“Pitch Perfect” actress Rebel Wilson was honored at the annual Australians in Film Awards gala, held yesterday in LA. Wilson received the inaugural Annette Kellerman Award, which recognizes trailblazing Australian women paving the way in Hollywood. The award is named after a late Australian swimmer-turned-actress.
Wilson delivered an emotional acceptance speech, news.com.au reports. “I worked very hard to get here,” she said. Her journey to international stardom wasn’t seamless — Wilson is far from the overnight sensation she is sometimes seen as. “I remember being in my first movie, and still working at the movies,” she shared. “It was really bad, because the movie was playing and at the end of the movie I was standing with a trash bag.”
The “How to Be Single” and “Bridesmaids” star has previously said that there are now “a lot more female-written, female-driven scripts,” in which “women are allowed to be funny [and to] have their own power. It’s been a boys’ club in comedy up until now,” she observed.
Wilson’s upcoming projects include an as-yet untitled romantic comedy from New Line written by Erin Cardillo (“Fuller House”), a “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” remake penned by Jac Schaeffer (“The Shower”), and “Pitch Perfect 3,” directed by Trish Sie (“Step Up All In”) and written by Kay Cannon (“30 Rock”). The first two installments of the aca-franchise took in nearly $403 million combined worldwide.