke.

[Penn Badgley]

I know you are. So Anna Camp and a Rigsdale Camp. Is that right?

[Anna Camp]

Oh my God. I cannot believe you just said my middle name.

[Penn Badgley]

Is it Ragsdale or Rigsdale?

[Anna Camp]

It's Ragsdale. That's your middle name. Why are you saying that? I'm sorry, where does that come from? No, too late. It's out there. Hi. Yes, I am Anna Ragsdale.

[Sophie Ansari]

Is that someone else's last name?

[Anna Camp]

That would be my grandmother, Sweet Shirley. Sweet Shirley Ragsdale Camp. It's her maiden name. Yes, because I'm from the south and we don't get like middle names that are like Sally or Sarah. We get Ragsdale. Lucky me. Right? Love it. Okay, that's me.

[Nava Kaplan]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

So. So tell me please, can we please start at 12? Just paint us a picture of daily life. The way school was going for you, the way. The way life was at home. Just how was 12 year old Anna seeing the world, experiencing it so Remind.

[Anna Camp]

Me of what grade 12 would be like what grade? Seventh grade was horrific. Okay, great. I think I blocked.

[Nava Kaplan]

That's awesome.

[Penn Badgley]

Good content.

[Anna Camp]

Let's get into it. I'm absolutely horrible. So I grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. I had an older sister who was seven years older than me, and she was like valedictorian of our high school. I was not. I was like the opposite of that. I felt very. I guess I wanted to be an actor. I knew I wanted to be an actor. Like second grade, I was a dare commercial.

[Nava Kaplan]

Right.

[Anna Camp]

That was my very first job. Yes.

[Penn Badgley]

Which is amazing.

[Anna Camp]

Which is incredible. Where I got cast as the drug dealer. Yeah. Yeah. I came home and I told my parents. I was like, so proud. I had, like, gotten in this dare play. And I was like, guess what role I'm playing? And she's like, I don't know what? And they talk just like this. My mom does. And I said, I'm the drug dealer. And she goes, wow, that's so great. Oh, my God, Yes. That's exactly my mother to a T is Piper. No. But then she goes, well, what are you gonna wear as your drug dealer? That was her main concern. And I said, well, I don't know, you know, I'm a kid. And she's like, I think we should do some cut off denim shorts, because that's so hardcore. So, yeah, yeah. So that was my first job. But yeah, so I was always very. I knew I wanted to be an actor. I felt probably pretty isolated. I had like one friend back in middle school and high school. She's still my best friend to this day. She moved to LA before me. Now she's a director and we've, like, worked together since then. And she used to direct me in these plays because I was so cool. I would eat lunch in the drama room. Was I? Yeah.

[Sophie Ansari]

Did you eat lunch in the drama room because you didn't have anyone to sit with in the cafeteria? Or was it you had a group of friends in the drama room?

[Anna Camp]

I think definitely a little bit of both. I mean, I had my core group of friends that were actors and we would all hang out and be total dorks at lunch. And then also I was just terrified of being around the popular kids. It just wasn't something. I didn't know how to talk to them. I was terrified of boys. I didn't know what to say. I would avert my eyes from everyone. I would just have my face in my locker room, you know. So the drama room was where I got to, like, breathe you know, and just be around people that I felt like weren't judging me.

[Sophie Ansari]

Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

So.

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah.

[Nava Kaplan]

Did you have, like, an experience in elementary school that you think contributed to being shy, or were you just like, a very naturally shy person?

[Anna Camp]

Oh, my gosh. I think that I was. I think I was just shy around people my age. I like to be around my parents or my parents friends, but I didn't really want to be around people my age because I just felt like I didn't know what to say to any of them. Like, I wasn't into, like, football games. I wasn't into cheerleading. That wasn't my thing. I wasn't, like, drinking at a young age. I wasn't partying.

[Nava Kaplan]

It's crazy that you weren't drinking at 12, and that was like an isolating.

[Anna Camp]

In South Carolina. We start very, very, very young, but. Yeah, but I guess I was, like, probably staring out my window, like, writing poetry by myself. At 12.

[Penn Badgley]

You guessed?

[Anna Camp]

I'm pretty sure.

[Penn Badgley]

Were you ever writing poetry?

[Anna Camp]

Yes, of course. Yeah. I have, like, a book of poetry that I still have, like, from my middle school days. Yeah.

[Nava Kaplan]

And you didn't bring it?

[Anna Camp]

I'm sorry. Oh, God. I should have. You have to send us pictures. I mean, I have, like. I mean. And I would, like, cut out, like, magazines and, like, glue, glitter, things, like, all over them. And I still have it. I have it in my bedside table next to my bed table.

[Penn Badgley]

They do? Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

You know what I mean?

[Penn Badgley]

Thank you for clarifying.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah, anytime.

[Penn Badgley]

Wait, you still have it next to your bed?

[Anna Camp]

I have it in the drawer, so.

[Sophie Ansari]

I have it in the drawer where your parents live.

[Anna Camp]

In my actual bed? No, I carry it with me. I've moved many times throughout my life since I've been 12. And I keep this book of my childhood poetry next to my bed because I pull it out and I read it sometimes.

[Nava Kaplan]

That's amazing.

[Penn Badgley]

You definitely in a league of your own here at podcrush. Like, you're really keeping it. You're really, like. You really. Some call. Some would call it holding on.

[Anna Camp]

Holding on a little bit. Just a little tap. Yeah, exactly.

[Penn Badgley]

Did you ever consciously think that you would. That you would keep it that long? Like when you were decorating it and putting so much into it? What did you. What was. What was that doing for you then? I'm curious.

[Anna Camp]

I think it was, like, one of the first times I really took a lot of care and thought into this project. It started out as a project for school, and then I ended up keeping it year after year. After year and just doing it on my own. And so it just became my grounding place where I would go. And, you know, I don't journal as much as I should, but it was my form of journaling back then. And then it became so sacred to me and I didn't want anyone to touch it or I kept it very. It has, like, the gold pages on the sides, you know, and I have like a bookmark in it. And then I started cutting out photos of, like, my best friends and gluing them. My first boyfriends and gluing them in the pages and keeping receipts and keeping, like, wow, first time things. So it's literally. But it stopped. I did stop doing it, so. But yeah, I just. I don't think I started out trying to make it like a thing, but it became something really beautiful to me.

[Sophie Ansari]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

So. And do you think you stopped, like, what, after a year or two? Like, I'm wondering about the age range.

[Anna Camp]

Would it be 12? I stopped in. I stopped after. I know when I stopped. I stopped after I met my first husband.

[Sophie Ansari]

Oh, okay.

[Anna Camp]

I kept it for that long.

[Nava Kaplan]

Wow.

[Anna Camp]

And then I stopped after I met my first husband. And then, like, life just kind of took over. And I remember he's the last.

[Nava Kaplan]

You were like, I don't believe in poetry anymore.

[Anna Camp]

Exactly. Now that I met this guy. But he is the last photo, like, towards the back of the journal, and he's like. And then it stopped. And I wonder where that says, awesome.

[Sophie Ansari]

You need to start a new journal.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah, I need a new journal. Exactly. I do. I do.

[Penn Badgley]

And can I ask how old that was? It was 20s.

[Anna Camp]

I met my first husband when I was 21.

[Penn Badgley]

So we're talking like nearly a decade.

[Anna Camp]

Of a project here of little poems and little receipts.

[Penn Badgley]

That's amazing. And you keep it. I mean, honestly, I'm just. I'm just flabbergasted, really. In the best way.

[Anna Camp]

Is it something about me that you're shocked about?

[Penn Badgley]

Well, no, because. What.

[Nava Kaplan]

To be honest.

[Anna Camp]

When. As a writer.

[Penn Badgley]

I think what it is is. I think what it is is that clearly this period of life then. And so this interview better be great, by the way, is. Is important to you.

[Anna Camp]

Very.

[Penn Badgley]

And I love that. That's really touching.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah, it really is. It was. It was a. I was. Yeah, it was. Let's talk about it.

[Sophie Ansari]

I'm curious, Anna. You mentioned earlier that you already knew you wanted to be an actor at this age. And I'm curious. I don't know much about Columbia, South Carolina, first of all, Tell us a little bit about Columbia. How big is it? What's. What's the vibe? And then did it feel. Did that dream feel big for your town, or did it feel appropriate? What were people's reactions?

[Anna Camp]

So Columbia, South Carolina. It's the capital of South Carolina, right? Like, it's the capital. No, no, no. I'm not saying that in a way that you should have known that by any means. I was just trying to describe, like, you know, the size of the city or the town. It's not a huge city, but it is the capital, and it's. It's a pretty conservative city. My parents are very liberal. I grew up, like, obviously in the arts, so I was surrounded by creative people who were very liberal, but that was the minority. So middle school. High school is football. There were sororities and fraternities in my high school.

