Anna Kendrick Says Reuniting with Blake Lively for ‘Risky’ A Simple Favor 2 Felt ‘Like Riding a Bike’ (Exclusive)

It’s time to break out the real martinis: Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively will soon be back on screen together in A Simple Favor 2.

Speaking with PEOPLE about her directorial debut Woman of the Hour, Kendrick, 39, teased the upcoming sequel to her 2018 hit, about widowed mother Stephanie (Kendrick) investigating the disappearance of her glamorous new friend Emily (Lively). 

Kendrick said it was “lovely” reuniting with her costar for the follow-up — also directed by Paul Feig — which filmed in Europe earlier this year.

“She lives on the East Coast, I live on the West Coast, so we don’t get to see each other often,” Kendrick says of Lively, 37. “But it was lovely, and I think that those characters have such weird chemistry that it’s so fun to just get the gang back together. And it does feel a little bit like riding a bike.”

Asked about plot details, Kendrick is cagey. “I need to call Paul Feig and be like, ‘What am I allowed to talk about?’ We shot it in Italy, so the locations are just unbelievable. And I felt spoiled rotten shooting there,” she says.

“And I’ll say after making the first one, I was fully like, ‘This is the craziest movie I’ve ever been a part of.’ I think it’s really fascinating that Paul Feig is the guy who’s arguably best known for Bridesmaids, and the darkness and craziness that is inside of his brain, it’s impressive,” she continues. “You’re like, ‘Oh, my God.’ ”

“So the second movie is nuts. I know I’m going to say that, like, ‘Oh, it’s crazier than the last one,’ but girl, it’s a lot,” says Kendrick. 

“It’s one of those things where on paper you’re like, ‘This is absolutely nuts. What are we doing?’ And then suddenly Paul is there in a three-piece suit and Blake’s there, and even the [director of photography] was back and it felt like, ‘Okay, we’re doing this very weird sort of risky, very twisty, plot-heavy, movie.’ ” 

The cast shot in Rome as well as Capri, where Kendrick says Feig is treated like royalty. 

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Feig, she says, “is so classy that he has this specific hotel that he loves and that we were shooting in, so he’s like the king of Capri. Everywhere we went, people were like, ‘Paulino.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, are you the mayor or something? What’s happening?’ ”

Kendrick had a similar pinch-me moment when she was chosen to direct Woman of the Hour, her new Netflix true-crime drama.

“I was signed on as an actor, and I loved the script so much. Then this opportunity came up [to direct], and I threw my hat in the ring,” she says.

The film tells the story of Rodney Alcala, a serial killer and rapist who appeared on an episode of The Dating Game in 1978 and charmed contestant Cheryl Bradshaw (Kendrick) into selecting him over two other bachelors.

“It’s obviously a very tense, scary, fascinating story, but it had so much beauty and emotion,” says Kendrick.

Woman of the Hour is in select theaters now, then on Netflix Oct. 18.