Rose Byrne Talks Annie, Damages, and Her First Same-Sex Kiss

Rose Byrne has been a meteoric rise to the A-list lately. Byrne, whom you know as the all-too-perfect bridesmaid in Bridesmaids and Seth Rogan's spouse/partner in crime in Neighbors, has nabbed a plum role in the Annie remake as Grace Farrell and an Emmy and Golden Globe noms for her work in Damages. She'll be reuniting with her Bridesmaids costar Melissa McCarthy in her upcoming film Spy.Byrne spoke with The Advocate about Annie, Spy, and that girl-on-girl kiss in Neighbors.

On whether her character's same-sex kiss in Neighbors was her first same-sex kiss in real life:

"Oh! Yeah, I suppose so. It was really more of a peck than a kiss, but -- can we talk about something else?"

On sexual tension between Ellen and her mentor, Patty, the attorneys that she and Glenn Close played in Damages:

"Yeah, a lot of people in the gay community thought Ellen and Patty should get together, which was pretty funny. At least people were discussing the show, whatever they took away from it. Some people saw sexual tension. Others saw a mother-daughter story or an abusive relationship. Everyone interpreted it or related to it in a different way, and that's the great thing about art. ... I suppose I saw it as a bad relationship that Ellen couldn't get out of."

On her role in the upcoming film Spy, which reunites her with Bridesmaids director Paul Feig and costar Melissa McCarthy:

"It's a really fun, action-packed adventure. Melissa, who's such a wonderful ray of sunshine, plays a CIA operative out working on a case, and I play someone she meets along the way. You're not quite sure if I'm a good guy or a bad guy, but I have an incredible hairstyle and some really interesting outfits. It's very campy. I look a bit like a drag queen, actually."

On starring in the upcoming Annie remake and her history with the musical:

"I really loved the original film, which came out when I was at the perfect age, so I just devoured it. Those wonderful performances were ingrained in my memory as a young girl. Ann Reinking is such an icon and so incredibly talented, so it's a bit surreal to end up playing her part. But our Annie is really a reimagining, so hanging on to memories of the original would've held us back. At a certain point we just had to take a risk and go all in. ... I was daunted, but that seemed like a good reason to do it. This is my very first musical, really, so I didn't want to screw it up."