Sometimes, a supporting character can make all the difference. In For Worse, that character happens to be the dynamic go-getter Julie, the best friend of Amy Landecker’s Lauren, played by Missi Pyle.
For Worse sees Lauren, a newly divorced mom, navigating a wild weekend as she tries reclaiming her youth during one of the craziest weddings she’s been to. Given everything she goes through, Julie is the one person who always has Lauren’s back.
I had the opportunity to speak with For Worse star Missi Pyle about portraying a supportive friend, how starring in Dodgeball and the Percy Jackson movies gave her an edge in the comedy genre, and much more.
Although there’s many traits to love about Julie, the one trait that resonated with Pyle about the character was her dedication to do everything she can to help out.
“The job of a best friend, when someone’s going through a breakup, is to just build them up,” Pyle began. “Try everything, every different angle you can, so that they’ll feel joy or get their confidence back. She came around every other way.”
“Anytime [Lauren] had a moment where she went, ‘Oh, this horrible cringy thing happened,’ [Julie] would go, ‘Yeah, but they loved it.'”
Considering how Julie is Lauren’s ride or die in For Worse, there are many things that Pyle will always be loyal to in the industry.
“I’ve gotten to do so many incredible things,” Pyle explained. “I’ve gotten to work with Tim Burton. I’ve gotten to play an alien. For me, I think it’s trying to be open. I’ve been doing this for thirty years, and the business is so different now.”
“I don’t get most of the things that I auditioned for,” Pyle said. “I have auditioned more now, like I did when I was in my twenties. You have to just love what you do, the ride or die is the love for what it is.”
“We get to be like carny people. We all get together and create this weird family for a while and then hopefully make something that’s beautiful or poignant or funny, and if we get to, great! If we don’t, oh well, let’s do another one!”
One of the scenes that truly shows that relationship involves a call between Julie and Lauren, which Pyle broke down. “There’s a moment when I’m on Zoom where she’s desperate to talk to me. I’m really on Zoom, in a tiny little square, and I have to be real and honest,” Pyle said.
“She’s having a breakdown, and I have to find a way to be sensitive to what she’s going through, but also [be] funny and make her laugh.”
Pyle further described the lengths of how that scene went for her and her co-star, Amy Landecker. “I go, ‘You are this, you’ve got this! You are the sexiest one there, you just go out there!’ Finally, she relaxes, and then you go, ‘We did it!’ It’s tricky because you’re looking at yourself,” Pyle noted.
Watch the interview with Missi Pyle:
Being a comedy film, For Worse might not seem like unfamiliar territory for Pyle, as she’s starred in several comedies previously. However, after starring in such movies, there’s one piece of advice that Pyle has taken to heart when it comes to supporting roles.
“I did this movie called Josie and the Pussycats with Alan Cumming,” Pyle recalled. “He said one of my favorite things that I’ve ever heard, which was, ‘You can be as big as you want as long as it’s real.'”
“As long as you mean what you say, when you’re doing it, it’s real. You have to find a way to make it real. I will say there have been times that maybe it hasn’t happened, but in this particular movie, it was just so easy.”
Although Pyle has starred in several emotion-driven comedies, she has also starred in multiple films with physical comedy. One of these films is Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, where Pyle played Tempest, one of the Gray Sisters.
While many are more acquainted to this universe, thanks to the Disney+ series, Pyle recalled what that experience was like in terms of the physicality.
“You just have to be there,” Pyle explained. “You have to try to be there as much as you can. With [Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters], that was an enormous amount of prosthetics.”
“I had this huge piece that covered my head. Then, I had cloth over my eyes because I wasn’t there for the first rehearsal [since] I was doing something else, and they decided that they would be the ones with the eyes. I never got the eye, even though I tried to — and it was hard!”
Pyle also reminisced on 2004’s Dodgeball starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. “Even in Dodgeball, when I had the unibrow and the bad teeth and all, you get into who the character is, and you have to let go of all the other people around you that are on the sets,” Pyle said.
“I remember people going, ‘Oh, look at your teeth!’ When I was doing Dodgeball, we had these different extras coming in, and you just go with it. You can resist it, but you just have to go with it.”
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For Worse is now playing in theaters in New York and Los Angeles and will expand on March 6.
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Chris Gallardo
Christopher Gallardo is an entertainment writer, critic, and member of New York Film Critics Online. While not running his own social channels, Chris can be found writing reviews and breakdowns on all things films and TV for multiple outlets. Plus, he loves Percy Jackson, animated films and shows, and Fallout! You can find him anywhere on social media at @chrisagwrites.