There wasnt actually an audition.
I dont have a film background, I wasnt a guy in independent film I was a musician.
She had a specific build, and I was really looking for something very, very particular.
He put her picture in front of me and it was love at first sight.
So I brought Danielle out.
Shed never rapped before, shes Australian and she didnt know anything about New Jersey.
I come from a music background and we spent the next year and a half training.
She worked her ass off to become Patti.
She got a swag coach.
She just became this character and there was this real transformation that happened.
Her personality is very, very different from Pattis.
It was a real metamorphosis.
The character came first, that was the interesting thing.
It wasnt like Oh I really need to write a story about myself.
I wanted what Patti wanted at that age.
I was like all those band members rap didnt want.
They were all different facets of my personality and taste.
It all gets sewn together into something new.
For me, I wanted it to be a collage of time.
Jheri has a smartphone but Patti has a flip phone.
The music harkens back to more of a 90s style, which has come back into fashion.
Theres definitely a 90s vibe but its not supposed to take place in the 90s.
Was it important for you to fill the film with new faces and fresh talent?
Its a real discovery.
That couldnt be further from the truth, but I like it.
That means that what we did worked.
You really shouldnt be able to recognise anybody.
We have Nick Sandow fromOrange Is The New Blackbut he looks different.
He doesnt have the moustache.
Then Cathy Moriarty, people dont even recognise her in the wig and aged up twenty years.
Its almost a weird saying because I dont know what those tropes are.
Its a challenge trying to do something fresh with the form, and also not fighting the form.
Its a form for a reason so what can you do with it?
Its mostly being compared to8 Mile, which is now considered a kind of retro hit… Theres a caucasian whos rapping and thats something you cant get around.
I think we go to a lot of different places than8 Miledoes.
Just in the first scene youre in a psychedelic dream world, its a lot more expressive and emotional.
People are lazy when describing things.
It bums me out but it is what it is.
Speaking about that magic realism element, does that come from your background as a music video director?
I wanted it to be a combination of those things.
Ive never done karaoke in my life so I dont know why it has such a hold on me.
You saw it through a different lense because of what was happening politically.
Youre realising what they may stand for in a bigger political sense.
Its a hip hop movie about someone trying to get out of Trump-land.
That was not the intention but its where things eventually went.
Theres also the scene where shes confronted for her cultural appropriation.
I think it was important to call it out.
Its an important thing and its an important thing for her evolution as an artist.
Theres a big different when something is genuine and from the soul or when someones wearing a mask.
I think thats where those issues come up.
If it wasnt for the Sundance experience the film wouldnt exist.
Its given us a platform and a place to show it, a place to develop it.
Sundance really took this film under its wing and supported it.
This is not the mainstream, Hollywood version of things.
America needs to change its tune to what kind of films were seeing.
Arent we all sick of remakes and sequels?
Were cinematically diabetic right now, and Im personally sick of it.
Im not really interested in most movies that are out.
Were not going to see you directing the next Marvel film, then?
Definitely, definitely not.
I think its a pitfall, personally.
It depends on what you want to do as an artist and as a director.
People have different loves.
Thats why youre an artist, to write your own characters and to create something from your own imagination.
I just feel like we need to stories and we need new characters.
This rehashing, I feel like were all trapped in something and we need fresh ideas.
What is next for you?
Im working on this new sci-fi film that Ill be writing for the rest of the year.
Hopefully thatll be its own unique universe, but well see, I have a lot of work ahead.
Geremy Jasper, thank you very much!
Patti Cake$is in UK cinemas from today.
