Why Looking For Alibrandi’s Chanella Macri Initially Hesitated To Accept The Lead Role

Of all the coming-of-age cult classic books in Australia over the past 30 years, Looking For Alibrandi is no doubt one of the most memorable and impactful for many young Aussies.

Written by Melina Marchetta, the novel follows 17-year-old Josephine Alibrandi as she navigates her cultural identity as an Italian Australian, life with her mother and Nonna, reconnecting with her father, and embracing love and heartbreak.

While the book was penned three decades ago, Josie Alibrandi has stood the test of time — her search for belonging, acceptance and a sense of self are as relevant today as they were back then.

But when Chanella Macri was approached by director Stephen Nicolazzo to play Josie in the new stage adaptation of the book, she was taken aback and not sure if she was the right 'Josie' for the role.

"There was my hesitation to accept his offer and to step into that role of Josie just because she's such an iconic character," Macri tells Refinery29 Australia.

"And there are a few things about me like for instance, my Pasifika background and my physical largeness and body. I was like, I think if you want to do Looking For Alibrandi, find somebody who fits I guess... my own idea of what I expected Josie to be."

The 26-year-old Samoan-Italian Australian woman says women who look like her aren't often considered for lead roles in theatre.

"For me growing up, it was like, you're like ethnically defined," she says. "I'm culturally different, and I'm also big so it's very hard to fly under the radar.

"Then stepping into acting as a teenager when I graduated, it was a really big thing because it's just so apparent, overtly and not, that big people aren't really welcomed in those spaces."

When Steven then approached her for this role, "it wasn't embarrassing or a point of contention" says the actor, however she had her reservations.

"I was just like, 'I think you shouldn't go there' because I've been fortunate once I graduated from school to have worked almost exclusively as an actor, and I've been able to make a living for the last five or six years, but it's never not a political statement to put my body on stage."

However, the creators of the play wanted to deviate from the film version of Looking For Alibrandi which starred Pia Miranda in 2000.

"Steven was really adamant he wanted his adaptation to step into the complexity of identity and multiplicity, especially in migrant identity," says Macri. "There are a lot of people who are from more than one culture.

"So, when we had that very candid conversation about my hesitation and what his vision was, I [then] understood that he was inviting me and my wealth of personal experience to influence the work and to be Josie in this rendition."

The experiences of feeling othered, finding a first love, teenage self-obsession, grappling with family issues and mental health are all familiar to Macri and so while she looked different to what she thought Josie was meant to, she realised she is Josie.

Speaking of lived experiences, Macri says she often thought about her own battle with mental health when exploring the storylines within the play that touched on this issue. Seeking mental health support is often stigmatised or swept under the rug in many ethnic communities.

"It's a very taboo subject in Pasifika cultures, and I find in Italian and European cultures as well," she says.

"I remember I got diagnosed with anxiety and major depressive disorder much later in Year 12, but I remember from very early on around the age of 13 or 14, I knew I had depression or a mental illness."

She believes that often children of immigrants, like herself, feel a sense of guilt to express unhappiness or anxiety for fear that it could come across as being ungrateful for the sacrifices their parents have made to come to Australia.

"I find a lot in migrant communities that because your parents worked so hard on many levels to get to Australia, to earn a living in Australia and to be able to provide you with opportunities, emotional wellbeing is something that — I know for me growing up I thought — I can take care of. It's not something that needs to be another burden on my parents who had to do so much just for us to live let alone thrive."

Macri says that while there's been plenty of commentary about the book's themes around cultural identity, it's the exploration of mental health that struck the most personal chord with her.

"There's a lot of talk of course because it was such a pioneering book in terms of culture and class... but I haven't talked too much about my personal connection to it," she explains. "It really touched something in my heart."

The actor says the book offered "comfort and visibility" even before she "needed to find help" herself in her high school years.

As a feminist work looking at three generations of women, Macri ultimately hopes that audiences appreciate the fact that this is a story of survivors and "a glorious celebration of complexity" that will resonate with people from various walks of life.

"It's a nod of solidarity to so many immigrant communities and experiences of being an outsider and I think that at its heart that's what it's for. And I hope people leave feeling really held and really challenged."