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RABBITING ON... WORDS: VIOLET WILDER SHE MAY HAVE GROWN UP ON THE SUN-KISSED SHORES OF SUNNY SYDNEY - BUT DURING A DEVASTATING BOUT OF 40 DEGREE HEAT WHILE SHOOTING PETER RABBIT, ROSE BYRNE WORRIED FOR HER HEALTH… BUT NOT AS MUCH AS SHE DID FOR IRISH CO-STAR, DOMHNALL GLEESON’S WELLBEING. “I FELT LIKE I WAS BURSTING INTO FLAMES EVERY DAY ON SET,” SHE LAUGHED. “AND I’M AUSTRALIAN, I GREW UP WITH THESE TEMPERATURES - BUT THIS WAS TOO MUCH EVEN FOR ME. AND POOR DOMHNALL’S IRISH - THEY WERE LITERALLY FOLLOWING HIM AROUND WITH FANS THE ENTIRE TIME.”
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ose’s acclimatisation to life in the lens – in the cultural sense, if not the meteorological – has been dynamic, determined and impeccably delivered. In everything she does, the 40-year-old is a pleasing conundrum. Those round dark eyes and porcelain skin give the effect of a pofaced Jane Austen heroine, but Byrne’s go-to setting these days takes on more of a comedic slant. In truth, her career has straddled both sides. Starting out as an angst-ridden, angelic leading lady with roles in Star Wars, Troy and Damages, somewhere along the way Rose reinvented herself as a comedy heavyweight with standout performances in Get Him To The Greek, Bridesmaids, Spy, Peter Rabbit and Instant Family.
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NoosaStyleLiving
While girl power release Like A Boss didn’t perhaps commence 2020 with impact she would have hoped for, her return as Bea in Peter Rabbit almost certainly will… both at the box office and at home - Rose is mum to Rocco, four, and Rafa, two, with actor partner Bobby Cannavale, and claims her comic renaissance has been “the joy” in her career. “I think when you have kids you begin to look on drama in a whole new way,” she says. “That mystery and enchantment we all had as youngsters get diluted somewhat as the years go by, almost without us noticing. “Yet when those little people in your life help you reconnect with it, it provokes a simple, sumptuous joy that is so wonderful to have back.”
