Patti Harrison Says Playing a Surrogate in Together Together Changed Her Perspective on Having Kids

Slaven Vlasic/Getty

Patti Harrison is looking at her road to parenthood differently after portraying a surrogate on the big screen.

In Together Together, the comedian plays Anna, a loner millennial who agrees to serve as a gestational surrogate for Ed Helms' Matt, a single 40-something desperate to become a father on his own terms. Harrison, 30, tells PEOPLE that the role has drastically changed her perception of family planning.

"I feel like my timeline has moved so many times in my brain," she says of when she expects to start a family. "I used to be like, 'Maybe like 30' because that's when my older sister had her first kid. Now that I'm 30, I'm like, 'I don't want to have a baby in a long time!' "

"This movie," adds Harrison, "definitely opened the possibilities in my brain of would there be a world where someday, if I felt those instincts kicking in, would I adopt or would I try and have a baby on my own? I feel like the possibilities of that definitely feel more— I have all of these options now versus then."

Want to get the biggest stories from PEOPLE every weekday? Subscribe to our new podcast, PEOPLE Every Day, to get the essential celebrity, entertainment and human interest news stories Monday through Friday.

RELATED: Ed Helms Shares 'Brutal Battle' of Adjusting His 3-Year-Old Daughter to Less Time in Front of TV

Exploring the unconventional route to welcoming a baby in the movie, written and directed by Nikole Beckwith, allowed the star to ditch "antiquated" feelings about family.

"It was cool to see a story where someone takes the initiative to do something that they know will make them happy regardless of what is projected onto the idea of having a kid by our society and these antiquated ideas," she says.

Tiffany Roohani/Bleecker Street

Harrison previously opened up to the Los Angeles Times about the significance of being a transgender actress cast to play a cisgender pregnant woman in Together Together.

"This was a lot more work, and it was in this character who wasn't trans, and it's a plot point the movie depends on, the fact that this character is cis. But it really helped," she said at the time. "I was focusing on anything else for a full month than me thinking about being trans, and it was just a lot of work, and it took me out of this headspace. I was pretty tired, but I think it was a good kind of tired."

"This movie specifically felt really special because it was something that I never really thought I was going to get to do," added Harrison. "And when I say that, I just didn't think I'd be playing a pregnant woman in a movie that is earnest. And I want there to be more opportunities for marginalized people who are in the creative industries. Because I do think representation is really important."

Together Together is now playing in select theaters.