Meet Madeline Brewer, the rock 'n' roll heart of 'The Ultimate Playlist of Noise' on Hulu

Madeline Brewer's star is on the rise on both the big and small screens, thanks to turns in recent years in acclaimed series "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Orange is the New Black" and standout performances in films such as Lorene Scafaria's "Hustlers" (2019) and the shocker "Cam" (2018).

But for her work in the heartfelt, intimate Hulu original film "The Ultimate Playlist of Noise" (streaming now), Brewer looked back to her South Jersey hometown of Pitman – the same borough Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Patti Smith once called home.

"When I go home, to go get coffee I have to walk right by where her apartment was," Brewer, 28, says. "And every time it makes me feel inspired – and also very small."

The feature directorial debut of Bennett Lasseter, the Mitchell Winkie-scripted film follows "Alita: Battle Angel" (2019) co-star Keean Johnson as Marcus, an audiophile high schooler. Marcus learns he needs brain surgery which will leave him deaf, and so he sets out on a road trip to create a handmade mixtape of his favorite sounds.

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Along the way, his path becomes intertwined with that of Brewer's Wendy, a singer/songwriter who is on her way to New York City.

“Some of the influences I think for Wendy are Patti Smith, definitely, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell," Brewer says, pointing to rockers "who wrote about really profound things."

“Maddie had a fantastic spunk to her, this kind of attitude, this edginess that was really fun that was unapologetic in a really cool way," says Lasseter. "Wendy really needed that, she kind of teaches Marcus to break the rules a little bit and venture out and do a little bit more, take some chances and live a little.”

Philadelphia-born Brewer, a classically trained singer with a musical theater background who graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City, also got to showcase her vocal skills in the film, particularly on the original song "Where I'm Going."

“You would think it would be really great and exciting, but it was daunting and anxiety-inducing," Brewer says of the opportunity. "But it was really fun, it was great. And I do love to sing – it’s where my heart feels the most free.

"It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but I haven’t had the courage to do it. I’m a little more shy than Wendy, I think. So it was nice to play pretend in that way.”

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"The Ultimate Playlist of Noise" shot in Syracuse, New York, in 2019. But with the film arriving nearly a year after all of our lives were fundamentally altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the story of appreciating life's small graces before they're taken away rings differently than anyone involved could have intended.

"Being surrounded almost by such death and illness and fear, it forces you to take pause really and think about, ‘What is important to me and why?’ " Brewer says. "It’s been a really transformational, important year for a lot of people and a lot of movements.

"And this film on a smaller scale makes you feel that same (sense of), ‘What am I taking for granted in my life?’ and ‘How can I just add that much more awareness to my everyday, to enrich my life and the lives of others and create a more grateful existence?’ ”