Rebel Wilson and Anna Kendrick ‘Became Family’ After ‘Pitch Perfect’ (Exclusive)

• Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson star in a new ad campaign for Splash Refresher water
• The Pitch Perfect stars tell PEOPLE about their years-long friendship and why they jumped at the chance to film an ad campaign together
• “All of these women who were so different became family,” says Kendrick of the Pitch Perfect cast

Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson’s friendship is pitch-perfect. 

So teaming up for Splash Refresher — bringing all their innate chemistry and improvisation chops to a hilarious new ad spot — was a no-brainer for the actresses, they tell PEOPLE. “We have very busy lives,” Wilson, 45, says. “And then we reconnect and do a fun thing like this.”

“It’s nice when you have really different personalities and it takes you a while to get really, really close,” says Kendrick, 39. When they first starred together in breakaway hit Pitch Perfect back in 2012, she reflects, “we were close and got along. But then the longer you know each other, the more you start to see all of the differences as such a positive thing in your life.”

The “blessing” of the a capella musical comedy and its 2015 and 2017 sequels, Kendrick adds, “was that all of these women who were so different became family.” Wilson agrees: “We’re from such different areas of the world, different personalities. But then something happened and as a group we were one. It’s crazy.”

Not only did the longtime friends jump at the chance to hang out while introducing Splash Refresher’s new sparkling variety of flavored waters, they’re also genuinely fans of refreshing hydration. The brand’s tagline — “Like water. But good.” — can’t help but resonate for Wilson. “I was one of those people that as a kid, never drank plain water, ever.” Kendrick quips, “That tracks for you.”

“So I only think I started drinking water — ” adds Wilson, prompting her fellow Barden Bella to finish her sentence: “When they flavored it.”

“Yeah,” admits Wilson. “So this is great because it’s a product for people [who feel] plain water is just too basic for them. They don’t want to guzzle it down and they just like something with a bit of sass, a bit of something-something. That’s Splash.”

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How did these two first begin to build their rapport as besties? “I remember when I first met Anna on Pitch Perfect 1,” recalls Wilson. “She was obviously the most high-ranking person in the cast because she’d just been nominated for an Academy Award [for 2009 film Up in the Air] and all of us were just, I don’t know, out of theater… I think I was intimidated for a good week.”

“A week? That long?” asks Kendrick incredulously. “Yeah,” says Wilson. “Then we were singing and dancing and rolling on the floor.”

Kendrick nods. “The rehearsal process is the great equalizer.”

The three Pitch Perfect movies, costarring Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Alexis Knapp, Ester Dean, Hana Mae Lee, Skylar Astin, Adam Devine, John Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Banks and more, were enough of a beloved box office hit to warrant a frequent question from fans: What’s the status of a possible fourth movie? And with Kendrick making her directorial debut with last year’s The Woman of the Hour and Wilson directing the upcoming The Deb, could either of them helm it?

“Every time anybody asks me this, I go, ‘Someone should ask Rebel Wilson,’ because she does manifest these things,” Kendrick responds. 

“Anna and I are competing to see who’s going to be the director,” says Wilson, who has teased the possibility of a Pitch Perfect 4 before. “I’m joking! I’m joking.”

“Can you imagine what a disaster that would be?” quips Kendrick.