Kristen Bell and Adam Brody Will Do This Till Their Faces Fall Off
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A rabbi and a podcaster walk into a party, and Netflix makes a show out of it. Well, sort of. In the new romantic comedy Nobody Wants This, Adam Brody plays the rabbi, Noah, fresh out of a long-term relationship with the woman that he — and, more importantly, his intrusive family and congregation — assumed he would marry. Kristen Bell plays the podcaster, Joanne, who has built a brand on openly talking with her sister Morgan (Justine Lupe) about their messy love lives. Noah and Joanne meet at a mutual friend’s event, and they have instant, impressive chemistry. But Noah’s on the verge of getting his own congregation, and about the only thing that could defer this lifelong dream would be a very public relationship with such an unfiltered — and, more importantly, non-Jewish — woman.
Nobody Wants This sparkles with amusing banter, particularly in bouncing the main couple off of both Lupe and Timothy Simons as Noah’s brother Sasha, who quickly brands himself and Morgan as the “loser siblings.” Mostly, though, the show works because Brody and Bell — whose real lives and careers have intersected several times in the two decades since they were twentysomethings playing high schoolers (him on The O.C., her on Veronica Mars) — are terribly, terribly charming together.
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Last month, the duo spoke with Rolling Stone by Zoom about what makes a good rom-com, whether Bell rode in the trunk of Brody’s car the day they met, why Ted Danson’s “full of shit,” and more.
Why did each of you want to do this?
Kristen Bell: I like the idea of bringing back a real, true rom-com, and I liked the dissonance between the two characters. And I think a Romeo and Juliet story always works when the world doesn’t want you to be together, but you want to be together. The writing was really fresh and interesting. And the second I read it, I was like, “Well, duh, this is Brody. We have to get Brody.“
Adam Brody: For me, the first thing was, it was Kristen, and I knew what a talent and a joy she is to work with. So I thought we could hopefully make something special together, and no matter what, it would be a great time. I thought it was very charming, and I also liked the idea of playing a rabbi. Even though I’ve played Jewish characters before, I’ve never played somebody so faith-based. So to lean into that side of it, and something very different from my own personality, I thought would be interesting.
Kristen, why did it have to be Brody?
Bell: Because in a rom-com, there’s a certain intangible you need to capture. And sometimes I’ve seen movies or television shows where I wanted them to work so badly, but the actors’ chemistry maybe wasn’t there. And I guess it’s because I know Adam, and I feel like I know his work and his capabilities. It really came down to the charm that I thought this character would have to have. He would have to be so likable, and Adam is so likable. Adam has that skill set where he can play an absolute jerk or a dick, but you just are drawn to him. You want to watch him more. You don’t care where his storyline is going, because he’s so charismatic. And the second part was, I wanted to be opposite an actor that has that mode that really is — sorry to tell you how the sausage is made, but — a mathematical switch in my eyes, where you can stare dopily into someone’s eyes for an endless amount of time and create that anticipation where the audience is just like, Oh, be together, please! And they feel that yearning. And I know Adam has that, and I have it, and I was like, Well, great, let’s just do this together.
When you’re doing any kind of romance, how do you go about, like, figuring out A, that you have chemistry and B, how to put it on the screen together?
Brody: It’s a leap of faith, number one. You don’t know until you know. I’ve worked with Kristen in semi-romantic pairings twice before, and I know her personally. I knew we would have chemistry, and still I was surprised at the level with which these two characters have chemistry with each other.
Bell: I don’t really know how to explain it. I’ve never disliked any scene partner I’ve ever had thankfully, but there certainly have been ones where I’m, like, Oh, that person’s very different from me, and we’re never going to hang out. And that’s OK, right? But then I watch it, and I’m like, Whoa, we are crackling. It’s like lightning in a bottle; you don’t know whether you’re going to get it or not. Having worked with Adam before, I knew we could get there, but I will echo what he said, that even I was surprised at just how dopily we could stare into each other’s eyes for an extended period of time. When I watch the episodes, I feel outside myself, like I’m really wanting Joanne and Noah to be together. It’s powerful. We’re powerful.
