In the film, Gummer's character Julie is going through a marriage breakdown, which is why her mother, Streep's rock musician character Ricki, comes back into town. However, Julie's relationship with her mother, who left the family to pursue her music career, is fractious.
"You meet Julie right in the wake of a really traumatic event," Gummer said. "There are allusions to this attempted suicide and the movie overall hints at this darker tone so Ricki, my mum's character, is honestly a little unhinged and you come to realise they're clearly cut from the same cloth."
In reality, Gummer and Streep are also clearly cut from the same cloth. In the movie, Gummer commands attention on the screen almost as powerfully as her mother. At 32, and with several successful TV parts under her belt, including on The Good Wife and Emily Owens MD, Gummer said it was a no-brainer to work with her mother.
It was Streep who coerced her into the part by showing her the script by Diablo Cody (Juno, Young Adult).
Playing a girl going through a traumatic break-up, however, had its downsides for Gummer.
"In the movie, for a lot of it, I have this really crazy hair so every night I'd go through the process of washing out all this crap," she said.
"There's that country music song, I'm going to wash that man right out of my hair. That's how I felt."
Movie preview
Who: Mamie Gummer (left) starring opposite her mother Meryl Streep
What: Ricki and the Flash
When: Opens at cinemas tomorrow
- AAP