[Sophie Ansari]

Wow.

[Anna Camp]

That I never got asked to be a part of. I didn't even get asked to be in, like, the lame sorority. There was, like, the cool sorority, and then there was the lame sorority that all the other kids that didn't get asked to be in. I didn't get asked for either.

[Sophie Ansari]

You had to be asked.

[Anna Camp]

You had to be asked. Yes. To be, like, considered cool enough or whatever. But I'm so glad that I didn't, because it was just, like, Dazed and Confused. We know this movie where Parker Posey is, like, the head, like, popular girl, and they're dumping, like, things all over the girls, and they're making the girls get down on their knees and ask, like, boys to date them. That's what was happening in my high school. Wow.

[Penn Badgley]

Isn't that the same one with Matthew McConaughey?

[Anna Camp]

Yes.

[Penn Badgley]

Right?

[Anna Camp]

It is.

[Penn Badgley]

You know what's amazing? After all this time, I've not seen it.

[Anna Camp]

Oh, it's so good. It's really good.

[Nava Kaplan]

I don't know if this is funny, but I have a note in the research. She posts a lot about Parker Posey.

[Anna Camp]

I love her. I love. She is one of my acting idols. I think she's so authentic. She's just herself, and she can take something that you read on the page and then you see her do it, and it's nothing like what you thought it was going to be. And I, like, die to try to do that.

[Nava Kaplan]

Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

So, yeah, I love her so, so much. A dream to, like, act with her one day, maybe.

[Nava Kaplan]

Were you ever bullied in high school or in middle school?

[Anna Camp]

I was. I was bullied. I have many memories of being bullied, but the one that really Stands out the most was. I think I was in sixth grade, and this girl. I almost called her a woman. She seems, like, really tall. And I was, like, a little kid. She didn't like me for some reason. I don't know why. I don't know what I ever did to not be. I was, like, a nice kid, I think. And she. She came over to my desk at, like, pre algebra. I'll never forget it. Mr. Leath was the teacher. She proceeded to pull my hair out of my head and then floss her teeth.

[Megan]

No.

[Nava Kaplan]

Ew. I mean, that's gross for her, I'm telling you.

[Anna Camp]

Floss her teeth with it.

[Penn Badgley]

Definitely pre Covid.

[Anna Camp]

Definitely pre Covid. It's about really disturbing, right? And I just remember terrified. I was like, what have I done? And, like, you should have been terrified. It was such. And it was in front of the class to, like, I can, like, bully you and abuse you and then somehow degrade you even more by using your hair to floss my teeth?

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah. Like, I'm just. I'm just trying to think of, like, what the room did in that time between, like, finding the end of the hair, maybe dropping it once and just being like, okay, now how. Which tooth am I gonna. You know, there's like. There's like a. There's like a long.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

There's a lot of thought, and there's a lot. There's a lot going into that that I think.

[Nava Kaplan]

I'm like. I have questions of, like, what could Joe Goldberg do that people would turn on him? I feel like that could be. It really creeped a hair.

[Penn Badgley]

That's true.

[Nava Kaplan]

And flossing his teeth with it. Yeah, that might be it.

[Anna Camp]

Very, very, very creepy. And I did see her, though, years later.

[Nava Kaplan]

You did.

[Anna Camp]

So I, I. I graduated high school, went to college, came back for a summer, and I was getting gas at, like, the gas station, and lo and behold, there she was, checking out, like, she worked at the gas station. And I remember I was like. Her name was. Should I call out her name?

[Penn Badgley]

I don't think so.

[Anna Camp]

I'm not gonna do that. We'll just call her Sally. I was like, sorry to every Sally. Sorry to every Sally out there that I ever knew. I just remember saying, sally, do you remember me? And she was like. And she goes, no. And I said, well, you once pulled my hair out and flossed your teeth with it. And she went, no. She was so shocked.

[Sophie Ansari]

Oh, my God.

[Anna Camp]

And mortified. Did not believe me. And I said, I swear to God. You did that? And Then she gave me my gas and my diet Mountain Dew for free.

[Nava Kaplan]

Did that feel like a comeuppance? A little bit.

[Anna Camp]

I feel great about it.

[Nava Kaplan]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

It was definitely an admission.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah.

[Sophie Ansari]

Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

I have closure now.

[Sophie Ansari]

I feel like people have dreams of that happening or, like, maybe they'll come across like a middle school bully and imagine what they would say, but not have the confidence to. Or, like, the presence of mind to.

[Anna Camp]

Actually just say, it's good for you. Yeah. I had to say it. I just couldn't believe that she was there working at the gas station. I was like, when am I gonna ever see her?

[Penn Badgley]

I forget. When you said this was. Was it possibly, like, post Pitch Perfect and stuff like that? Were you already having, you know, the sort of ascendancy where that was just part of what you were. I don't know, you feeling like you could rub in, so to speak, or. You know, I'm searching for the word here.

[Anna Camp]

Can I put your foot down?

[Penn Badgley]

You know?

[Anna Camp]

Yeah, yeah. Like, I had a little more weight to throw around gas stations.

[Penn Badgley]

Nor would it have been. It wouldn't have been morally beneficial for anyone involved. But I'm just wondering, was it. Was it before or after Pitch Perfect?

[Anna Camp]

You are correct, sir. It wasn't Pitch Perfect, but it was after True Blood.

[Penn Badgley]

Okay.

[Anna Camp]

So I definitely felt like I had a little bit of, like, you know.

[Nava Kaplan]

Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

Pep in my step to go in and, like, get my comeuppance, I guess.

[Nava Kaplan]

Yeah. Anna, is it true that since he mentioned Pitch Perfect, Aubrey is obviously one of your most iconic characters? Is it true that some of the lines that Aubrey is famous for saying are related to her dad? Is it true that your real dad inspired some of those lines?

[Anna Camp]

Yes, it is. It is.

[Nava Kaplan]

Tell us about your dad and tell us about one of those lines.

[Anna Camp]

So my dad went to the Citadel. I don't know if you guys know what that is. It is a very intense military college in the south. And it actually recently, maybe just 10 years, it's become co ed. So it was mainly. It was just all men. And so my father in Pitch Perfect is like a military guy, like a general. And so I say all of these funny things. Like, my dad always says, if you can't do it, pack your bags, or something like that. I also had to memory, oh, this is a great thing. I don't know why I didn't just say this. I had to memorize something that my dad had to say when he was a freshman in college. I had to memorize it when I was a little kid. Wow.

[Sophie Ansari]

He passed that on to you?

[Anna Camp]

I had to finish eating at the dinner table. They would go, anna, say it. And I go, okay, I'm good. If I can do it. My sufficiency has been quite so falsified such that any more will prove to be super sanctimonious such that I, private cadet camp, request to remove my gross mass of protoplasm from your highly exalted presence, sir.

[Nava Kaplan]

Oh, my God.

[Anna Camp]

Thank you.

[Penn Badgley]

Wait, there was a second word in there that I'd never heard before. Can you say just the first few?

[Anna Camp]

My sufficiency. My sufficiency has been quite so fulcified.

[Penn Badgley]

So falsified.

[Nava Kaplan]

That's the word.

[Anna Camp]

It's not a word.

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah. I was like, no.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah.

[Nava Kaplan]

But I was like, I don't know it. It's not a word.

[Anna Camp]

I had to say that for like when all of my parents friends came over, they'd be like, anna, go do the.

[Sophie Ansari]

It was like a party trick.

[Penn Badgley]

So you were performing right from the get go?

[Anna Camp]

Yes. Not knowing that that's what. Yes. Don't talk. Pray for me. I was like, making these people happy. Making these people happy. Yeah, totally. Don't talk, just dance for us. And now you say it was a liberal household. You say it was a liberal household. My favorite.

[Sophie Ansari]

And you said, your sister's seven years older than you. So what was your guys relationship like growing up? Did you, were you. Did you have much time together in your childhood or did it feel kind of like two only children? Because that's quite a large age gap.

[Anna Camp]

We were not close. We were definitely not close. But she was the person to inspire me to become an actor.

[Sophie Ansari]

Oh, wow.

[Anna Camp]

So she was an actor. Still is. She teaches drama now in South Carolina. She directs all the school plays and everything. It's very sweet. But we would watch old movies together, so she would call me and we'd watch all the. Vivian Leigh, Clark Gable, you know, Jimmy Stewart, and we would just sit there and I was just like entranced by these beautiful film. So I owe a lot to her for that. But unfortunately, we never really. We never really were that close. We're getting closer now. I think as our parents get older, we're finding comfort in each other in a way that we haven't before. But yeah, growing up we weren't really. We weren't really that close.

[Nava Kaplan]

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[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

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[Sophie Ansari]

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[Penn Badgley]

So we do some classic questions here. And again, you know, our, our viewers and listeners know Nava and Sophie just, they want to move on. They just, they.

[Anna Camp]

Just feel, and it.

