Greta Lee’s nail salon scene from “Sisters” still finds itself going viral on social media a decade later — and she thinks it holds up.
While on the “Good Hang with Amy Poehler” podcast this week, the former co-stars discussed their 2015 comedy. In it, Lee plays a nail tech at a salon who is trying to explain the right way to pronounce her name Hae Won to Poehler’s character Maura. It does not go well. And while some viewers have cringed at the scene in the years since, Lee has a different opinion.
“I understand the kind of conversation around it and what was tricky to navigate,” she said. “I have so much love for Hae Won because I know that chick. I know her. I know her so deep, and some of my funniest experiences at nail salons, I was Maura, you know, it was switched.”
The actress continued: “I think that scene also works because, you know, status is inverted, and I think that it’s easy to assume – if you are not in a marginalized position – to assume, like, ‘Oh no, this is hurtful.’ For me, in that moment, she is in total control.”
“Sisters” starred Poehler and Tina Fey as – you guessed it – sisters. The pair reunites when they are informed that their parents are selling their childhood home and they only have a week to clear it out. Instead, the two decide to throw one last party in the place they grew up.
“I felt like what we were doing and what the opportunity was, was a chance to play something that rang very true for me,” Lee concluded. “I knew it was going to be funny. I knew she was going to be funny, and there were many opportunities for her to come alive.”
Lee can currently be seen as Lilypad in “Toy Story 5.”
