When she moved to Los Angeles for the first time at age 22, Murphy found a stranger to live with on Craigslist. After showing up to the apartment, she was informed that said stranger would be receiving the funds to do a film soon; therefore, she would be sleeping in her closet off the living room in order to get into character as an American soldier in Afghanistan during the duration of Murphy's stay. In the closet, "there was a little cot set up, and the walls were lined, like in The Shining, with Post-in notes, like character notes, as far as the eye could see," Murphy said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