[Penn Badgley]

Was Nava, they just feel boxed in.

[Anna Camp]

Okay, I don't want that.

[Penn Badgley]

But I just, but I, I, we have to go back. We want to hear about your first crush or first love, you know, because sometimes first crushes are like four or five years old and they don't make for great stories. Frankly, that one, you know, just something that feels formative because it really? It could be very young. It's like, you know, first crush, first love, Something like that.

[Anna Camp]

Okay. Yeah. I mean, I can see his face right now. His name was Adam. Very cute. Skater boy. Had long kind of hair, had some glasses. He was also an actor, but he had this skateboard, you know, and he was wearing his pants super low. It was, like, super cool. And I was just, like, in love with him, just obsessed with him. And he was my first kiss. He was my first kiss. And the first kiss was to offspring.

[Penn Badgley]

Oh, God. That's. Yeah. What the. Is it.

[Anna Camp]

No. Self esteem. Self esteem? Yes. So it was not a romantic kiss by any means. We were at this girl.

[Penn Badgley]

Wait, is it the one that goes.

[Anna Camp]

Yes, yes. Yeah. That's not romantic at all. But every time that song comes on now, I get like. I, like, feel it.

[Nava Kaplan]

That's sweet.

[Anna Camp]

But the anxiety from it because he just. We were in the middle of, like, a birthday party. We were hanging out. Everybody's, like, dancing. He's, like, dancing it at me. Do you know what I mean? When they're, like, dancing at you, showing you his moves. Like, relax, bro. Even at that age, I was like, easy, you know? But he just grabbed me and he, like, smashed his face into my face to that song.

[Sophie Ansari]

Wow.

[Anna Camp]

And I think at that point, I kind of lost my crush a little bit. Like, really? It was too much. It was, like, too aggressive. I didn't find it, Like, I wasn't, like, excited to do that again, you know? So I think we kind of broke up probably, like, literally 30 minutes later or something like that.

[Penn Badgley]

I think you're the first person to pierce the skater boy mystique on Hog Crush because we've heard a couple of skater boy stories, but they always remain very cool. I might say. They always leave their. I feel like they always leave the story still being like, no.

[Sophie Ansari]

As soon as we all kind of like skater boy pen, we're like, ok, I know.

[Nava Kaplan]

I get it.

[Anna Camp]

He is now a gynecologist.

[Sophie Ansari]

Oh, interesting.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah, he's now a gynecologist. And we did see each other later in life, so we. We did. For an appointment or kind of story guy. You could say that. It wasn't like, I didn't make a call, but we had an appointment. Yeah, it was good. I'm glad I went.

[Nava Kaplan]

You went.

[Penn Badgley]

Okay. Anyway, there's a joke about a skate deck in here or something.

[Anna Camp]

I don't know. Find it. Jiminy.

[Nava Kaplan]

Would have found. What about your first heartbreak?

[Anna Camp]

I don't remember one. I don't remember an actual heartbreak at that age. I don't. And I don't mind talking about anything, really. I'll talk about like an adult thing, but I don't recall feeling heartbroken at a young age. I really recall it at an older age.

[Penn Badgley]

You're like I said, falsify.

[Anna Camp]

Exactly.

[Nava Kaplan]

If you don't mind, you can share a little bit about your adult one. You don't have to get into specifics, but any highlight of it.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah, I think it was like my first. I mean, I met my first husband, as I was saying, and then when the journal entry stopped right at 21 and it was like a. It was like out in the town in Union Square with a couple of friends. I was not planning. I had just been dumped by a guy over the phone and I was like.

[Penn Badgley]

And that didn't break your heart?

[Anna Camp]

It didn't. There was something about him. I was like, good, good. Get out of here. That's so interesting.

[Sophie Ansari]

Just that tidbit about you that. Because when you first said I, I don't remember heartbreak, I'm like, does that mean there were no relationships? There were no feelings there? No.

[Penn Badgley]

But it was like, what is wrong with that?

[Sophie Ansari]

No, I mean, it's amazing that you can like just. That shows me that you could just like kind of move on quickly. You can see the truth in it. Like, oh, yeah, this wasn't supposed to work anyway. You're not hung up.

[Anna Camp]

Did I always sense that there were many chapters in a person's life? I think because and then seeing my parents relationship and seeing other people's relationships, I always felt like, I don't know if there is an end person. I don't know. But I know that I want experiences. And so when the guy dumped me over the phone, I remember I had edamame Boyle. I was living in Queens. I was on 39th street or something. And I remember like he was talking to me and I put edamame on the stove and I forgot about it. And after the phone call, he broke up with me and it was just like boiling over. Like boiling over now. Like your rage, like my excitement for him to get out of my life. Sure.

[Penn Badgley]

That's the way you're cutting it now.

[Anna Camp]

Exactly. Looking back. But then I went out and I was like, I'm gonna go out for the first time. I took like a week to whatever and then I went out and that's when I met my first husband.

[Sophie Ansari]

Wow.

[Anna Camp]

And so we met very young. It was like a one night stand that lasted seven years and we grew a lot. From 21 to. I mean, he was a little older, but I changed so much. We both moved from New York to LA together. He's an actor, Wonderful actor. We're still pretty close, but it was really difficult to not be working anymore. It was really, really, really hard to see someone who met me such a young age. I don't just moved to New York. We were doing our laundry, walking down the street, getting drunk, like, hanging out, partying. And I wanted to keep that for the rest of my life. Cause that's what I had imagined. And then to have it just not be working at all and having us be totally different people, that was really, really, really hard. And that was definitely a heartbreak of mine. But he's great and we still talk. So it's not like I'm like, don't ever see him. It was hard.

[Sophie Ansari]

Yeah. Yeah, that is hard. At 21. I'm just thinking about myself at 21 versus myself at 25 versus myself at 31 now. It's like, so different. A million different people.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

She's really growing up quick, isn't she?

[Anna Camp]

You look great. No, you look great.

[Nava Kaplan]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

How about an embarrassing story? You know, Cringy.

[Anna Camp]

Oh, God. I had to do another boy. So I was. My other crush, Brian Harmon. Love him. Yeah. Really was obsessed with this guy. Wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't date me. Because he said he didn't like the way I walked.

[Nava Kaplan]

Oh, my gosh.

[Sophie Ansari]

Did that affect you, or are you really.

[Anna Camp]

I think about it to this day. Wow.

[Penn Badgley]

The way you walk.

[Anna Camp]

The way I walk. I think about it sometimes. Like, if people are behind me, don't look at me. They're following me. Like, sometimes when, like, we would be going from the dressing room, like from set, I'd be like, I don't want anybody to be behind me. And I don't think it's exactly because of Brian Harmon, but I don't think it helps.

[Sophie Ansari]

Yeah, I don't like filming.

[Nava Kaplan]

You know, some actresses will only be, like, photographed from one side.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah. It's like me, I'm like, don't, don't, don't show. I have a walking double to my contract. Because I really can't walk anyway. He wouldn't. I do think about it sometimes. And I was so in love with him, though. I had this photo. My friend took a photo of him for me. And he's, like, sitting on the school steps. He's got, like, blonde, spiky hair, and he's sitting all cool. And I remember being like, oh, My God. Like, I would have a poster of that. And she. Her dad worked at a photography studio. And she was like, I'm gonna blow it up for you. I'm blow up the poster, and I'm gonna bring it to school. And I was like, that's so cool. Oh, my God, that's so great. Cut to next day. My mom is driving me in her Volvo, and she's pulling up to the school, and I see a crowd.

[Nava Kaplan]

No, no, no.

[Anna Camp]

No crowd of my friends. Some not my friends. And I see Mackenzie Bubb, the one that blew up the poster.

[Sophie Ansari]

Oh, she's holding the poster.

[Anna Camp]

She's holding the poster. And Brian Harmon is on the poster, and he's looking at the poster with all of his friends. And I go. My heart drops out of my soul. I turn white. My mom is like, have a good day. And I go and I walk. And they all turn around and they all start laughing at me. It was so awful. And I was like, you are not my friend, Mackenzie Bell. That was a secret girl code. Like, slide it to me at the end of the day kind of thing.

[Sophie Ansari]

Slide it to me.

[Nava Kaplan]

Like it wasn't gonna be possible.

[Penn Badgley]

Don't come over with it.

[Anna Camp]

Come over with it. My God. Mortified. Literally the most mortified I've ever been.

[Nava Kaplan]

That's very embarrassing.

[Sophie Ansari]

I feel like that's also a one of one experience. Like, sometimes people tell us embarrassing stories, and it's like, okay, yeah, like, that could have happened in 10 different episodes.

[Nava Kaplan]

But this one.

[Sophie Ansari]

This one is like a friend of yours blowing up your crush and then showing him.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah, and then showing him and all of his cool friends laughing.

