Actress Hailee Steinfeld worked with renowned film directors the Coen brothers when she was just 13 but has revealed she found appearing in the musical Pitch Perfect sequel more intimidating.
The 19-year-old is in Australia to launch her latest single, Rock Bottom, as she promotes her other career as a pop star.
Originally, though, Steinfeld became known for her acting talent in the movie True Grit alongside Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, and directed by the Coen Brothers, and was nominated for an Oscar for her role in the dark western at the age of 13.
Yet stepping on to the already-established Pitch Perfect 2 set was a scarier experience, according to the actress.
“I was actually late to the process. They had already started working on the movie by the time I got there so I was really already stepping into a world that was already established with the first movie, and then I was kind of late already, so I had a lot of catch up to do,” Steinfeld said on Network Ten’s The Project on Monday.
Even though she was working with such big names in True Grit, Steinfeld didn’t have any of the same qualms.
“As a 13-year-old surprisingly enough it wasn’t all that intimidating,” she said.
“I don’t know that I really understood what that word meant then.”
Now, in her other role as a pop star, Steinfeld has released a new single, Rock Bottom, which features fellow pop star Joe Jonas.
Her experience as a musician is more personal than her work on screen.
“With my music I’m able to tell my own story and play my own self, whereas (in films) I’m very used to taking other people’s words and identifying with them and making them my own,” she said.
“With this music I’m really able to let, sort of, people get to know me for me and that’s been such an incredible process and slightly terrifying at the same time.”
Steinfeld says she started singing and acting around the same time but the acting took off first.
Her role in Pitch Perfect 2 managed to combine both of her talents, but it hadn’t been her only musical outlet before the release of her solo work.
Steinfeld is a member of Taylor Swift’s squad of famous friends, including singers Selena Gomez and Ellie Goulding, and she appeared in the Grammy-winning video for Swift’s song Bad Blood alongside the rest of her squad.
While the famous friends created one of the biggest music videos of the decade, they didn’t even realise its impact at the time of filming.
“That was so much fun being a part of the Bad Blood video. As crazy as this seems, in that moment it was like ‘Oh this is just a cool thing we’re doing as friends, like no big deal’,” Steinfeld said.
“And then seeing it for the first time it was like also incredible, it was like a little movie. It was awesome being a part of that.”