“She’s So F–king Funny”: Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michaela Watkins’s Sister Act

In a standout episode of CBS’s The New Adventures of Old Christine, Matthew (Hamish Linklater) panics at the realization that his sister, Christine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and his girlfriend, Lucy (Michaela Watkins), look distressingly alike. The scene turns into a surreal nightmare as Christine and Lucy, in matching red-and-white tennis outfits, start behaving identically before his very eyes—and it’s sold by the chemistry between Louis-Dreyfus, then a two-year veteran on the sitcom that won her her first best-actress Emmy, and Watkins, a Groundlings alum in her biggest screen role to that point. It was the first time they’d ever worked together. And the whole bit was Louis-Dreyfus’s idea—a chance to let the up-and-comer play a little. “There’s no ego with Julia,” Watkins says. “It was the happiest, most nontoxic, inviting workplace.”

This was 15 years ago. Since then, Watkins has led a show of her own, Hulu’s Casual, and collaborated with Louis-Dreyfus repeatedly over the years: as a guest star on Veep, in a small role in the Nicole Holofcener film Enough Said, and now, taking on a meatier part as Louis-Dreyfus’s sister in Holofcener’s new movie, You Hurt My Feelings. Like an implicit callback to that first time they worked together, Louis-Dreyfus and Watkins play actual sisters, but this is no multi-camera sitcom. In true Holofcener form, the richly naturalistic comedy finds the humor in life’s most painfully honest beats, the inciting incident being when Louis-Dreyfus’s novelist overhears her husband (Tobias Menzies) saying he doesn’t like her new book. What follows is a gorgeous, understated meditation on love, honesty, and the white lies that can keep us going. 

In their first interview together about the film, Watkins and Louis-Dreyfus reflected on how their sisterly bond developed, and how it translated into the careful realism of You Hurt My Feelings.

Vanity Fair: I wanted to go back to when you both met on The New Adventures of Old Christine. Julia, what was your first impression of Michaela?

Julia Louis-Dreyfus: I had an immediate positive response to Michaela because she’s so fucking funny.

Michaela Watkins: This is awkward because I’m sitting right here.

Louis-Dreyfus: Just put a napkin over your head. [Laughs] But yeah, her angle on material is unique, for real. Her cadence in speaking, her interpretation of dialogue is its own thing. She made me laugh like crazy. And we bonded pretty quick, right, Michaela?

Watkins: Yeah. Can I give you my experience of working with Julia? Because at that point, it was more the infancy of getting to work in television. I had worked with a few people and there was such a clear, distinct line between the lead cast and then guest performers and everything: Thou shall not cross. And Julia was the funniest person in the world—and the warmest, and the coolest, and the most grounded. So I thought, is this just me? Am I kidding myself? But what you see is what you get. She’s not going to shut you down. She’s my hero.

Louis-Dreyfus: Hey, that’s enough. Don’t say anything more.

Watkins: No, no. Hold on. I want to say one more thing: The best joke wins. 

Tobias Menzies and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Jeong Park

How does that dynamic translate to a movie like this, which is very funny, but definitely not a sitcom. It’s a very honest movie, so how did you find that shift working together?

Louis-Dreyfus: Easy, to tell you the truth. The tone shift was something we were both very comfortable with. We both understood from the get-go what the tone was. Michaela and I have worked with Nicole before, and you know what? “Best joke wins” applies to this one too. Not that it was chock-full of jokes—I mean, it’s definitely a funny movie, but it’s a different tone. But having lunch with our mom, that was all improvised. It’s playing tennis—back and forth, back and forth.

Watkins: It was really fun. I would say the “best joke always wins” was still 100% because I would maybe mutter something and you’d be like, “Huh?” And then I would say it a little louder, but only for Julia’s benefit. [Laughs] And Julia would be like, “Well, why don’t we just do that?” And then same with if Julia felt like saying something, then it was such a gift every time. In Nicole’s script, you can’t tell what would be improvised anyway, because it’s so natural. And I instantly felt the sister thing as so familiar. Julia shows up as a whole sister. My job is the easiest thing in the entire world.