THE INSIDER: JUNO TEMPLE

Juno Temple might be mostly recognized stateside for her roles in U.K. period films like Atonement and The Other Boleyn Girl, but her next part takes the English actress to middle America....literally. She stars as Danielle, a fast-talking, free-spirited Oklahoma highschooler in the new '80s comedy Dirty Girl. We talked with the 22-year-old in New York yesterday about being "too dirty" at the audition, Blink-182, and her Halloween costume ideas.

How did the Dirty Girl part come about? I got sent the script and I auditioned about 2 years ago. For the audition I was wearing ripped fishnets, hot pants…I was dressed as me, but a bit dirtier-looking, I suppose. Ripped-off leather jacket, noise pierced, t-shirt, matted hair….I took the whole ‘90s grunge thing to another level. So after the audition I got a phone call from my agent being like, “They loved you, but they want you to go back and you have to brush your hair!” They also made me take out my nose piercing for the audition. I was kind of upset about that, because in the 45-minute audition the hole had closed up! My boyfriend at the time had to re-pierce it after [laughing].

Danielle in the movie was awesome. Did you like playing that type of free-spirited character? The costumes, the dialogue- it's outrageous- I had such an amazing chemistry with Jeremy [Dozier, who costars as Clarke] for real, and we became best friends instantaneously. I also loved playing a southern girl. I find southern accents so attractive, I was so stoked about it!

Was it hard to learn the accent?  It was actually pretty easy. My best friend who lives with me in LA was actually from Oklahoma, so I had that already. I was surrounded by a major southern cast, and [director] Abe Sylvia was southern too. If I messed up, there was definitely a whip being cracked.

Did you have any say in your costume? I did, which was great. The idea was that Danielle had all of these hand-me-downs from her mom, so even though the movie is set in the ‘80s most of her clothes are from the ‘70s. I loved that, because the ‘70s and ‘90s are kind of my jam. So it was so fun for me, I wanted to keep those platform yellow shoes so bad!

Did you get to keep anything? No, I wish! There was a little velour onesie that I was going to keep, and it fit me perfectly. It was like a Cinderella thing, I swear. Unfortunately at last minute they sent it back to the costume house. That kind of shit is difficult to find that looks good on you!

How was working with Milla Jovovich and William H. Macy? It was like having a drama lesson, because you're just watching these masters doing their thing. You want to keep up with it and give as much as you're being giving.

On another subject, do you know what you're being for Halloween yet? There are discussions that me and my friend are either going as Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, or Sid and Nancy. Or maybe I'll do Carrie…get a red wig. It's still up in the air.

Where do you like to shop? I'm a thrift store shopper, I like vintage.Designer-wise I'm a big Miu Miu fan…I also have a problem with Agent Provocateur.

What are your favorite bands? Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Tom Petty, David Bowie, Bob Dylan….I like the Slits, Sonic Youth.

Have you seen any good shows recently? I'm going to see Blink-182 soon, I'm so excited! It's like a childhood fantasy come true. I'm obsessed with their new album, like, it's amazing.

Do you have Twitter? No way. I'm so technologically bad, I'd probably piss a lot of people up by mistyping something. I can't keep up with that type of stuff.

Dirty Girl opens this weekend.