[Nava Kaplan]

Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

And pointing. And I had to, like, go to school that day. And, like, I was the girl. Of course I kept the poster.

[Sophie Ansari]

Like, give it to me.

[Anna Camp]

I have it next to my bed. Fold it up inside in my little journal and look at it.

[Nava Kaplan]

Sometimes.

[Anna Camp]

You laugh, but it's true.

[Penn Badgley]

Great.

[Anna Camp]

Anyway. What's the next question?

[Sophie Ansari]

Anyway, Anna, you brought us into adulthood a little bit, and we wanted to talk to you a little bit about Equus. You were in this show on Broadway, and, I mean, there's many notable things about the show. One of the things that you've talked about publicly is dealing with the nerves of having to be nude in a live. In front of a live audience. But then you talked about how eventually it actually felt liberating, and I was really interested in that. Like, I was telling Nava that because I have a daughter, I've given birth, and I was telling her that there's a point in birth where you totally just like. You're like, I do not care. I don't care who's. Who's in here, who's seeing what. And I never.

[Penn Badgley]

I mean, they're seeing it.

[Nava Kaplan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Anna Camp]

They're seeing it all.

[Penn Badgley]

All the.

[Sophie Ansari]

And I was wondering. Yeah. Did you get to a point like that where it just kind of felt like everyone has a body? These are just, you know, bodies.

[Penn Badgley]

Horse bodies.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah, just horse bodies. And that's just Harry Potter's body. That's my body. I did finally. It was not a quick thing, though, because I wasn't somebody who, you know, went to the gym and walked around naked and. You know what I mean?

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

I didn't, like, get on the elliptical like some people do at my gym. And I'm not mad. No, no. You know what I mean? I was shy kid growing up. So I auditioned for it, and I had to be British, and then I had to be nude. They did not make me take my clothes off. I was obviously for the audition, but I remember going, I don't want this job. I don't want to get this job. I don't want this job. And I was on the train coming back from the audition, actually, the callback, and I was going above ground back to Queens, and my phone rings and it's my agent. And I was like, oh, God. Oh, God. And so I pick it up, and they're like, so excited. Anna, you just booked Equus.

[Penn Badgley]

And it was big, too, because it was Daniel Radcliffe in one of his first plays after. I mean, he had been doing, you know, the work that he's now been engaged in for so long, which was, like, very successfully. He's both so known as Harry Potter and also so not known as Harry Potter. He's really done, I think, a graceful job, transitioning, deconstructing that idea. You know what I mean? And Equus was a part of that. It was definitely a big moment. I mean, I remember I lived in the city, and what we remembered when we were on set. Do you remember this?

[Anna Camp]

Yeah. You came when you saw it. Yeah, I remember that. That's right. I forgot about that again. But, yeah, you saw it. So I remember everyone was all the buzz that the people from Gossip Girl were coming. Yeah. So, yeah, I remember that. And we were in the run, in the middle of the run by that time. So I was like, you know, whatever, because I do this thing, like, twice a day, you know, and by that time, like, I mean, There would be cameras in the audience. They tell you to, like, put your phone away or not have your phone, but there'd be people with binoculars in the third row.

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah, you were shining and telling me that. And that's just like. That's just, to me, just thrilling.

[Anna Camp]

While. But balls on both of you.

[Penn Badgley]

You know, the ball's on both of you. I think that that takes. It is. I'm sure at first it was a bit terrifying because you just. You have to. You know, theoretically, it could be all about the performance. Theoretically, I'm an actor. But come on. You also know what people. Yeah. You also know what people in the.

[Anna Camp]

Audience are going to go see. And a lot of them didn't know that they. The female character was also new, so they were going to go see Harry Potter. And we had seats on stage also. So it was in the round. And I had to. I mean, we stand at the back of the stage.

[Penn Badgley]

You both get real naked.

[Anna Camp]

We take off our clothes, one piece by one piece. We come all the way to the front of the stage, totally. Excuse me. Totally nude. Where we share a kiss. And then we slowly walk all the way back. And then I have to lay down on this, like, thing that. Similar to this table.

[Penn Badgley]

A dais. You could call it.

[Anna Camp]

Exactly. A dais.

[Penn Badgley]

Amadeus.

[Anna Camp]

Amadeus. Amadeus. I don't know, but it's a great word. And spread my legs.

[Penn Badgley]

Oh, that's right.

[Anna Camp]

And then he got on top of me and there were audience. Get out of my way. There were audience members up there. And I remember I'd have to freeze while he delivered a monologue. And they would be talking about our bodies.

[Nava Kaplan]

No, you could hear.

[Anna Camp]

During the year, I could hear every word they were saying.

[Penn Badgley]

Wow.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah.

[Sophie Ansari]

That is like some kind of treasure.

[Anna Camp]

It was a mental. It was wild to have to do that. And then we'd have to get up and we scream at each other. And we're standing there screaming on stage to one another, and then I run off. But it was a real test to my fear. Like, what can I actually do when I'm afraid? And how can I say none of these people's opinions matter to me? And there was a really odd grounding thing that I found backstage. Like, before I had to go out. Like, we'd be backstage. The mirror, it was just looking at my face. No, no. It was the weirdest thing. There would be shelves of all the stuff that's backstage when you're getting ready to go out. And there was this one particular thing that I kept looking at that made Me feel like everything was gonna be okay. I know what it is. I was gonna make a joke, but I'm not. It was actually a Tide box.

[Penn Badgley]

Huh.

[Sophie Ansari]

Interesting.

[Anna Camp]

A box of Tide. It was the old school blue with the words and the rainbow.

[Penn Badgley]

Was it a prop or was it.

[Anna Camp]

It was for doing laundry. It was real. And I just remember going, somebody sat in a room. Like, a group of people sat in a room, and they named that thing Tide. And then they drew that weird box of Tide. And I kind of was looking at it, and I went, nothing fricking matters. And I just, like, would go out and I would look at it every time. I'd be like, you know what that's called? What?

[Penn Badgley]

Dissociation.

[Anna Camp]

Thank you. Wait. What?

[Nava Kaplan]

I wanna circle back to that moment on the train. Your agents call you. They're really excited. You didn't want the part. What happens? Like, what. What makes you flip or decide to take it?

[Anna Camp]

Well, whenever anything scares me, I say, okay, go do it. You have to do it. There's a reason why I got the part. There's a reason. There's something that I needed to grow from. There was a challenge that needed to be accepted. I took it as a sign of this is from the universe in some way. So you're okay. You're okay. Don't worry about your body. Don't worry about being perfect. This is for you. This is a chapter in your life that you would really regret walking away from if you didn't do it.

[Nava Kaplan]

So did it change your relationship with your body in any way?

[Anna Camp]

It did. It did, Definitely. I became a bit more free, a bit more like, oh, whatever, you know, here I am. I mean, some people were like, oh, are you getting a personal trainer? Or are you gonna, like, not eat? And at first I was very concerned, but then I started, like, going to have sushi on my break. You know what I mean? And intermission.

[Penn Badgley]

A real high calorie splurge. I used to go is what I used to do.

[Anna Camp]

I would go so much sashimi.

[Penn Badgley]

I had three carbohydrates post.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah, I was losing. I would have three almonds. And I was like, whatever. It's totally fine. Let's go. Let's take it off.

[Nava Kaplan]

Okay, wait. I have one more Equis question. What was the funniest thing you remember someone saying if you.

[Penn Badgley]

Oh, nice.

[Anna Camp]

Oh, my God. I mean, I don't know if I want to say that out loud.

[Penn Badgley]

You can cut it if you want. Just try it.

[Anna Camp]

Just try it.

[Penn Badgley]

If it scares you.

[Anna Camp]

Something about like, some. It was something about my boobs. It was something about like, like, she must be cold. You know what I mean? And me being there listening to those ladies, how would I hate that? And he being like, I am. Okay, I am.

[Penn Badgley]

It's a fucking theater, man.

[Anna Camp]

And you know what? He must be too. We're all cold. She must. You know what I mean? Just leave us alone. We're naked for you right now. Go home. My God. It was just off my college roommate during curtain call. I remember, like, bowing, obviously fully clothed at that point, but then turning around to bow for the onstage audience. And I look, I bow and I'm like, Evan, no, no, front row, buddy. Great. Awesome.

[Nava Kaplan]

Wow. You were Mindy Kaling's best friend on the Mindy project. And I'm just wondering how that came about.

[Anna Camp]

Hmm. That came about because I auditioned and tested multiple times to play that part.

[Penn Badgley]

So, like, it did for any role.

[Anna Camp]

Just like I did.

[Nava Kaplan]

I didn't know if you guys knew each other.

[Anna Camp]

Unfortunately, we did not know each other. But yeah, she, like called me up and it was like the test day. And I remember her being like, I really want you to get this, Anna. Like, I really want it to be you. And I just felt like that was so nice of her to do because she didn't have to do that. And it was her show and she was creating it and. Yeah. Yeah. And then I ended up doing the first season.

