Rose Byrne thought A$AP Rocky had “supernatural charm” on the set of If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.
The 46-year-old actress stars in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You as Linda and when she strikes up a friendship with the rapper’s motel superintendent character, Rose can understand why audiences may expect things to turn romantic.
She told Australia’s Marie Claire magazine: “Rocky has such supernatural charm you immediately and understandably think, ‘Oh, this is going to happen,’ but it never falls into that cliché.”
Rose – whose character is the focus of the entire movie – jumped at the chance to take on the role when she read writer-and-director Mary Bronstein’s script.
She said: “When the script came in, I devoured it.
“Mary lit the page on fire. It’s such a visually rich script…
“There was also great humour in the script. Legs is such a tightrope.”
The Australian star is particularly impressed by the sound in the movie.
She said: “The sound design is extraordinary. It’s really like a piece of music – this wildly affecting psycho-drama that’s going on is accentuated by what she’s hearing and seeing…
“The audience is really only in her perspective and, like her, isn’t sure what’s real and what isn’t.
“There are a lot of horror tropes in there, but also such gallows humour. It defies a lot of genres.”
Rose is proud to be part of a rising number of films that address just how tough motherhood can be.
She said: “Mothers are revered, and also invisible at the same time. It’s a weird duality.
“One of my best girlfriends saw Legs the other night and she just said, ‘I feel so seen, I [usually] feel so invisible in my life.’
“Legs is an abstract version of [the experience of motherhood], but through that expression she related to it and it was wonderful.
“Until recently, there’s not been much dialogue about motherhood, and especially not from a female perspective with a female director, and so that’s very exciting.
“I loved Nightbitch, I loved All Fours. We’re now seeing [motherhood] through the vision of female directors and writers, and I’m so excited for that, I’m front row for that. I devour it all. I feel very lucky, I look at my mother’s generation and think, ‘They didn’t have this at all.’
“This is an extraordinary time and I’m excited to be alive for it.”
