Deep down, it is her version of a rebel yell: a television show with Rebel Wilson playing a sweet, overweight lawyer who is keen to have regular fun with her two closest friends.
It sounds a simple enough prernise but the Australian actor and comedian – who uses an American accent in her new show, Super Fun Night – had a serious intent when she was putting the scripts together.
“The purpose of the show to me is to really inspire girls who don’t think they’re cool and popular or pretty and all that to get out there, and that they can have fun and exciting lives too,” Rebel says in an unusually serious moment during the Hollywood press conference that launched her show.
Her main character, Kimmie Boubier (pronounced “boob-e-ay”), is not the only slightly awkward woman on the show. Her best friends Helen-Alice and Marika, played by Liza Lapira and Lauren Ash, each have their own brand of geekiness.
But probe a little deeper into Kimmie’s psyche and Rebel, 27, is clearly trying to portray the experiences of women who do not conform to Hollywood’s expectations of beauty.
“In order to do that, you need to present a very realistic version of what it’s like to be a girl who looks like me and is not the coolest,’ she says.
“I’m always pitching the saddest story lines, like where I get punched in the face. So there are some very sad storylines coming down the pipeline but I think we have to present
