PEOPLE are often surprised to hear actress Danielle Macdonald speak after seeing her performance as wannabe rapper in Patti Cake$.
The latest Aussie export to Hollywood is enjoying rave reviews for her performance in the hit independent film about a New Jersey bartender trying to make it out of her dead-end town as a rapper.
Macdonald makes it a rule to keep her Australian accent under wraps to most people before and after the film.
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READ NOW“I never let anyone know I am an Aussie until I am on set; I audition with an American accent,” she said.
“I was at the Sundance Film Festival and my friends and family came up to see it and it was the first time the public got to see it.
“I was so nervous to go on the stage after for the Q and A, but as soon as I started talking, people in the audience started whispering and I thought ‘Oh no, what did I do?’
“Then our director Geremy Jasper said ‘Oh yeah, she is an Aussie’.”
MacDonald said despite loving the script, she had reservations at first about joining the project.
“I loved the script, I thought it was so cool,” she said.
“It was different from anything that I had seen but it was terrifying; I said to Geremy, ‘I can’t do the accent, I’m not cool like her, I can’t rap’.
“He had faith in me and I knew I would regret it if I didn’t do it.
“At first I thought there was not one thing in common between me and the character, but then I understood her heart, insecurities and that she sets out to do what she wants to do.”
While she delivers the raps at a lightning-fast pace in the film, it wasn’t the easiest aspect of the role, according to Macdonald.
“Learning the rap lyrics is so different to learning dialogue, it is so much more difficult,” she said.
“Sometimes you can change a word of dialogue here or there, but songs have to be exactly as written, precise and on beat.
“I had a lot of stress with it; sometimes there would be a rewrite and I’d have to relearn it quickly.
“I just listened to the songs all the time, even when I went to sleep.”
Patti Cake$ screens as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival from July 6-19 before wide release on September 28.
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