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Michael Urie is remembering the kindness of Brittany Murphy when the two met while filming the 2003 movie, Uptown Girls — and the
In an Entertainment Weekly video, Urie, 45, said his role in the film, which was ultimately, cut, was one of his “very first jobs.” The film starred Dakota Fanning as a strong-willed 8-year-old named Ray, with Murphy starring as her hapless yet caring nanny, Molly.
“It was one of my very first jobs and it was a movie and I hadn’t really done anything and I played a pig walker,” he said. “Really a dog walker, but in this scene I was picking up a pig. So, the scene was with five dogs and a pig.”
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Urie added that Murphy was “awesome,” saying, “She was so sweet and amazing as an actor.”
“And I was there one day, and they cut my part. But I do still get residuals. Like, ten cents. Because I’m in the deleted scenes of the DVD,” Urie added.
Speaking of Murphy, the actor said, “I remember her being so sweet and insisting that we’d met before, but we definitely had not. It was so sweet. I was really touched by it. I was like, ‘No, I promise we haven’t met before.’ And she’s like, ‘Are you sure? Because I feel like we have!’ and it was like so adorable and weird.”
Urie added that he saw Murphy again at the film’s rap party, saying she approached him to tell him she had mentioned his character in another scene.
“I went to the rap party, and I saw her and she was, again, so sweet to me and she said, ‘I mentioned you in another scene. I talked about you and I added it in,'” he said.
Murphy died suddenly on Dec. 20, 2009, at age 32, after collapsing in the bathroom of her Hollywood Hills home. She had been battling flu-like symptoms for a few days prior to her death.
Fanning, now 31, remembered her late costar as “playful” and “fun” in a 2020 appearance onWatch What Happens Live, opening up about working with Murphy on the 2003 film Uptown Girls.
“She just taught me to always have fun,” recalled Fanning. “She was, like, such a ray of light and had such a playful spirit. So I think, just, she made every day special for me. She was so wonderful.”