[Nava Kaplan]

Anything memorable from sort of that experience?

[Anna Camp]

I told a director that I did not. This director told me not to check my watch during a scene. And I didn't know why he was so caught up with this watch checking because I had nothing to do in the scene. Like, I think I had like, no lines. I was having a scene with like my 7 year old daughter and I remember just checking my watch because I gave me something to do. And he was like, so can you just like not check your watch? And I remember looking at him and going, you can point the camera wherever you want. I'm going to check my watch.

[Sophie Ansari]

Wow. How old were you at the time?

[Anna Camp]

I was 27. I was 27 or something.

[Sophie Ansari]

I feel like that's so. There's so much confidence there. I'm like, wow, I wish I could.

[Anna Camp]

I literally was so upset that he was. So the only note I got was like, can you just not check your watch? And I was like, if you're thinking about the watch checking, like, you're not thinking about what's actually going on in the scene. And I want to check my watch.

[Sophie Ansari]

Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

So, honey, I'm going to check it, and you can edit it out. You can do a lot in post, but I'm checking the watch.

[Nava Kaplan]

Anna.

[Penn Badgley]

Anna, where do you think it confidence.

[Anna Camp]

Went when you came to the fifth season of you?

[Penn Badgley]

Because there was no confidence to be seen.

[Anna Camp]

I was. Oh, God. Yeah. Heartbreaking.

[Penn Badgley]

You were like a wet lamb on a dish.

[Anna Camp]

Too many things to say.

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah, I'm kind of.

[Nava Kaplan]

Okay.

[Anna Camp]

No, you're in the pocket.

[Sophie Ansari]

In Pitch Perfect, you played Aubrey, iconic character, and you had to throw up so many times. What was that?

[Nava Kaplan]

Like.

[Sophie Ansari]

What was in your mouth?

[Anna Camp]

Do you remember? Yeah. Okay. So we had a actual fire hose that they rigged behind me, like a small. Like a fire hose pressure type thing with, like, a little tube that they wired through my skirt, up my back and under my neck. And then the other one for the side shots was here besides my mouth. And there was tomato juice, rice, pineapple chunks in this thing connected through. And they tested it on, like, a stunt double, obviously. But by the time they got there with me, like, I didn't know what the pressure was gonna be like. And they. They were like, okay, in action. Three, two, one. The thing knocked me back, like, knocked me off, and I was out. I'm literally just vomiting everywhere. Like, I can't control it. And I'm like, can something called cut. And I remember standing there straight at that point. The thing's not stopping, and I'm just vomiting while I'm talking to people, being like, can we. Can we turn the thing off? Can we. Can we get the thing off? Oh, my God. It was really. Just really wild.

[Penn Badgley]

I can't believe that's not out there as a blooper. That's just sort of a.

[Anna Camp]

But I don't know if they've got that specific one. It's a DVD extra. Yeah, there you go. You have to pay for it these days, but, yeah. And then they also asked the audience in front, like, the first few rows if they were okay being thrown up on. And they were like, yeah, they were all game for it. You know what I mean? But I think they thought it was gonna be, like, normal human going, like, you know, as you do, and, like, a little. And so once I did the shot, and I'm like, vomiting everywhere, and they're like. And again. And Joyce, tomorrow I'd be like, little one. And I'd be like, you know? And then he'd be like, big one. So I finish vomiting. I'm on the ground. I'm, like, sweating. I have vomit everywhere. All over me. I look up at the audience that they asked if they would be comfortable being puked on. They look like they're going to kill me. They are so upset. They did not bring, like, they were wearing their own clothes. They were just completely puke everywhere. Yeah. And I just remember being like, sorry. Just like, running on stage.

[Penn Badgley]

That's not on you, though. That's more like, not my fault. That's a producer thing.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sophie Ansari]

That's amazing.

[Nava Kaplan]

Obviously, that cast is really iconic. Like, so many comedic talents. So many comedic talents in that movie, so many singing talents, but Rebel Wilson kind of stands out. And you've talked about her as, like, a scene stealer.

[Anna Camp]

Yes.

[Nava Kaplan]

And I'm just curious if there are any BTS stories about Rebel or anyone.

[Penn Badgley]

That'S behind the scenes.

[Anna Camp]

Oh, what BTs? Oh, that's what that's about. There's a video that I actually have of us in Pitch Perfect 2 where we're, like, FaceTiming and we're all singing as a group to this one Barden Bella, who's not there because I guess she's pregnant, so she doesn't come on, like, the journey with us. And Pitch Perfect too, which is so sad that she wasn't there. And we're singing, and for some reason, Rebel and I just decided to, like, stop singing to the camera, but just, like, sing to each other. So we're just, like, caressing each other's hair and we're just, like, you know, hanging out all over each other. And none of the other girls knew that that's what we were doing. And then I guess somebody played it for everyone. And I remember Kendrick being, like, what that was happening behind me the whole time. But, yeah, so Rebel and I would always play and improv and have fun and just do what you can until they tell you to hold back. That's what I always try to do. Because you don't know what could end up in the final version. And it's like they can always tell you to stop.

[Nava Kaplan]

Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

You know, and then you just keep checking your watch.

[Nava Kaplan]

Was it fun to be kind of the straight character in that movie, or was it a little bit of a bummer?

[Anna Camp]

I didn't feel like I was the straight character. I guess I felt like there was so much comedy to be mined within this person who is so concerned with everything being right. I mean, isn't that where the comedy is? Is that, like, when she's so uptight, when things inevitably go wrong? Right. Like, that's the comedy is the, like, frustration of trying to keep everything, you know, on the table or whatever. So I loved Aubrey. I loved playing her. I think that she has so much heart. Yeah, she's definitely stuck up and can be a little bit of a biatch, but, yeah, I love her. Yeah.

[Nava Kaplan]

There's no Pitch Perfect without Aubrey.

[Anna Camp]

Thank you.

[Sophie Ansari]

You said in an interview once that after Pitts perfect, you wanted to go to Montana and raise puppies and just, like, be done with it.

[Penn Badgley]

And why.

[Anna Camp]

Why puppies? No, I was.

[Sophie Ansari]

Okay. Yeah, go ahead.

[Penn Badgley]

That's all I've got.

[Anna Camp]

Okay.

[Sophie Ansari]

No, I was curious.

[Anna Camp]

What kept you going to Montana?

[Sophie Ansari]

No, what took you away from Montana? What kept you going?

[Anna Camp]

I see. I see. I got another job.

[Nava Kaplan]

Okay.

[Anna Camp]

I think as an actor, that quick, right?

[Sophie Ansari]

You're like, never mind.

[Anna Camp]

Just get the puppies.

[Penn Badgley]

I don't know, maybe.

[Anna Camp]

Oh, they want me. Okay. They want me.

[Penn Badgley]

Okay.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah, exactly. But I have all these puppies. No, I always want to. That is a goal of mine in my life. Yes. I want to be in Montana. A puppy mill. Oh, God. Yeah. I want to own a puppy mill in Montana. Yeah. Above board. Above board puppy mill. No, I'd love to be in Montana at some point, like, on a ranch somewhere with lots of animals. That is a dream of mine. And I always say that because. I don't know. I mean, I've been fortunate enough to work, but I don't know. Like, right now, I don't know what the next job is. So, you know, it's just nice to have that because I'm not just an actor. I don't want to be reliant on just that for my soul or my happiness. I can't, because it's so fleeting anyway, that I would feel very satisfied living in Montana and not having a puppy mill, but, like, you know, taking in.

[Nava Kaplan]

Shelter dogs, ethically raising.

[Anna Camp]

Ethically raising them for money. That's what I want to do.

[Nava Kaplan]

Now.

[Sophie Ansari]

That sounds lovely.

[Anna Camp]

Yes. Yes.

[Nava Kaplan]

Okay. Just a couple questions about Hysteria, and then we will go to you.

[Anna Camp]

Okay.

[Nava Kaplan]

So your character in Hysteria is really tightly wound. Perhaps the most of all.

[Anna Camp]

Definitely the most of all.

[Nava Kaplan]

The ones. And I'm just curious, where do you draw? You talked about this a little bit, but where do you draw inspiration for the Aubreys, Tracy's and Reagan's that you play so masterfully?

[Anna Camp]

Well, first of all, thank you for saying that. That's very nice. I definitely draw them from the women that I grew up in the South. There's a type of, like, presenting a perfect kind of unflawed exterior, but there's this like, brewing passion or desire to break free from all of that. I feel like, like, especially, you know, my mother was very proper. She still doesn't own a pair of blue jeans. You know, she wears pantyhose and sometimes she wears rubber gloves to pick up our cats because she doesn't want to wash her hands too much. There's like a certain thing, but inside I know she's just like this passionate. Get me in those jeans. Get me in those jeans. Now we know she loves jeans from the denim cutoffs. Right. So I think that I just grew up around a lot of women like that. And I just love playing somebody who is struggling not just with the other characters or with the world that they're in, but with themselves. So to have that, I think is something that I'm really drawn to. And I also like trying to make. I don't try to make these women likable, but I don't find them unlikable. And I'm also not afraid of being unlikable too. So I just. I find them fascinating to play and kind of get down through the puzzle of like, what makes them tick.

