Mila Kunis goes from bad mum to worse spy in The Spy Who Dumped Me

From a bad mum to an even worse spy, Mila Kunis is accidentally thrust into an international conspiracy in the new movie The Spy Who Dumped Me.

Justin Theroux plays the spy ex-boyfriend who dumps her via text, and when he reappears with a team of assassins on his trail, Kunis' character and her best friend (Kate McKinnon) are unwittingly co-opted into a plan to save the world as they race through Europe with no weapons and no training, in league with a sexy British agent (Sam Heughan).

The action comedy, directed by Susanna Fogel, opens here tomorrow.

"It was one of the funniest, most obnoxious, wonderful comedies that I had ever read, and it was super badass," the 34-year-old US actress said at our interview at the Langham hotel in New York.

"This could be two guys, but it just so happens to be two kickass girls. We don't have a magical cave full of magical toys, so that is realistic.

"And we don't have a magical watch that pops up and turns into a parachute."

The Spy Who Dumped Me marked the first time Kunis - who has a four-year-old girl and two-year-old boy with US actor-husband Ashton Kutcher - worked with a female director.

She said: "I met Susanna... because I was tentative about doing a film that was taking me away from my family for an extended period of time.

"We talked about scheduling and the logistics of the movie. And she was super sweet and nice and respectful of the fact that I had a newborn at the time.

"And I was like, 'I can't', because I was doing (last year's) A Bad Mom's Christmas and this would end up butting into it, so it would take me away from Los Angeles for six months. It made me really nervous, I had a baby'.

"And she was like, 'We will try to make this as easy of a transition as possible.' She was just awesome and understanding and great to work with."

What was it like working with Saturday Night Live comedienne McKinnon?

That woman only knows how to improvise. And if you are lucky, you will get something that is written on the page. Maybe.

So if you work with Kate, you just have to pay attention non-stop and it is so much fun.

I was a fan of Kate's going into it. The added bonus was that she ended up becoming a really good friend of mine. You meet people you admire and some of them aren't always necessarily what you want them to be. And Kate exceeds all expectations.

Are you a fan of Heughan?

Kate McKinnon, talk to her about it. She started watching (Heughan's TV series Outlander) while we started shooting, so she ended up becoming the biggest Sam fan on the planet. Now I know he is shirtless a lot in the show and there is lots of sexy time.

How many of your stunts did you do?

You can only do as many stunts as you get insured for, and so a lot of it is out of your control.

The same stunt guys that did all the Bourne movies did ours. There were crazy stunts and Kate and I were allowed to do a certain number of them, but realistically we are not supposed to be Bond so we are not supposed to be great at anything.

Our car sequence had a cage on top of it and a guy in a helmet was driving the car for us. We were inside the car and that is how the driving sequence happened.

Can you really not drive a stick shift?

No. I can maybe get you to the hospital if you were dying right now... I can't promise you, but maybe.

How do you pick projects?

It is anything I find to be fun or inspirational, or if I look at it and I feel like I can learn something from it. I go, 'Is this worth leaving my kids and my family 16 hours out of the day for?'

So how do you and Ashton manage both careers?

When we got together, we said to start a family we don't want to separate the family.

So because he shoots (Netflix series) The Ranch in Los Angeles, I have limited time that I can do a film outside of LA.

And we travel as a tribe, we don't separate the family at any given point.

So probably I will do one movie a year at best. When I uprooted the family, he worked all night long and was Mr Mom during the day.

At night, because of the time difference, he did his (venture capital) fund.

What has surprised you about being a parent?

I have learnt a weird fact about myself, that I don't raise my voice with my children.

Do I raise my voice with other people? Yes. Do I raise my voice with my kids? No.

I am direct in life, screaming when I fight, but with my kids, very quiet. My patience gets tested all the time.

I got humbled quickly by how little patience I had. I am very much in the process of learning how to not react... With kids, it does not work that way.

So, Theroux or Heughan?

(Laughs) My husband. Really good-looking, sunny, all-American, preferably from Iowa... That is pretty much who I go for.