I was shocked when I realized that Natasha Lyonne and Judy Greer had never worked together before, but now the time has come thanks to their SXSW official selection, Fresno. They play sisters Martha and Shannon respectively. Shannon is fresh out of sex rehab and needs a place to stay, so Martha lets her crash with her and also scores her a gig as a maid at the Fresno Suites. Shannon certainly isn’t as enthusiastic as Martha is about the job, but she sucks it up and makes it work - until she can’t anymore. Ultimately, Shannon caves, sleeps with a hotel guest and when Martha catches her in the act, she panics and accidentally winds up knocking the guy over and killing him. Knowing that Shannon’s sex offender status might make things look even worse, Martha agrees to help her cover everything up.

While in Austin for the Fresno world premiere, I got the chance to talk to Lyonne and Greer about working together for the very first time, reuniting with director Jamie Babbit, the challenge of keeping a straight face on set, robbing a sex shop wearing toilet paper masks and more. Hear all about that and a little on Jurassic World and Orange is the New Black in the video interview below.

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Image via SXSW

Natasha Lyonne & Judy Greer:

  • 00:00 - Getting involved in the film; reuniting with director Jamie Babbit.
  • 00:50 - Working together for the first time.
  • 01:04 - What surprised them about each other’s process.
  • 01:36 - Working with a writer and director who primarily work in TV now; how that helped during production.
  • 02:15 - Can they tell if the material is funny while shooting?
  • 03:18 - Trying to stop themselves from laughing so much on set.
  • 04:30 - Was there anything in the hotel laundry bin they push around?
  • 04:40 - Robbing a sex shop with a fire extinguisher and toilet paper masks on.
  • 06:23 - Shooting the bar mitzvah scene.
  • 06:55 - Lyonne’s thoughts on Greer’s dress in the bar mitzvah scene.
  • 07:17 - Getting to wear the super comfy scrubs.
  • 07:57 - Lyonne on her character’s workout regime; Aubrey Plaza as a gym trainer.
  • 08:46 - Greer on Jurassic World; why would her character ever send her children to a park with a history like that?
  • 09:28 - Lyonne on what’s to come for Nicky on Orange is the New Black - kind of.