[Nava Kaplan]

You. You.

[Anna Camp]

Yes.

[Sophie Ansari]

Okay. We're really. We're here to talk about you. The two of you were in you. I want to know what were your first impressions of each other there? Do you remember the first time you met?

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah. Cuz this, this episode is about. Is about you. Okay. I'm going to be honest. I. I don't remember a. No. Okay. Okay.

[Sophie Ansari]

That's always pen an. By the way, whenever we ask him that question, he's like, I mean, I.

[Penn Badgley]

Remember so much, but first impressions. I think it's like, you know, so the. If I'm just going back chronologically speaking, the first two episodes, which is what you do when you're trying to think of a first impression.

[Anna Camp]

That's really, really smart.

[David Duchovny]

Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

Good work.

[Penn Badgley]

Thanks. Like, I don't remember the first zoom that we were. You know what I mean? Like, I don't remember meeting. But. But I. But I very much remember seeing you play these two characters on the same day. You know, as we're shooting the same scene, this dinner table scene, which was like, you had more lines in that scene than I probably have in the entirety of the series, actually.

[Anna Camp]

Probably.

[Penn Badgley]

Probably.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

And it was just. It was just really impressive and a joy to just finally take this thing off my shoulders and give it to somebody else.

[Anna Camp]

Just relax, Joe Goldberg.

[Penn Badgley]

And yeah, it was just. It was just. It was a beautiful thing to see. And I Do particularly like, you're Reagan. That. That. That. Well, I'm also now remembering Maddie later in the season. So, I mean, we're gonna come with spoilers, right? We can. We're talking about it, like, post. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Anna Camp]

Okay. Okay.

[Nava Kaplan]

Spoilers galore.

[Penn Badgley]

So. But I think it's like you playing Reagan really is the first. Just Reagan, just demolishing. Attempting to demolish the family in this one scene where all day it's just all about you. And I was just. I was just really impressed.

[Anna Camp]

Thanks.

[Penn Badgley]

You know.

[Anna Camp]

Thank you.

[Penn Badgley]

You're just like. Honestly, I do think, if I recall, like, I don't think you.

[Anna Camp]

Clubbed a line.

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah, no, I think you were that, you know, upholding that repressed Southern flawless. You know, I mean, you really were like. It was.

[David Duchovny]

It was.

[Penn Badgley]

It was remarkable.

[Anna Camp]

Oh, I appreciate it. Yeah. I wanted to come in prepared because I don't want to be, like. I want to be the last of everybody's worries on a set. And I also know that it's, like, not about the lines for me. It's, like, never about. I don't want it to ever be about the lines.

[Nava Kaplan]

It's about checking your watch.

[Anna Camp]

It's about checking my watch? Yes. No, it's about, like, giving. Doing what I want, getting what I want from the other person. So I don't want to ever be, like, in any way. Not off book, like, completely solid. That way I can mess it up and make it different each take and whatever. So. Thank you for saying that.

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah.

[Sophie Ansari]

What was your first impression of Penn?

[Penn Badgley]

Oh, right, we're doing that.

[Anna Camp]

I remember. I remember. I remember meeting you on the Zoom, but then I remember meeting you, like, in the hair and makeup room. And I remember you were just very bearded. You were so bearded, and your hair was so long. And you asked me what my name was twice. You said, wait, what was your name? And then we were still there. And then she did it again.

[Penn Badgley]

Oh, I'm trying to make sure I get it on that first day, but.

[Anna Camp]

I wasn't holding back. I was like, anna.

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm remembering that a bit now.

[Anna Camp]

And then you shaved your face and your hair, and I was like, new, man. Then I was like, you should have.

[Penn Badgley]

Said, what's your name again?

[Anna Camp]

Yeah. Wait, what's your name? No, but he did ask me twice, and I was like, anna.

[Penn Badgley]

Well, you know, there's a lot of people on a first date. It's an entirely new casting.

[Anna Camp]

I'm giving you shit. I'm giving you shit. But, yeah, that was my first impression, that he just can't remember what anybody.

[Penn Badgley]

Not a single thing.

[Anna Camp]

No. But it was really fun. I'm really happy that we got so many fun scenes together because it was so great and so lovely, like working with you and so like, I never felt pressure. I never felt pressure, though. I always felt like it was light and fun. That's good, you know, that's really nice.

[Sophie Ansari]

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[Nava Kaplan]

The two of you were always on the verge of making each other break and I'm curious if anything stands out to you as like a notable time that maybe we as viewers if we go back we could like maybe Spy it a little bit.

[Penn Badgley]

You know, it's interesting. So, you know, I don't remember if you're. Well, it'd be interesting to hear from you, Nava. Cause you were on set. Whether you're saying that more from your own experience or maybe some of what I was recollecting, but my experience of it is, I don't know, that we were close to breaking. Because you and I are kind of similar in the sense that we could be, like, hysterically laughing. But then it's like, you have to get down to it. And for the most part, it's just like, zip it up.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

But I can't remember what it was. But I do know there was a time that I was. I couldn't hold it together. I don't know. I can't remember what it was, but I know there was. Do you remember it?

[Anna Camp]

100%.

[Penn Badgley]

What was it?

[Anna Camp]

There's a couple times, but one of them in the cage, the camera wasn't even, like, on you. It wasn't on one of us. But one of us kept laughing. And I didn't even say anything yet.

[Penn Badgley]

Oh, you know, I think.

[Anna Camp]

Were you dead? I was trying to say you're lying.

[Penn Badgley]

You meant it was one of you dead.

[Anna Camp]

Weren't you laying, supposed to be dead, maybe? No, it was before that. We were just. We were just standing up as one of the beginning scenes. And you. You just kept laughing. And I didn't know you that well yet. And I remember just being like, what am I doing, man? Like, what am I doing? This is so funny. And you just go, you're funny. Okay. You're funny. And I was like, okay, I guess as long as it's gonna work eventually. I do remember when we were doing the scene where Harrison was, like, tied up.

[Penn Badgley]

Oh, yeah.

[Anna Camp]

And I was behind you, like, mouthing every word. Oh, yes, you were laughing. I was really. There's in the shot. I saw this. I saw the scene, though. And in the shot, I can see her eyes do a little dunnit when I'm back there going like. I can see you going like, so good. It was really, really, really, really fun. Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

But anyway, I'm not sure if people remember what we're talking about, but basically, Harrison, paid by Pete. I'm trying to.

[Anna Camp]

Stopping at the hard part.

[Penn Badgley]

Knows that we love him, so he'll laugh at this.

[Anna Camp]

But we praying, hoping it's okay. It's Jiminy. He wouldn't know.

[Penn Badgley]

He's tied up and he's expressing his. No, I'm trying to Express his love, right.

[Anna Camp]

Yes. You're helping him express his love.

[Penn Badgley]

Right. Because he's. I'm basically trying to save both of your lives right now.

[David Duchovny]

Right.

[Anna Camp]

You're gonna kill us if we don't. If he doesn't. If he's gonna tell on you about murdering Reagan.

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

Then you're gonna kill him, and then you might kill me. So we're trying to convince him.

[Penn Badgley]

I'm like, I want to save both of you.

[Anna Camp]

Deal with murder.

[Penn Badgley]

So I'm telling him basically what to say, and you're mouthing it behind me.

[Nava Kaplan]

Right.

[Penn Badgley]

And that. That. That wasn't scripted. And when you did it in the rehearsal, I was like. I was like, you have to do that. But that's. Don't do it when I have to say please or no. I think what I realized is we had to do it at the same time. Otherwise, it's not funny. But I was like, but that's gonna be very hard for me. It was hard to keep a straight face because there was just something about it, like, yeah. Oh, Maddie's so dumb, but so sweet.

[Anna Camp]

So sweet. And she. I remember the director of that episode kind of cut them back. She was like, okay, like, you can get, like, two of them. You can't do every one. But it was really fun.

[Penn Badgley]

So good.

[Anna Camp]

I liked trying to crack you up. I liked trying to make you laugh.

[Penn Badgley]

Well, apparently, it wasn't hard.

[Sophie Ansari]

I guess final season, it's like, oh.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah, what is this thing?

[Nava Kaplan]

He was so impressed that she was off book because he didn't know any of his lines. What are my lines?

[Penn Badgley]

It is actually true that that day I had, like, one paragraph in between your 90 paragraphs. And all day, I had it. And then we go to my side, and I was like, like, really?

[Anna Camp]

Quit. Do it.

