Danielle Macdonald, from "Patti Cake$", Is Australia's Next Breakout Star (But She's Never Even Played an Aussie)

Danielle Macdonald is on track to become one of Australia’s best and brightest film exports.

But here’s the twist, as she tells Student Edge: “I’ve never played an Australian.”

The 25-year-old Sydney girl returned to New South Wales earlier this year for the local premiere of Patti Cake$, a New Jersey-set flick that caused a stir at the Sundance Film Festival and helped her secure a future role opposite Jennifer Aniston. The audience, made up of friends and family, wound up seeing Macdonald as they’d almost certainly never seen her before: as an aspiring American rapper who goes by the name Killa P.

Ahead of its screening at the Sydney Film Festival, she said, “I’m terrified, because you always care more about the opinions of people you know, more than anyone else’s.”

Read our review of Patti Cake$ here.

Macdonald moved to Los Angeles from Sydney when she was just 18 (hence her absence from Neighbours or Home and Away, the most famous local finishing schools for aspiring actors).

“It just so happened that the first opportunity that I got was in America,” she explains.

“That’s why I moved out there, just because that’s where the opportunity was at the time, and I stayed out there because that’s where work kept coming.”

Three years ago, after toiling in minor roles on shows like American Horror Story and 2 Broke Girls, Macdonald received the script for Patti Cake$, and began working with writer-director Geremy Jasper at the Sundance Directors Lab, where independent screenplays are developed with the help of industry professionals.

Despite the distinct differences between her and the character of Patti, Danielle still found much to relate to.

“I connected with her heart, her drive, the passion she has and determination to achieve her dreams,” she says.

“I could definitely relate to wanting to follow your dreams in an industry where people don’t think you’re ever gonna make it.”

Jasper had intentionally sought out an actress rather than a professional rapper for the role, which meant Macdonald had to develop the skills to connivingly perform Killa P’s music.

And no, she had never rapped before.

“I wasn’t really sure where to begin, but I guess it was just listening to a lot, a lot of different songs, different artists, different styles of rap, different flows,” she says.

“I was really just getting the knowledge of all of it and I really researched into the history of rap, where it came from, how it came about; just tried to kind of immerse myself in that world to start with.

“Then I would practise all these different songs. A lot of trial and error, seeing what worked for me, what I was stronger at, and then just more and more practise; kind of got better and better. I feel like that’s all you can do.”

After our prompting, Danielle insisted a certain Australian rapper who has made it big in the States and been accused of cultural appropriation (ahem) wasn’t in the back of her mind during filming.

Instead, she focused on the character she was inhabiting.

“In reality—not naming names—there’s maybe an Australian rapper who’s in the U.S. rapping as an Australian, but this was a Jersey girl rapping,” she says.

“So, that was the difference. I never really thought about myself as an Australian when I was in character.”

Macdonald even believes her character learns from her cultural appropriation, after an awkward confrontation with her hip-hop hero during the movie.

“The really fascinating thing with cultural appropriation was at the beginning of the film, Patti is playing this idea of a rapper,” she says.

“She’s not being genuine to herself; she thinks that's what rap music is, because that’s what she hears, and she loves it… I think she didn’t know how to find her truth.

“Being schooled in the film by her idol made her really wake up and realise what is her truth and how to be true to the culture of rap. That was such an important journey she had to make.”

Next, Macdonald has Dumplin with Jennifer Aniston (“Jen has been amazing, so I’m really excited to get to start working on it and bring this story to life,”) and Skin, the true story of a Neo-Nazi gang enforcer, in which she’ll get to play a real person for the first time.

However, after that, the goal is to either play an Australian, or at least shoot in Australia.

“I’m talking to someone right now about playing an Australian in something, so hopefully that will actually happen; I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” she says.

We ask if she’s playing an Australian rapper.

“Not an Australian rapper,” she laughs. “I think my rapping days may rest with Patti.”

Patti Cake$ arrives in Australian cinemas September 14.

Photo: Fox Searchlight