Angourie Rice on Her ‘No Way Home’ Easter Egg and “Heartbreaking” ‘Mare of Easttown’ Scene

The actor, known as Spider-Man classmate Betty Brant, stepped into her most adult role yet with the acclaimed HBO series this year.

Angourie Rice began 2021 on HBO’s Mare of Easttown, one of the most critically acclaimed shows of the year, and then she closed out the year with a cameo in the pandemic era’s biggest blockbuster, Spider-Man: No Way Home. As a native Australian, Rice was grateful to be able to shoot Mare and No Way Home during the same trip to the States since each journey home, at the time, required a two-week hotel quarantine. Rice has played Midtown High newscaster Betty Brant throughout the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man trilogy, and as of No Way Home, her character is an intern for J. Jonah Jameson’s The Daily Bugle. She even helped promote the movie in character via the Daily Bugle‘s official TikTok account, which she shot remotely in Australia.

While she only appeared in one sequence of No Way Home, Rice got to carry on the rich tradition of saying, “Go get ’em, tiger,” which is a callback to what Mary Jane “MJ” Watson called Peter Parker in the 1960s Spider-Man comics. It’s also a reference to the concluding line that Rice’s The Beguiled castmate Kirsten Dunst said in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2. Even Rice herself didn’t catch the Easter egg until after the fact.

Rice tells The Hollywood Reporter: “I didn’t pick up on it, but I love that! There are always so many Easter eggs, and sometimes I miss them until I actually see the film in cinemas. And then I’m like, ‘Ohh! I see what they did there.’”

Rice is also looking back at her most grown-up role to date as Mare of Easttown‘s Siobhan Sheehan, the daughter of Kate Winslet’s Mare Sheehan and granddaughter of Jean Smart’s Helen. While working with Winslet and Smart, Rice realized that commitment and kindness are not mutually exclusive.

“Kate and Jean have been working in this industry for a long time and really know what’s up,” Rice shares. “They know how to do their jobs really well while still being kind and open. When you work with people who are professional and committed to their roles — but can also have a really nice conversation with you when they call cut — that’s a really special quality. So I loved watching them work. They’re just incredible.”

In a recent conversation with THR, Angourie Rice (pronounced “Ann-gourie,” like “floury”) also explains why she had to wear a wig during her No Way Home scene. Then she discusses how the pandemic changed the musical side of Siobhan’s role on Mare of Easttown.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW AT HOLLYWOODREPORTER.COM

Australian Actor Angourie Rice Has Worked With Tom Holland & Zendaya On Three Films—She Has One Thing To Say About Them

Angourie Rice is wise beyond her years—that much is clear no matter if you’ve seen her on-screen or met her in real life.

The 20-year-old actor first broke into Hollywood when she was just 15-years-old, scoring a role in the 2015 film The Nice Guys alongside Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling.
Barely a year later, she secured the role of a lifetime in the Spiderman franchise, playing Betty Brant alongside Tom Holland’s Peter Parker and Zendaya’s MJ.
Born in Sydney (and named after the New South Wales town where her grandmother lived) Rice had always had an interest in being on the big screen. Her father, Jeremy Rice is a director and her mother, Kate Rice is a writer. The family moved her to Melbourne at a young age, then to Perth, then back to Melbourne where she currently resides (when she’s not filming in various locations across the world, that is).
From Australia to Hollywood, Rice’s whirlwind journey of success is nothing short of astounding, but Angourie couldn’t be more humble.
ELLE spoke to the actor ahead of the release of Spiderman: No Way Home—her third appearance in the cult Marvel franchise.
“I was 15 when we filmed the first one, I feel like I’ve grown with Betty—I’ve grown with her. We’ve had parallels in our lives as I’ve filmed it,” she explains.

Of course, the film has been globally hyped not just among the comic book fanbase, but also among die-hard fans of Zendaya and Tom Holland, who are dating in real life.
But Rice reveals that despite their global fame, the pair are sweet as ever in a professional setting—something she, as an actor herself, truly admires.
“When I did the first film, [Holland and Zendaya] were like three or four years older than me. I really looked up to them and I still look up to them,” Rice explains.
“They were young actors at the top of their games and they were just really professional and really kind. That’s been such a wonderful thing.
“You always want to work with people like that—people who are really good at what they do and are dedicated to their craft so passionate about filmmaking, and they’re kind and considerate—Tom and Zendaya definitely are. That makes them a joy to work with.”

Given the most recent Spiderman films are based around Peter Parker’s high school experience, most of the ensemble cast is made of up younger people—something Rice was particularly grateful to be a part of.
“When you’re working with a young cast, it’s just like a bunch of kids and having fun.
“On the second film [Spiderman: Far From Home] we felt that a lot because we were traveling and filming in different locations across Europe—that had an impact on the dynamic we had. it felt like a school trip all of us together!”
“That is always one of my favourite things about working with the Spiderman cast. We just have a lot of fun together, and because I’m one of the youngest, I’ve always looked up to everyone in that cast.”

As we continue chatting to Rice in our interview, it becomes clear that she’s just as bewildered with her success now as she was at the start of her career.
It makes us wonder—how has she dealt with the challenges that undoubtedly come for someone trying to make it in Hollywood?
“One of the main challenges—and this goes for any actor you’d ask—is dealing with rejection. Every actor faces rejection,” she explains.
“You’d be surprised—for every role I get, there are 150 positions I didn’t get. It’s a lot, and it takes a toll.”
However, in more proof the 20-year-old is wise as ever, she says she learned to accept that this part of the industry is something that simply cannot be controlled.
“It could be your looks, or your energy, or your age, or your location. That lack of control in why you might not get [a role] has been a huge challenge for me… but I’ve learned to try and let go of that control. A lot of the reason why I might not get a job is has nothing to do with things I can change or work on.”

Before we leave her, we have one more pressing question for Rice—any and every detail she had on working with mega star Ryan Gosling.
Laughing, she replies: “It was such a crazy experience—I had done one Australian film before [The Nice Guys]. This was unlike anything I’d ever done before.”
She adds of Gosling: “I think Ryan is a very good improviser and comedian—what I learned from him in particular is that he has this incredible ability to see everything fresh and he brings new energy to things—it would be different and exciting. Just watching him work is amazing.”
She no doubt learned a lot from the experience. Along with Spiderman, Rice worked on the hit HBO drama, Mare Of Easttown, as well as Australian film, Ladies In Black.
Her next big film, Senior Year will star screen legends Rebel Wilson, Justin Hartley and Alicia Silverstone, to name a few.
There’s no denying this is just the beginning for Rice—and her infectious attitude and positivity is only going to bring her bigger and better things. Watch this space…

Source: elle.com.au

Angourie attended the Avant Premiere of the Gabrielle Chanel Fashion Manifesto Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria yesterday. Click on the gallery link below to see the photos in full size.