© Universal Pictures(NEW YORK) — Hana Mae Lee is stepping up her beatboxing game in the third installment of Pitch Perfect. Lee, who plays Lilly Onakuramara, a beatboxer for the Bellas in the musical comedy, says going into the film, she wanted to stand out.
“It’s all us singing, so I was like this go around I’m all in — I’m going to beatbox,” Lee tells ABC Radio. “I don’t care if I got to do just, like, one noise at a time we’re doing it: it’s going to be me. Like, this is the last one. Like, I’m going to do everything. And [the producers] were like, so down, and like, so great.”
However, Lee admits she was a beatboxing novice when she first signed on for Pitch Perfect, and only knew how to do simple beats with her mouth. But now, Lee says she’s confident, and also had the support of the film’s music producers, Ed Smith and Deke Sharon.
“So for the third one I was like, I’m going to get this. Like, I’m not doing this second thing [where] we’re, like, acting bad a***, I’m going to be bad a**,” Lee says. “I just kept going like looking at tutorials listening to more tutorials and like, relying on Ed and Deke to make me sound awesome.”
As far as this perhaps being the last time she’ll get to play Lily, Lee says if it is, her journey has definitely been fulfilling.
“It’s been a trip,” Lee says. “It’s been like pretty crazy knowing these girls and doing all these dances, and singing all these amazing songs. It’s been like really great.”
Pitch Perfect 3 hits theaters December 22.
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