[Penn Badgley]

Because we've done it so many times. And I was just like. I kept on. And I was like, I've actually. This has never happened to me. We have to go to lunch.

[Anna Camp]

It was amazing. We went to lunch. Marcus was like, do you want to go to lunch? And you're like, yes. And then when you came back, though, Pen. When you came back, you were like, I am going to get that line harder than I've ever gotten any line.

[Penn Badgley]

I did, though.

[Anna Camp]

You definitely did. You did the thing where sometimes you kind of look down at the. The. Like, when. When you zero in, like, down the camera. You were doing the thing where you couldn't. Oh, that's right. Because it wasn't even at my face.

[Penn Badgley]

This is why it was Hard because I was having to say it into the camera. Which is what. Which can be for me. I think by the end of this series I was really, really, really missing acting with people. So often I'm not acting with people. You know, it's actually. You don't realize how much it's happening. But it's like those shots where it's just me thinking there's nobody there.

[Sophie Ansari]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

Even if I'm meant to be looking at something, I'm never looking at that thing ever. So it's like. So I think by the end I was really feeling. I'm actually remembering this whole kind of dimension to this season. I was so tired of some aspects of Joe because I was like, I can't emote everything to a camera anymore. I want a friggin scene partner. And I think I even asked them like, guys, we can't do the thing. Like I have to look at her.

[Anna Camp]

Absolutely.

[Penn Badgley]

I'm just like. I'm past being able to look at it.

[Anna Camp]

All you can think about is the line when you're looking at the person. Yes. And what your mouth is doing and like what's happening. It's just completely.

[Penn Badgley]

And it happens to be a thing for the show that they discovered in like the first two episodes, which we talked a bit about with Lee. Lee Tollen Krieger, who directed the pilot and the finale.

[Anna Camp]

Oh yeah, I met him. Yeah, I was in it for a second. Anna Hannah Camp.

[Penn Badgley]

But there's so often like it's the unique Joe thing where even though a lot of other people have to do it in the show, it's like. Yeah. Just looking at the camera. Guys, guys. I may never have to do that again.

[Sophie Ansari]

And can you, when you're acting to the camera, can you see yourself like in the.

[Penn Badgley]

Sometimes you can.

[Anna Camp]

Sometimes. It's really disconcerting. It's awful. It's terrible to have to see your own reflection of that while you're trying to do something. It's just.

[Sophie Ansari]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

Had you ever had to do that as much as you did in this show before?

[Anna Camp]

I've had to do it a lot. Yeah, I've had to do it a lot. It's like the tape mark thing and the. I mean there was this. God, I was just watching this for some reason the other day with my friends. I was in a music video, not a great one or anything. The last shot of the video, they were like, you have to look at this man like you love him. Like you love him more than anything in the world. And he was like, the lead singer of the band. And he had left set for that last shot. And I remember they put up a pink tape mark. And I had to look like I was gonna just to love it and marry it and all the things. And I just remember going, all right, did you get it?

[Sophie Ansari]

Cause I don't know.

[Anna Camp]

Cause I have no idea. Like, hey, tape Mark, how do you feel? You know? So, yeah, it just. It's become a thing where you really have to use your imagination or you will get so stuck in your head that it will just be crap.

[Nava Kaplan]

Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

So let's ask it.

[Nava Kaplan]

Diana, you play twins on the show. Obviously, Reagan and Maddie, they have very different vibes. How did you prepare to play each of them?

[Anna Camp]

I think it started. Listen, I'm kind of a woo woo type gal. When I first got to New York to shoot, I was living in Brooklyn, and I specifically went to a crystal store, and I got one that represented Reagan, and I got one that represented Maddie. And I would actually carry them with me on set. For which one? For which. Really? Yes, yes. And I also had some songs that I would play and think about for each character. A lot of it just came from feeling just what it feels like to be super confident, you know, the baddest bitch in the room. Also, the wardrobe was super helpful for each character. But there's like a certain confidence, obviously, that Reagan had. And those were actually the easier days for me on set because she was so confident. And then to switch into Maddie, where I thought was gonna be the easier twin, to be honest, when I was. When I got. Got the job, she turned out to be not so easy because she was like a sad. She's a very sad, lost person.

[Penn Badgley]

I wish she had more going on. I feel like a lot more going on. A lot more. Kind of like unpredictable turns and dimensions to her.

[Anna Camp]

Yes, yes.

[Penn Badgley]

That you wouldn't have predicted from the beginning.

[Anna Camp]

Not at all. Cause you'd think that she's just like this light, fun, you know, flirty, gas. When ultimately the writing was so good that each script I found another layer to her which was really exciting to play. She's very smart. She does come from a place of pure love. I do think, especially cause she's very in love with Harrison. And she's been really ragged on her whole life. So it was just kind of that feeling that I would get before I would walk out onto set and it would affect the way I walked, the way I stood. I don't know if their voices were different, but when I finally saw with the Two of me together. I was a little bit like, whoa, okay. I think I might have pulled that off especially well with the hair and makeup and wardrobe and the lighting. The way they shot it was wonderful. But I was kind of like, oh, God, I see two different people. I hope that the audience sees and feels that as well.

[Nava Kaplan]

And then you have to play Maddy playing Reagan. How did you prepare for that?

[Anna Camp]

Also just a feeling of, like, the nerves and then what's covering it. So it's all about, like, you start, like, I build my internal emotional life, but you know what I mean? Like, who wants to hear about that? But it's about the feeling and then the covering. You know, that kind of thing is what I tried to do. And then there was.

[Penn Badgley]

There's a micro comedy. I mean, I remember that was tough stuff that we were doing in the latter half. It's like. It's a lot where I was forgetting which one is which, where Maddie Ye playing Regan. It was dicey. And, I mean, you navigated it just beautifully. You nailed it. And I mean, again, what our show has, which I think always saves it in these kinds of storylines, is this dark camp.

[Anna Camp]

Oh, hey, hey, hey, that's too good.

[Penn Badgley]

But that is, to me, you know, where you just were masterful all throughout. Like, it's, you know, clinging to the threads of comedy in there to, like, hold it all together. You know what I mean? That, I think is just so important.

[Anna Camp]

Thank you. Thank you for noticing it. Because I know we talked about this a little bit on set, like, the extraordinary circumstances. Absolutely extraordinary that we're having to ground and make.

[Penn Badgley]

Well, basically, it goes into Shakespeare.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

And I mean, it's like. And it all works out. This is the thing about our show. And actually, I think so. So many of them, including Shakespeare, it's like, you know, you have to go to absurdity to come to this point. At the end, it's all about the ending.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

And so. Okay, so there's gonna be some places where we're, like, stretching the capacity for disbelief.

[Anna Camp]

That's what.

[Penn Badgley]

That's what plays do.

[Anna Camp]

That's entertaining when that happens.

[Penn Badgley]

So it is difficult when you're doing it, though, to know. To know how to ground it. I mean, that's my experience with it all.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

And it was nice, you know, for instance, for all the comedy that we have with, like, off camera with Charlotte, I don't think her character allowed for as much comedy, you know what I mean? Whereas yours did. And so I think that was something that I found interesting. I don't in my, in my, in this show, I don't have a lot of like, comedic partners.

[Anna Camp]

Mm.

[Penn Badgley]

And I think I'm realizing maybe in this moment that there was something in your characters and you that, that it was able to happen in a way that it hadn't before.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah, okay.

[Penn Badgley]

With Maddy specifically.

[Anna Camp]

With Mattie specifically. Yeah. I always try. I mean, when these extraordinary circumstances are happening. I'm having an affair with my twin sister's husband. I carry their child in my belly. I thought about that part. If you don't have a little sense of humor while you're doing this, like, it will be the worst, most melodramatic thing ever. So it's like I just kept trying, but then also if you don't fully commit to it either, to the stakes, it will fall flat. So it was just. And I love tonally doing stuff like this because it's just fun for me to try to do.

[Nava Kaplan]

Anyway, I do remember, and we can maybe cut this, but I do remember on the, when I visited the set, I met a stand in before I met you and for some reason it was Penn Standen was doing your line and he said the like hey boo boo line.

[Anna Camp]

Oh yeah.

[Nava Kaplan]

And he was just like, hey boo boo. He said it even more. He said it more monotone than very dry. And then when you came and said it, it was just like a completely different. Like it was so comedic and. And it was like, oh, wow, this is like such a different experience for Pen to have to react to that reading of it versus when you give it.

[Anna Camp]

Right, right.

[Nava Kaplan]

It was like, oh yeah. It was like you're a comedian. I don't know, somehow. Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

Woo, woo, woo woo. Hey. Woo, woo.

[Sophie Ansari]

What was it like, Anna, to come onto a show in its fifth and final season? Had you seen any of the episodes of you from prior seasons? What was that like? Tell us about it.

[Anna Camp]

I was very excited to join the show. I was very excited to join this. I was really excited. Stop. My wife. I watched the first season and the second season.

