Mary Lynn Rajskub and Emily Blunt in Sunshine Cleaning Courtesy of Overture Films

Mary Lynn Rajskub

Is your character the object of Emily Blunt's affection in this film?
Yeah, sort of. Well, she's in the toxic-waste cleanup business, and she's cleaning up after my mother's decomposing body and she finds these childhood pictures of me and decides to track me down and we sort of start up a relationship.

Is she sort of a stalker?
Kind of. She doesn't really tell me at first that she's done that, so it's an interesting set-up.

Do you feel the tone of the movie comes across as light, or is it very dark?
Not as dark as it sounds, the subject matter... it really maintains a lightness throughout. There's laughter and it's also an emotional film. It has that sort of odd subject matter, but it's interesting. I think it's more interesting than disgusting.

Does your character fall into the role of a traditional love interest or is it something more quirky?
It's definitely more quirky than that, we just have a sort of odd interaction. Emily's character is also conflicted and trying to figure some stuff out and she's trying to do that through me, and I'm trying to have a regular relationship.

What does your character do in the film?
I work at a blood bank.

That's interesting — were there lots of prop blood bags around and stuff?
No, it was really pretty casual. It sort of cuts to me working there and you're like "Oh, there she is."

Did you feel the need to find out what those people were like?
I didn't really. I was just kind of like, "What would I be if I were a nurse and I worked at a blood bank?"

So no going after a specific accent or anything.
It's in Albuquerque, so I just used regular American.

Do you expect they'll eventually go with a harder-edged cut and make it an R-rated film?
That's a good question, I don't know. It could be PG-13. Nobody's asked that, that's a good question. You never really see the bodies and stuff, because once they get there the bodies are gone. You just sort of see the aftermath.

That still sounds a little...
[laughs] It is, it is.