The Descendants' Judy Greer on Her Memorable First Meeting with George Clooney and Two and a Half Men

You seem to watch films, even your own, very thoughtfully -- after your work in them is done.

Yes! I'd like to watch more films but I try really hard to go to the theater and not watch them at my house.

Why's that?

Well, A) I like the movie theater by my house, it's the Arclight Hollywood and it's awesome.

It is! And you can pick your seats, and it's nice...

I like that! And I like popcorn, and... but I feel that movies are made to be seen on the big screen. I think they still are. You see so much more, literally and figuratively, because of the size of the screen. You really get to lose yourself in the movie. Everyone turns their cell phone off -- well, hopefully -- most people turn their cell phone off when they're in a movie theater, but they don't when they're at home. You're in a giant dark room by yourself, for all intents and purposes. I also feel it's important to watch a movie all at one time; I feel that way when I read scripts, I like to read them in one sitting because it's meant to be seen and read that way. At home you might watch bits and pieces of things while you're sitting down to scarf down your dinner or breakfast or something.

I agree with all of this, by the way.

Thank you! Now I'm just waxing poetic.

Judy Greer's Tips for Moviewatching!

Exactly.

Tell me about your involvement with Two and a Half Men. Who and/or what brought you into that project, and how does it compare to your other comedy work?

Chuck Lorre approached me about coming on the show and playing the character that I now play, and it just felt like it was such an insane moment in pop culture history, how could I not be a part of it? I'd already worked with Ashton [Kutcher], I adored him, I already had worked with Chuck on Two and a Half Men, actually, and he's been so lovely and generous to me in my career. I wanted to see firsthand what was going to go down! I was like, 'Heck yeah, I'm gonna take that job!' I also thought the character would be fun; I thought it would be cool to be the girl that Ashton was pining for.

What was it actually like on set once you arrived, after the Charlie Sheen storm had passed over?

The vibe on set was really happy and positive. Everyone at the time -- it might change, but at the time when I went there it was like everyone wanted to go back to work, and everyone was happy they were going back to work. No one really knew what was going to happen or how it was going to do, or what the feedback would be, but all these people got their jobs back. So everyone was just really thrilled, and really thankful. I was happy for all those people.

How does a sitcom like Two and a Half Men satisfy you, creatively?

It's fun to be funny, and one thing that you get in television that you don't get in movies is that in movies you get a script, you read it, and that's what you're basically going to shoot, but in television you never know. Every week I go back there, and I don't know what my character's going to do this week -- and that's kind of fun because you're building a character. They don't write 22 episodes and hand you the season, they're writing as you go. It could be like, 'Cool, this is who I am -- I'm allergic to shellfish!' That's a thing about my character that I know now. And then next week I'm like, 'Oh, I like kinky sex! Okay, awesome. That's part of my character now.' That's kind of fun!

There's all this talk of the Arrested Development movie happening...

I know! I hope so.

Do you know if your character, Kitty, would be involved in the movie?

I don't know. I'm assuming... but you know what they say about assumptions! [Laughs] I'm hoping. I don't know.

How have your choices of roles evolved throughout your career so far, from when you first started out?

I guess I've gotten slightly more selective, mainly with television. Television is great, it pays well, and it's kind of been my bread-and-butter a little bit, because I usually do a pilot every year... that doesn't get picked up... so that's been a little bit of a shift, that I've gotten to be more selective with my television roles. I've had more fun opportunities, maybe, with television. And with film, I'm just looking to work with people that I feel will help me be a better actor, whether it's certain directors or certain other actors. I want to be a better actor, and I want to have a really fun time. And I wouldn't hate going to cool places to do that. [Laughs] That's a little bit of an influence for me right now, but for the most part I still audition for all my movie roles, so I'm not really super selective to be honest. I just want to work.

Obviously all of those conditions sound fun and appealing, but as an actor you never know what the end product will be like - so it's all about the actual process of the work, in the moment.

It is. It's all about what happens when I'm there, and less about the outcome of it. Because until I'm watching a movie -- in a theater, with an audience around me - I don't know!

Which of your projects have you been most pleasantly surprised by, watching how everything finally came together?

The Descendants, obviously -- I thought it was going to be amazing, and it was. So I wasn't pleasantly surprised, I was pleasantly... excited, and happy. Not surprised at all, but thrilled. And a movie I did a long time ago that I just really loved is called The TV Set. I really loved how that turned out.

The Descendants is in theaters today.

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