Iliza Shlesinger landed 'Spenser Confidential' role after ignoring direction not to do a Boston accent

LOS ANGELES -- Iliza Shlesinger says she landed a role Mark Wahlberg's new film by ignoring a directive not to audition with a Boston accent.

Shlesinger went to an audition for the upcoming film "Spenser Confidential" and was handed a script that said "in big bold letters at the top: 'Do not do a Boston accent,'" she recounted in a "Jimmy Kimmel Live" interview Wednesday evening.

"But one of the lines was, 'Every day I pray to St. Jude for a reason to leave you,' and I was like, 'You can't not do a Boston accent and invoke the name of St. Jude.' I tried it in every accent, I tried it in normal, but I was like -- you've got to go Boston. I went in and I did the accent and I tanked it," she said.

Shlesinger said she later heard back about the role while she was, coincidentally, in Boston for a show.

"This goes against every molecule in my body. I was like, 'I'm just going to meditate. Forget Hollywood, forget that movie. Who cares? They missed out,'" she remembered thinking before she turned off her phone.

"Three minutes later, I was like, 'Who can do this?' I turned it back on and I had a missed call from my agent," Shlesinger continued, saying she assumed it was a rejection call.

She called her agent back and was connected directly to Wahlberg, who told her, "Hey, you did a pretty good Boston accent...so, are you ready to get crazy with us?"

"I don't know what the legalese for 'Are you ready to get crazy with us?' I go, 'Do I have the gig? Because I need to hear it,' and he was like, 'Yeah, we'll see you in a few months,'" she continued.

"I hung up and I screamed so loud that security sent somebody up to make sure I was okay," Shlesinger said.

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