The Verge: Bree Turner

There's a certain art to playing the best friend in a romantic comedy, and Bree Turner has inhabited enough of them to prompt comparisons to the master, Judy Greer. "That's a huge compliment," Turner says. "I love Judy." Now, as she prepares for her highest-profile second banana yet -- Katherine Heigl's BFF in The Ugly Truth -- we talked to Turner about being an onscreen bestie and the wild screen credits that led her there.

So we'll get to The Ugly Truth, but I had to ask you about your participation in one of the biggest guilty pleasures of our generation: You did an arc on MTV's nighttime soap Undressed!

I know, remember that? Gosh, that was the biggest deal when I booked that job. I was in the first season -- I say that because after season one, it became just threesomes and orgies and drug abuse and really heavy-duty shit [Laughs]. I was in the high school storyline, and my sister was Sarah Lancaster, who's now on Chuck. The funniest part was that Sarah's like five years younger than me, and she was playing my older sister.

Oh no! That'll give an actress some issues.

See, Sarah is gorgeous, and she has breasts, hair, she's tall -- she definitely looks like a woman. I was pretty young, and I hadn't really grown into my body yet, so I think that's why they cast me as the high schooler.

And what was your sexual situation?

I was the bratty little sister and Sarah had her Heathers-esque clique, and I always tried to stop her and make her into a nice person. Then I got a boyfriend and she tried to steal him, and I felt I could keep my boyfriend by learning how to, uh, give better oral sex.

That was a very classy show.

I know. It brought a lot of knowledge to the kids. [Laughs]

You're playing Katherine Heigl's best friend in The Ugly Truth, and at one point in the film, I read that you do a mid-air dry hump. Please tell me how this occurs.

It's a thing where there's two guys, and one guy, Eric Winter, is better on paper but not necessarily right for her, and then there's [Gerard Butler's] character, who's seemingly all wrong but once she gets to know him, he's right for her. I'm pushing her to be with Eric and there's this montage when they're dating and she's falling in love with him, and I'm so taken with his hotness that I spontaneously do a dry-hump dance in a montage.

OK, so it's in a montage. I was worried that when you went to audition, you had to sit in this waiting room filled with ingenues practicing their air hump.

I just came up with that on my own. My mom would be so proud!

So what makes a good romantic comedy best friend?

I've done a couple of them, and I think they're really fun. [The Ugly Truth] is a little unique: It hits all the points that you have to hit in a romantic comedy, but because it's an R-rated film, there's some raunchy humor. It's definitely adult, for sure, and the movie doesn't treat the audience like children. But I think with these [best friend] roles, I enjoy them because I like supporting the main character. You have a lot more freedom when you're the sidekick -- you can bring a lot more of your own flavor to the role, and you can get away with a lot more. Like dry-humping the air, for example! [Laughs]

You started out as a dancer -- and you've got some company in that career arc. What made you want to go into acting?

I think what really clicked for me was when I started booking commercials as a dancer...just being on set and seeing every element of production, it was magic to me. When I really thought about it, I was always really obsessed with movies since I was little. It just clicked that it was the next step for me; choreographing didn't interest me, and opening a studio wasn't a passion for me. I didn't know if I'd be very good at acting, but then my first scene in acting class...[inhales sharply] I just loved it. It was the natural next step.

Prior to that, you danced in The Big Lebowski!

It was crazy. You know the dream sequence the Dude has, kind of a Busby Berkeley-esque sequence? I'm in that. If you watch the movie, there's a part where he goes through the legs of all the girls and sees up our skirts, and I'm the third girl back. I've always loved the Coen brothers so I was super excited to be around them. It was such classic moviemaking, but probably the thing I remember the most is those freaking hats we had to wear. They were torture!

Why?

They were so tight on the head. You know, being a dancer really toughened me up. An actor's life is so easy: you're taken care of, you have your own trailer, people feed you, they call you when you're late...it's cake. They didn't even ask what our head size was [on Lebowski]. My hat was too small on my head, and it was like a torture device on my temples. They were such a pain in the ass to put on that we weren't allowed to take them off -- when you went into the bathroom stall, you had to turn sideways and pee with your head looking all the way around because your hat wouldn't fit in the stall. Tragic!

Do you still get to dance in many movies?

No, sadly. It's a goal to dance in, like, a big Rob Marshall movie musical. I've been watching that Nine trailer...so good! I'm crazy about trailers. I would love to do that actually, edit trailers. I will stay up til 3am watching Apple trailers on my computer. Is that really dorky? It kind of is.

One of the most fun things about being a movie fan is that anticipation.

I love movies. I'm a nut. There's nothing I would rather do than see three movies a day.

Actually being in movies hasn't deglamorized that for you?

Occasionally, I'm a little more hypercritical than my husband. When I don't like a movie, you don't want to be next to me -- I'll say that. I ruin it for everyone around me with my sighing and my eye-rolling. I'll just walk out! I can't sit through a bad movie. You know, there's a rule where if you leave during the first thirty minutes of a movie, you can get your money back.

And do you do that very often?

Absolutely! [Laughs] You pay fourteen dollars for that ticket! If it's not good, I'm getting my money back. ♦