I was and probably still am a little terrified of Rose.
Greers performance was, to be extra but accurate,everything.
Jordan Crucchiola: Your performance is so fascinating because its almost this drag version of a high-schooler.
It makes sense now, but I didnt know we were acting out Darrens fantasy.
I was just starting to be an actor.
I was getting a lead role in a movie.
I didnt care what it was.
And I just acted my heart out, you know what I mean?
I wasnt going for camp.
I wasnt going for horror comedy.
It just was so big and we managed to get all of it right somehow.
He nailed it, and I would never have understood that at the time.
But I can look back on it now and say that because it was so clear to him.
And Im like,Im not a fuckin doctor.
Theyre like, Where are you?
Theres an emergency audition.
Here are the sides.
I read the scene.
I go in, I do my audition.
Theyre like, Okay, we wanna offer you the role.
And I was like,Well, hold on a minute.
Im thinking of myself as this serious actress who just graduated from acting school.
So I need to read the script before I decide if Im going to accept this role.
And they were like, Oh yeah, no, totally.
You should read the script, but were gonna cast you.
And then were gonna need on Monday to give you a haircut and dye your hair.
And this is all just happening around me.
Theyre so happy because theyd found their girl.
I still went up to San Francisco for the night to visit my girlfriend.
I was so excited.
I mean, I had been in Los Angeles for like five days.
So I just had the best role in the whole movie and I had the most fun.
I was always looking at it in terms of Fern versus Vylette.
And then when it got into Vylette, I had to just play the opposite of Fern.
I dont wanna compare my performance to Billy Crudup inAlmost Famous.
And I thought that was so perfect.
Because the character he played is so concerned with being the guitarist in a rock band.
He had such a clear vision of this movie and who these people were.
I brought me to the table, but everything was him.
The wig made it so easy and so dumpy, but I loved it.
With Fern, I just relate more to her.
I thought she was so beautiful and famous and nice and perfect, so I would just follow her.
I have so many snapshots from set of me sitting next to Rebecca as Fern.
Its so funny looking back on it.
I was like,Oh, Rebecca was my Liz.
I was obsessed with her.
Anything Rebecca Gayheart told me to do, I would do.
And then Fern gets to participate in one of the ultimate makeover montages of all time!
Tell me about living the dream.Nineties movies were all makeover movies.
And I just thought,If someone could just teach me a few things.
This was before YouTube.
I didnt know how to do my hair.
I didnt know how to do my makeup.
I didnt know what was cute.
You cant go on Pinterest or Instagram and see how people are styling themselves.
You know what I mean?
But it was a really cool makeover.
Very stylized and …
Ritualistic?Yeah.
And when youre stepping into Vylette, what is the sort of key that unlocks her?
Is it the magnificent pink on pink on pink?
Is it the hair?It was kind of everything.
It was like the clothes and the blonde hair.
It was just so girly and trying so hard to sell it.
Theres just a difference.
And when youre Vylette, you get to wear high heels.
I was towering over all of them and that just made me have more presence.
And when youre bitchy, people are a little bit more afraid of you.
People walk a little faster when you ask for something, there is a bit of a sea change.
You just cant help it.
I mean, sometimes its hard to leave it at work.
Like, I do a voice-over on a childrens show calledStoryBotsfor Netflix.
And hell be like, just, just dont talk to me in yourStoryBotsvoice.
It was really helpful to be like, Im performing now.
Im performing, Im performing.
This is uncomfortable for me!
I dont do this naturally!
And he was like, Sorry, sorry, Im sorry, but he just was so excited.
It was just everything he wanted.
But also I was really stressed out because I couldnt drive the car because it was a stick shift.
No one asked me if I could drive a stick shift!
I was so afraid of scratching the paint with those rhinestones.
I mean, this shit was cherry.
And Im sitting on there with these like, little, teeny-tiny metal spikes.
Those were the things that were running through my mind.
She was terrifying to me.
I hid behind Rebecca.
She was never mean, there was never anything terrible directed toward me, you know?
It just is hard to separate that on-set dynamic off-set.
And so I just left it at that.
Fair enough.And like, yeah, she was the boss.
How was that, then, like the day on-set where Vylette is getting roughed up by Courtney?
You arethrowninto that mirror.That was not a great day.
I think all of us could have used a few more rehearsals ahead of time.
Looking back, seeing that scene and seeing like memes of it and stuff it was so good.
I knew I had to come back at her level.
And I was so scared I wasnt going to be able to match her.
Its amazing how many things this movie did that sort of became the definitive of what they are.
Its definitely more fun to watch than it was to do.
Not that it wasnt fun to shoot.
Thats what you want after a makeover scene like that, the slow-motion walk down the hallway.
She was like the queen, like walking down that hallway was I just had to watch her.
I was like, Ill just do what Rose does, because she is working the runway.
It was amazing to watch her and the hair flip.
Thats the fun ofJawbreaker.
Which is the end of the world in high school.
And theyre like, Youd think Ive only done one TV show in my life!
But at the same time I would just think, like,Get over it.
What would you rather have?
One iconic movie or no iconic movie?
Its never bothered me, but I also have a lot of those for different people.
So Ive managed to navigate my career in a way that gives me new fun opportunities all the time.
I got really lucky that way.
So that makes it easier.
Im like, Shut up.
And Im like, Dont talk to me aboutFriends.
There was such a kind of possibility and a recklessness to cinema in the 1990s.
What was that sort of cinematic climate in that late-90s era?
What did that feel like to be walking into cinema at that time?Its weird.
Everything was like,Shes All Thatand10 Things I Hate About You.
And like, we were here making this weird little campy, trashy, over-the-top horror movie.
At the time, everyone had one of em, everyone glommed onto one of these movies.
And we were all in our 20s and it was bizarre.
God bless em and thank God.
You were saving lives, Judy Greer!
Coming up and saving lives.Im here for it.
I mean, Ive had a lot of fans come up to me with tears in their eyes.
And its not like we were doingBoys Dont Cry.
You know what I mean?
And thats why I think this movie continues to charm people and affect people.
Theres a handful of jobs that I think have really affected people.
And so for that, Im glad.
Im glad that we did that.
Im glad I didnt know I was doing it because I think I wouldve been afraid.
I wouldve felt too responsible or something.
I felt so loved.
I was so happy for Darren.
I want it to be bigger thanHeathers.
And I was like,Thats a big word right there.
And you know, man, he did it.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
