“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” star Rose Byrne and director Mary Bronstein discussed working with “renaissance man” ASAP Rocky at Berlin Film Festival ahead of the film’s international debut on Monday night. The rapper and actor has not been on the festival circuit for the film, which world premiered at Sundance last month, due to his ongoing trial for allegedly firing a gun at a former collaborator.
When asked about casting Rocky, Bronstein said that she “wanted to have non-traditional actors for the supporting roles,” which also includes Conan O’Brien. “One, to give Rose an interesting thing to work with, and two, as a sign to the viewer that I’m not playing into any expectations.”
“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” follows Linda (Byrne), whose life comes crashing down around her as she “attempts to navigate her child’s mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist,” according to its official synopsis. In the film, Rocky plays a motel superintendent named James who shares several scenes with Byrne’s Linda.
“Rocky brings a natural charisma that cannot be directed, cannot be taught,” Bronstein continued. “In the script, it says ‘wink at Linda’… This is a guy that has winked at people before and it’s effective and you cannot teach that and and I wanted to harness that and use it. And he was very interested in doing something different.”
Asked by Variety about Rocky not being able to attend Sundance or Berlin due to the trial, Bronstein said: “I’m in touch with him personally so I don’t need to send him a public message, but all I can say is working with him was a complete delight and he was wonderful to have on set.”
Added Byrne, “He’s a true renaissance man. He lives and breathes art and fashion and film and he has such respect and reverence for all the genres and all artists. I was totally disarmed by him.”
Rocky made his acting debut in the 2015 film “Dope” and has appeared in several films as himself, but is making a sharper pivot toward acting with “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” and Spike Lee’s upcoming “Highest 2 Lowest” starring Denzel Washington.
Alongside Byrne, Rocky and O’Brien, the “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” cast includes Danielle Macdonald, Lark White, Ivy Wolk, Daniel Zolghadri and Delaney Quinn.
Closing arguments were delivered in Rocky’s trial on Thursday, in which his lawyers argued that the gun in question was a prop. The rapper and actor was charged with two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm regarding an alleged incident in 2021 involving his former friend and collaborator ASAP Relli. The jury is now in deliberations, with Rocky facing up to 24 years in prison.
