Michael Urie Reflects on ‘Adorable and Weird’ Interaction with the Late Brittany Murphy: ‘She Was So Sweet’

Michael Urie’s very first movie role never made it to the big screen — but thanks to the late Brittany Murphy, the job left a lasting impression.

The Ugly Betty alum, 45, shared the story while playing Lie vs. Lie with Shrinking costar Jessica Williams for Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday, January 28.

He reflected on his earliest days in Hollywood, recalling a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it part in the late actress’ 2003 dramedy Uptown Girls.

“It was one of my very first jobs and … I played a pig walker,” Urie recalled. “[I was] really a dog walker, but in this scene I was picking up a pig. So, the scene was with five dogs and a pig.”

“She was so sweet and amazing,” he recalled of the Clueless star, who died in 2009, aged 32.

“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 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 she was like so adorable and weird,” he added.

Though Urie only worked on the film briefly — and his scene was eventually cut from the finished film — he attended the wrap party, where Murphy delivered a heartfelt surprise.

“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 recalled.

Urie and Williams, 36, are currently starring as Brian and Gaby on Apple TV+’s Shrinking, which returns for season three this week.