In a brand new interview with Indiewire, Mary discusses how the animated series came to be and how it felt stepping back into the world of Scott Pilgrim and playing Ramona Flowers once again.
Be sure to click the link above to read the entire interview:
I was first introduced to the world of “Scott Pilgrim” through Edgar Wright, who met with me about the role of Ramona and slipped me the books by Bryan Lee O’Malley— probably a couple years before we ever made the film — and I completely fell in love with them. I couldn’t imagine doing any other project; it was actually really difficult to go on auditions and take meetings because I kept saying, “No, I’m just going to do this movie. I don’t really want to do any of the other ones.” So, I was pretty obsessed with it.
Then at some point, when things started to become a bit more real, Edgar created all these parties and events with other people involved in the project and, very quickly, we became pretty close as a group; all of us would hang out and go to dinners and go to movies and to Edgar’s parties, and it became almost like this college experience. We were all majoring in “Scott Pilgrim” together. That’s where I met Bryan, who I always remember being the quiet guy, the shy guy, which was funny considering he was the person who started it all. But I always remember and respected that he didn’t need to show off how talented and smart he was. He let the work speak for itself — and it did. We all just loved it so much.
So did BenDavid. I first met BenDavid at a party about a year after “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World” had come out. He came up to me and my then-husband at the time and gushed about “Scott Pilgrim” — just kind of nonstop about how he was the biggest fan of it in the world. Then he became one of our closest friends, and through us, became one of Bryan’s closest friends. I’m basically taking credit for the two of them, but this amazing kismet happened, and they found each other and were able to collaborate.
There’s also something that just pops off the page when you’re reading Bryan and BenDavid’s scripts. You can see so clearly what the story’s going to be. We had Science Saru, these incredible animators, bringing it to life — basing it on the comics but obviously adding their own twist to it, so there was definitely an element of surprise for me watching the show. But at the same time, there’s something really visual about the writing and the comedic visual cues Bryan and BenDavid put into the scripts. You know how it’s going to play out visually, which is fantastic.
On “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” it was incredibly cathartic for me to get to play this version of Ramona; to get to see her go down this road and to have so much agency, for her to be making so many choices for herself and propelling the story forward herself. I was so happy to get to go through that with her. Bryan and BenDavid pulled it off in such a profound and beautiful way.
In related news, the Scott Pilgrim Takes Off cast also released a thank you video to the fans for their continued support of the series and books, having allowed them to make the show in the first place after its cult status for the film grew over the years. You can view the video here.