Anna Kendrick has said she donated her fee from hit Netflix true crime film Woman of the Hour to two victims’ charities because she would have felt “gross” profiting from it.

Kendrick directed and stars in the movie, about a serial killer who appeared on a 1970s TV dating show in the midst of his crimes.

The star said she didn’t expect the film to make any money, and didn’t think about the possibility until its premiere.

“I was just making the movie… and then it was like, oh, there’s money going to be exchanging hands. And I asked myself the question of, do you feel gross about this? And I did. And so, yeah, I’m not making money off of the movie.”

As well as directing Woman of the Hour, Kendrick plays Cheryl Bradshaw, who appeared on The Dating Game with Rodney Alcala in 1978.

Alcala was later found guilty of eight murders between 1971 and 1979, but is suspected of killing more than 100 women and girls.

Speaking to Ashley Flowers, host of the Crime Junkie podcast, Kendrick said “we’re both steeped in some really valid ethical questions around true crime”.

The Pitch Perfect and Trolls star continued: “Believe me, this was never a money-making venture for me, because all the resources went to actually just making the movie.

“But it wasn’t until the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF), where the movie premiered, and it’s this big film festival for someone to buy movies… and eventually Netflix bought the movie.

“But it wasn’t until the week before TIFF that I thought, oh, the movie’s going to make money.”

At the time, Netflix was reported to have paid $11m (£8.5m) for the rights.

Kendrick didn’t disclose her fee, which she said she donated to charities Rainn (the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) and the National Centre for Victims of Crime.

“It’s still a complicated area, but that felt like certainly the least that I should do,” she added.

Woman of the Hour was watched the equivalent of 23 million times in the two weeks after its release earlier this month, Netflix has said.

Kendrick explained: “It is really meant to be the story of the impact that he [Alcala] had on the people that were unfortunate enough to come across him, so the aim was always really to centre the women’s stories.”