Christina Murphy

The Texas-born actress moved to L.A. to pursue her acting after college at the University of Texas. TCC's Kimberly Helk caught up with Murphy and spoke to the easy-going actress about her new movies.

KH: Congrats on the movie, Dance Flick, which is coming out May 22nd.

CM: Yay! Thank you! I know, I'm so excited, you'll have to go see it and check it out.

KH: It looks great, but are you more excited or nervous to see the audience's reaction?

CM: Oh my God, I think I'm going to be both because the director wants us to all see the movie for the first time in the theater, so I haven't seen it! I will be seeing it for the first time with the audience, so I don't know if I will be watching the audience, or watching my family or the cast, you know, I just can't wait to see it.

KH: Did you know what the movie was when you first went for the audition? What was your first thought when you found out?

CM: Well my first thought, you know when I got the first audition, I remember thinking, whatever kind of project this is, it will be really funny. The scenes were really short and you didn't have any inkling what the movie was. And I didn't even get the script or find out what kind of movie it was until I booked the role, so my first day on set was the day I got the script, and I was like, oh my God, like it all came together. I was like, oh okay, we're supposed to make a bunch of these movies, but they didn't let anything leak before at all.

KH: What was it like on the set with all those comedians: the Wayans Brothers, Amy Sedaris, David Alan Grier?

CM: Oh my God, it was like a dream! I mean, you never think that you'd be part of such a genius group of comedians, you know? And it was such a great honor to be in their presence and then also to be performing for them. But they're all like super down to earth, and the Wayans made us all feel like family, and, you know, they gave us a lot of room to improv, so they really let us shine in our own way. And then, of course, you know, we're such a green cast we all learned from them. They're so professional and so witty, and everything was so fast and on their toes, it was pretty incredible.

KH: What do you think was funnier, what they actually filmed or what happened behind the scenes?

CM: Haha! Well, editing is a magical thing and I think you know with sound effects and camera angles, I think when the whole movie is put together, you know, not only myself but the audience will be laughing from beginning to end. But there were days on set where I had to try really hard to not pee my pants, like, haha, or just to lock it down and not laugh on camera. So, you know, obviously when I watch the movie I'll have a lot of funny memories that no one will know about that happened behind the scenes but will hopefully be on the DVD.

KH: So are they planning a gag reel for the DVD?

CM: I hope so because when I fell and tripped and just fumbled my way through this movie . . . haha. Like my first day, my first scene on set, we're playing basketball, and I hit an oil slick on the basketball court and just busted some serious ass, and they played it at our wrap party. They had a little bit of a gag reel ready for their wrap party, so I hope they do, because that's certainly my favorite parts on the DVD, you know?

KH: How many years had you been dancing before this movie?

CM: Well, we kind of fibbed on that one because I took ballet when I was 5 for a couple of years, you know probably 5 to 7, and then I started getting really athletic and didn't really dance again until college and dance was part of my major in college. But I took dance classes, you know, I wasn't technically trained, so I didn't have the skills probably needed for this movie, haha, so when I showed up to dance rehearsals, I was definitely one of the worst, but I had to find my way and I worked really hard and I think I pulled it off, haha!

KH: What kind of dance classes did you have to take for this movie?

CM: Oh my God, well um, I learned everything from classical ballet to hip-hop to crumping, stepping, country, you know. Our choreographer, Dave Scott, he's world renowned and he's not the easiest, like if you're trying to learn his moves, it's hard because he's so incredible and he's so precise that if you're not a dancer, you don't pick it up as fast. So we were learning all the new moves that are in the dance world, so we learned everything.

KH: What was your favorite scene to shoot?

CM: My favorite scene to shoot . . . you know I still think it might be my first day on set because Nora, my character, is the bad girl that everybody loves to hate, and she gets in a fight with the new girl at school, Megan, who is played by Shoshana Bush, and we get in this huge catfight and start bitch-slapping each other and we're on top of each other wrestling and it cuts to the gym teacher breaking us up and then we're oil wrestling. So, that was my first day on set and it was so, so much fun.

KH: What did your parents say when you told them about the movie that you were in?

CM: Oh my God, I think my mom bawled, cried. Because you know we waited so long to hear about the movie, I had six auditions total. Which is a lot and we waited I think a month, a month and a half to hear, so we had been on pins and needles for that long and when I called them and told them they didn't believe me because, you know, we'd all just waited so long that we'd all kind of given up hope that I'd gotten the role. So I called my mom and dad and they were both just cheering and screaming and they kept going, "Are you sure? Like you're not lying to us?" Haha!

KH: I see you are also in another movie out this year, Forgotten Pills, and it seems so much darker; how was it playing in a movie that was so much darker than Dance Flick?

CM: Oh my gosh, it's totally different. Well I love both drama and comedy, so this was a really great role for young actors, you know? I got to play a little bit of a druggie, I also played another bad girl, but she has a really dark past, so it was so much fun, I cried and I fight and I just got to do all this fun dark stuff. I love drama, you know, I love comedy and drama equally, so it's nice to show people a range of my skills, and it's going to be a fantastic movie.

KH: How did you get into character when you had to play a druggie?

CM: Haha, well, I think more than anything the words were written so well that the actions just came right along. It's about these four people, these four friends, that take these pills that make them forget everything for four hours. And all this crazy stuff ensues, and there's a murder, so the script really kind of spells it out for you, so it was really easy. Haha, I'm definitely not a druggie, but it was just really easy to get into that character.