[Penn Badgley]

That's it. You lost your interest after that one.

[Anna Camp]

But then I went back once I got the job, I went back and.

[Penn Badgley]

Watched and watched at least the first.

[Anna Camp]

Couple episodes as my research. It's obviously a little intimidating when you come into like a very well oiled machine and a hit show that people like the fandom is and the lead.

[Nava Kaplan]

Can'T even bother to loan his co.

[Anna Camp]

Stars doesn't even know what his name the co stars names are. I obviously wanted to be good, you know, I Didn't want to be like, oh, that girl. You know what I mean? Like, she's the one that's, like, can't, you know, act as two people. So I needed to come in. Gosh, you can't do two people. My God, I really wanted to be great. So, like, I was definitely a little intimidated at first because I don't want to be the weak link. And I also do want to have fun, though, too. Like, I don't. Like, I have this thing where I used to get sucked into the energy of the set, especially if it wasn't mine. If I was a guest on a show or something, I would get sucked in. Like, if they had, like, a really dark, negative energy, I would, like, take it on, and then I would go back to my trailer or whatever and feel like, oh, why am I not having. I think because I was just so aware of how everybody else was moving and operating that I would forget about myself, and then my work would suffer.

[Penn Badgley]

So how did you avoid that in this season?

[Anna Camp]

I just got drunk on set. No, but I wanted to come in and make sure that I was like, you know, you can play. We can make jokes. I don't take myself seriously. Too seriously. Right. That it should be a fun environment where we get to collaborate and breathe with one another and fail in front of one another. And all that stuff that everybody says I definitely tried to do because I have more fun that way. So. And this is fun. Should be.

[Sophie Ansari]

What did you find most challenging about filming? Besides Penn's personality?

[Penn Badgley]

No, that's right. Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

Oh, Besides working with this one over here. Oh, nice dig. Burn. Sick burn.

[Sophie Ansari]

I mean, he's really.

[Anna Camp]

He's.

[Nava Kaplan]

He's hard to work.

[Penn Badgley]

Hard to work with.

[Anna Camp]

Literally so hard to work with. Definitely not you at all. The hardest thing about doing the show is just playing the two roles and trying to make them different. And also, just, like, as I've gotten older, as a woman, as an actress, just trying not to judge myself as much when I see myself on camera. Or do you want me to take that again?

[Penn Badgley]

Because I don't think you want people to think that you're old.

[Anna Camp]

I'm so old. I'm so old. I'm 75. But you know what I mean? When you see yourself and you're getting. Cause a lot of people know me from Pitch Perfect, where I shot that when I was 29. Oh, my gosh. I'm 42 now. And then my own brain. I have to.

[Sophie Ansari]

You're kidding.

[Anna Camp]

No.

[Penn Badgley]

She's shooting shots.

[Anna Camp]

42 age. But it's just interesting to see myself and try to just go listen. The performance will be there. I take care of myself. I still wanna have fun, but I don't wanna be overly concerned with what my face is, what I look like in that certain dress or whatnot. So that was a big goal of mine this season, was to just sort of be free and be accepting of my flaws.

[Penn Badgley]

It's like Equus all over again.

[Anna Camp]

It was. It was. That Tide box, though, was nowhere to be found.

[Nava Kaplan]

Before we go to the last question, I just want to tell a story about Anna because I want listeners to know this. So I was on the set and I was in the, I guess, dressing room and I was filming TikToks for the Pod Push account. And we did a couple where they will maybe be out by now, maybe not, but where there's singing happening. And I really wanted Pen and his co stars, including Anna, to sing a Taylor Swift song. And I'm like a huge surprise, Surprise, surprise, surprise. And as podcast listeners know, I'm like a huge Taylor Swift fan. And I feel like Anna could tell. And Anna was like, nava, you should be in it with us. And I felt like it was so welcoming. And that was my first day meeting Anna. I don't know why I'm getting emotional, but it was like, so sweet. And I was like, no, there's no reason for me to be in this. I'm the person filming it. And we had to go get a PA to film it because Anna was insistent. And I just thought that that was, like, so generous and. Yeah. And I'm like, I've been in love with Anna ever since. Cause it was just so caring and generous for her to do that. Yeah. Aw, thank you.

[Anna Camp]

Thank you. You also had such a beautiful voice. When we were practicing that I thought it would be such a shame if you did not be in the. In the song.

[Nava Kaplan]

And Pen kept trying to shove.

[Anna Camp]

That. I believe.

[Nava Kaplan]

And Anna was like, no, let her be in it.

[Anna Camp]

Definitely. I'm so happy that you were in it. Yeah. You made it. So of course I'm glad I did that. Yeah, it was awesome.

[Penn Badgley]

I hope people that that one TikTok was actually a surprisingly bonding.

[Anna Camp]

Yeah.

[Penn Badgley]

Because we also had Justin in there. And Charlotte.

[Anna Camp]

And Charlotte.

[Nava Kaplan]

Yeah, it was just.

[Anna Camp]

It was.

[Penn Badgley]

That was. That was a fun one. Took a lot.

[Anna Camp]

It took a lot, actually. And we also took a lot of work different ways, and we didn't know, like, exactly how to make it good.

[Nava Kaplan]

Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

I couldn't hear anyone's phone with the music on. It was a good story. I was like, can you turn that up? Somebody was like, it's not my phone. I was like, somebody turn it up. We gotta get back to work.

[Penn Badgley]

Anna, our last question.

[Sophie Ansari]

If.

[Anna Camp]

No, stop. I'm sweating every time Jiminy gets on. I love it. Okay, okay, last question. Now. Now if you, if, if, if you.

[Penn Badgley]

Could go back to your 12 year old, you back to your 12 year old self.

[Anna Camp]

Okay?

[Penn Badgley]

Assuming you wouldn't beat her.

[Anna Camp]

I love when he gets British.

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah, he gets so. He gets so intense. He gets so, so intense.

[Anna Camp]

Spit comes flying out of his mouth.

[Penn Badgley]

What if you could go back to your 12 year old self? What would you say or do?

[Anna Camp]

Do? I would give my 12 year old self a hug, a huge hug and just say, it's gonna be okay, you're cool. Don't be so hard on yourself. You're actually really cool. Because I felt like such a dork and, and I've had, I had some. I struggled a lot and I just want to be like, you're cool and you're gonna be okay. Okay. That's all Sweet.

[Penn Badgley]

Yeah, that's really sweet. I feel like I can hear something. It's like got maturity and wisdom, but something else. That's sweet. With the way you said like I felt like such a dork. I really feel that. I really feel that. That's very sweet.

[Anna Camp]

Total dork.

[Sophie Ansari]

Thank you so much, Anna.

[Anna Camp]

Thank you for having me. You guys. I'm really happy that I finally got to join you. Been waiting all this time. I know. I hope it was worth your wait.

[Sophie Ansari]

Definitely. Bye, Jiminy.

[Anna Camp]

Bye, Jiminy. See you tomorrow, Jiminy.

[Sophie Ansari]

Podcrust is hosted by Penn Badgley, Nava Kaplan and Sophie Ansari. Our senior producer is David Ansari and our editing is done by Clips Agency. Special thanks to the folks at Lemonada. And as always, you can listen to podcrushed ad free on Amazon Music with your prime members membership. Okay, that's all.

[Nava Kaplan]

Bye Anna. You play twins and. Sorry.

[Anna Camp]

It's funny. Funny. Twins are funny.

[Nava Kaplan]

I don't know why I got tickled. How did you prepare to play each of them differently? Because they're. Yeah.

[Anna Camp]

I would wake up in the morning and I would wake up in the morning.

[Penn Badgley]

It's so good.

[Anna Camp]

I love.

[David Duchovny]

Hey everyone, it's David Duchovny. Do you ever feel like a failure? Trust me, I get it. Hell, I've spent my whole life almost feeling like a failure. It's appropriate though, because on Fail Better, my new podcast with Lemonada Media Exploring the world of failure, how it holds us back, propels us forward, and ultimately shapes our lives is the whole point. Each week I'll chat with artists, athletes, actors and experts about how our perceived failures have actually been our biggest catalysts for growth, revelation, and even healing. Through these conversations, I hope we can learn how to embrace the opportunity of failure and fail Better together. Fail Better is out now. You can listen ad free on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Megan]

Hi, I'm Megan and I've got a new podcast I think you're going to love. It's called Confessions of a Female Founder, a show where I chat with female entrepreneurs and friends about the sleepless nights, the lessons learned, and the laser focus that got them to where they are today. And through it all, I'm building a business of my own and getting all sorts of practical advice along the way way that I'm so excited to share with you. Confessions of a Female Founder is out now. Hear new episodes each week ad free on Amazon Music. You can also ask Alexa Alexa, play Confessions of a Female Founder with Megan on Amazon Music and she will.