WWTW Interview: ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’ co-star Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Mary Elizabeth Winstead doesn’t mind suffering for her art.

Winstead, the star of the new film “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” did most of her own stunts for the action-packed film.

And she’d do it again, especially if “Pilgrim” director Edgar Wright was calling the shots.

“The stunt choreographers were so amazing and made me feel empowered like I could do it,“ Winstead tells WWTW. “The idea of a stunt person taking my place was something I didn’t want.”

“Pilgrim” cast Winstead as Ramona, the object of Scott’s teen affections. The stunning actress endures multi-colored hair and a sextet of ex-boyfriends but emerges with her wholesome appeal intact.

Scott does most of the fighting in the film in order to win Ramona’s heart, but she gets in her share of licks.

“Sometimes it is dangerous, but I wanted to do everything. It feels really good to put in the training and execute something you didn’t think you could do,” she says.

Winstead signed on for the role to work with Wright, the mind behind “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” not discover her inner Zoe Bell.

“I was shocked,” she says of Wright approving her to play the eclectic female lead. “For a director to pick an actress out and say, ‘I think you can do this,’ when I haven’t done it before and no one was offering me parts …”

Winstead speaks modestly of her career even though she’s already scored plum assignments in movies like “Death Proof” and “Live Free or Die Hard.”

But if “Pilgrim” fails to rock the box office her next film just might. She’ll star in the upcoming prequel to “The Thing.”

The Comic-Con crowd thinks Winstead won’t need “The Thing” to improve her fortunes. They lapped up both Wright’s panel presentation on behalf of the film as well as the movie itself.

The actress’ instincts told her she was working on something special with “Pilgrim.”

“I knew it would hit a chord somewhere,” she says. “It captures our generation so well, and video games are a huge part of it. The music, the references, the pacing, it connects with everything we see on a daily basis.”

Winstead has been acting since her teen years courtesy of a guest role on “Touched By An Angel,” and she admits not every project lived up to her dreams. Looking back, she wouldn’t change a thing.

“I’ve done a lot of stuff that I wouldn’t consider particularly good,” she says, laughing. “But I learned a lot from it and formed my own view of myself and what I wanted to do … I feel grateful for all those bumps. Now, I’m pretty much prepared for anything.”

(Photo: Mary Elizabeth Winstead (center) plays Ramona in the screen adaptation of the popular graphic novel “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.”/Universal Pictures)

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