Clueless actor Breckin Meyer wishes he could see what late co-star Brittany Murphy ‘would have done now’
Breckin Meyer has reflected on the death and lost potential of his Clueless co-star Brittany Murphy as he said he wished he “could see what she would have done now”.
The 49-year-old actor opened up about hearing sirens arriving at Murphy’s property and Britney Spear’s former home, in a new interview for the Still Here Hollywood podcast. He admitted the actor’s death did not come as a complete surprise.
Murphy died in 2009, aged 32, with the nature and suddenness of her death shocking Hollywood at the time. A coroner’s report determined she died of pneumonia with contributing factors of anaemia and multiple drug intoxication.
In the 1995 cult classic Clueless, Murphy played outcast Tai Fraser, a high school student who undergoes a makeover from the movie’s protagonist Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone). Meyer played her love interest and free spirit Travis Birkenstock.
“Britt passed away as an adult, but she’s one of those people who I always think about. I wish I could see what she would have done now,” he told the podcast.
“Brittany was so crazy talented, and only the surface had been dealt with,” he continued. “She was such a good singer, and seeing how many people cross over into music and movies, I was like, ‘Oh, I would have loved to see Brittany do that.’”
Meyer said he knew his co-star “way before Clueless” as the pair had played young lovers four times before the movie.
“When we auditioned together it was like ‘Oh, this is easy’.”
Murphy’s death affected Meyer badly, with the actor recalling that he heard sirens travel to her property in the neighbourhood they both lived in.
“It was really bad, I wish I could say I was more surprised just because of, it’s her business whatever, but that toxic guy she was with, [Simon Monjack, Murphy’s husband, now deceased].
“It’s just a small world, Ryan Phillipe who’s a very close friend of mine lived five houses from Brittany, so literally we were there when the sirens were going on.
“We didn’t know what it was, we were hanging at Phil’s house when I think the sirens were going up to Britney Spear’s old house, Brittany Murphy’s new house.”
Describing the loss of her friendship, Meyer also mourned her lost potential.
“She was a bottle of soda, she was the sun, she was effervescent and great,” he said.
“For her to pass away in such a shitty way and in such a toxic relationship was just terrible not only because it’s your friend but because what everyone else doesnt get to see anymore.”