It’s time for a Collider Ladies Night bucket list guest! With The Thing About Pam in the midst of its run on NBC (and streaming on Hulu), Judy Greer took the time to join me for an extended interview.

The Thing About Pam is based on the true story of Pam Hupp, played by Renee Zellweger. When her best friend Betsy (Katy Mixon) is found dead in her home, Betsy’s husband Russ (Glenn Fleshler) becomes the prime suspect when all eyes should really be on Pam. However, when prosecutor Leah Askey (Greer) takes the case, her determination to win leaves Pam free and clear to continue manipulating the situation and hatching deadly schemes along the way.

Renée Zellweger in The Thing About Pam
Image via NBC

Greer's filmography is down to the floor, so it’s just flat-out impossible to cover her entire body of work in a single episode of Collider Ladies Night — or even a fraction of it for that matter. Greer scored one of her first big starring roles in 1999’s Jawbreaker and after that, the gigs kept coming with Greer releasing a handful of new projects every single year since. It turns out, her Jawbreaker co-star Julie Benz might have played a part in sparking that non-stop work ethic:

At that point, Benz, Rebecca Gayheart, and Rose McGowan were all in the early stages of their careers, but they did have a bit more experience on set than Greer. Here’s what Greer said when asked if she picked up anything from her Jawbreaker co-stars that she applied to her own work moving forward:

“Julie Benz was auditioning constantly while we were shooting, and that was something I picked up on because I was like, ‘Oh, once this job is over then I don’t have a job, so you have to hustle.’ And I think that that was something that I took away from her, was her ability to hustle but be really present in the project that we were doing.”

Julie Benz, Rose McGowan and Judy Greer in Jawbreaker
Image via Sony

Greer took that influence to heart and ran with it, amassing a mile-long list of credits. By the time she hit the set of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Greer had dozens of shows and films to her name, but even with all that experience, the nerves still crept in when tackling motion capture.

“My first day on set in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, I was so self-conscious of what I looked like and my acting. It just felt very overwhelming and raw to be performing that way. But then, Andy Serkis is probably one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with in my life and all my scenes were with him, and so when you’re working with someone of that caliber, you just rise to the occasion. And you have two choices in anything that you do; you can say, ‘Oh my god. I’m so nervous. I’m so scared. I can’t do this. I have to be careful.’ Or, you can just jump in the deep end of a freezing cold swimming pool and be like, ‘Well, I’m just gonna go for it because my other option, it will never translate.’ You never can get a great performance if you’re not open.”

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Judy Greer and Andy Serkis Making Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Image via 20th Century Studios

When it comes to The Thing About Pam, Greer does shine in quite a few dialogue-driven scenes, but one of the biggest standouts of the bunch thus far is actually a moment in Episode 4 where she’s mostly reacting to what Zellweger is saying.

In Episode 4, Pam pays Askey a visit to give her more “information” to strengthen her case against Russ. Pam is clearly sitting there dishing out lie after lie yet again, so one must wonder, is this the tipping point for Askey? Will she finally call BS? One of the biggest thrills of that particular scene is looking out for Greer’s reaction shots in an effort to figure out which way Askey is leaning. What’s the key to nailing that type of reaction shot-heavy performance? Here’s what Greer said:

“You always wish the camera could be on you for the first take because you just know that when you do hear this stuff for the first time, regardless of how many times I’ve read it to memorize my lines, the first time I hear Renee say this as Pam, it’s gonna be my favorite reaction. But, that is not always the case, so then I try to react in the moment to her, but also memorize what I’m doing. And then it helps I have [actor] Mac Brandt on the other side of me and playing off of him and us trying not to collapse in laughter. That helps a lot, trying to contain something, and in this case, Leah is containing her ‘what the f*ck is going on’ thoughts. Judy is trying to contain laughing at the absurdity of the situation that this actually happened! That I can play. I can mix them up together and shake it up in a snow globe and I think have it work. But, you know, you just kind of have to really be focused and listen, and that’s acting! You have to try to make it sound like you heard it the first time 20 times in a row.”

Renee Zellweger and Judy Greer in The Thing About Pam
Image via NBC

Looking for more on Greer’s journey to The Thing About Pam? Be sure to check out her episode of Collider Ladies Night at the top of this article or listen to the conversation uncut in podcast form below to hear about her experience working with Wes Craven on Cursed, to get her thoughts on the end of Halloween Kills, to hear about her unforgettable audition for Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, and loads more!