I’ve heard actors — Ted Danson, for instance — say that sometimes playing romantic scenes with someone you know well in real life can be difficult, because you can become protective of the line between your actual relationship and the one the characters are having. Was that ever an issue here?
Brody: I don’t think so. In fairness, we knew each other, but it was that friendly familiarity and respect. We weren’t such incredibly close old friends, so there was nothing fresh about it. And at the same time, we’ve both worked with our significant others and we’ve had chemistry with them, so I don’t know if that rule holds true.
Bell: What worked so well, I think —
Brody: Ted Danson’s full of shit!
Bell: Don’t believe a word he says. I’m such a fan of Adam’s work, and knowing him personally, who he is, there’s a safety net on set, where I feel comfortable and safe to suggest things. In any of our romance scenes, I wasn’t nervous. I felt safe, because I know this person. That helps a lot when you need to jump into a character and outside yourself.
Do you remember when and how you first met?
Brody: She doesn’t. I do. We were both in Scream 4, albeit not sharing any scenes. And my longtime agent is a good friend of hers. We gave her a ride in the back of his two-seater car from the screening to a party of some sort.
Bell: Adam claims I got in a trunk, which I don’t remember.
Brody: You were a presence, while we were driving. You weren’t just muffled in the back, but it was a two seater, and she’s in the back of that, so it might have been the trunk.
Bell: I don’t remember this, but I will not argue with this, because it does sound like something I would do if I needed a ride and the car was a two-seater. I would absolutely look at the back and be like, Well, this is where the bags go, right? I could just lay there. That sounds very on-brand.
The O.C. and Veronica Mars were on at the same time, both from the same studio, but O.C. filmed in L.A. and Veronica down in San Diego. Was there any crossing of paths during that period?
Brody: None.
Bell: Sort of. You say “none,” but I feel like there were some passing Warner Bros. press events, and Adam may not remember me there.
Brody: You were UPN trash.
Bell: Yeah, we were like the stepchild, as UPN. But we were making it work, for very many years. I do remember a time or two where I was hanging out in Adam’s apartment, and he just wasn’t there. I mean, I wasn’t by myself. I was with mutual friends, and I was like, Oh, this is Brody’s apartment.
Have you ever talked about that parallel where you were both in your early-to-mid twenties, playing high schoolers, at the same time?
Bell: We’ve never discussed it, no.
Brody: I guess not. We almost have more of a crossover with Gossip Girl, with [Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, who also created The O.C.] and my wife [Leighton Meester].
Bell: My husband [Dax Shepard] put [Brody] in CHIPS. There’s more of a crossover in our adult lives, from ancillary friendships that have brought us together.
Brody: We haven’t really talked about our teen shows.
Bell: We haven’t sat down and hashed that out yet.
But there was this period where you were being asked to play characters substantially younger than you. What was that like?
Brody: I’m sorry, are we talking about Nobody Wants This?
Bell: It’s funny, because we’re both doing it now as well. We’re playing substantially younger characters in age, and we both have a bit of a hang-up about that. Constantly, between scenes, we’re like, “Do we look as old as we feel?”
Kristen, Adam has told me he doesn’t like watching his work from that period of his life. Do you ever go back and look at early Veronica Mars episodes?
Bell: Not voluntarily, no. Partly, that’s because I have a mirror. I know what I look like. And also, there’s so much other good content out there. My kids watch The Good Place, and that’s pretty fun. They’re not quite old enough to watch Veronica Mars, because that’s more pre-teen topics.
Kristen said before that she wanted to bring back the rom-com. What flavors of rom-coms do you like?
Bell: Complexity for me. Real complexity. Not just, “They meet at a Starbucks and they flirt, but they have different work schedules! How will they make their dates work?!?!” Rom-coms leaned into simplicity for a while, and the reason I liked this one is there are some very complex issues at play that do harken back to Romeo and Juliet, where you want them so badly to be together, you want the world to disappear for them. And I liked the real-life complexity of a girl who doesn’t really know how to have a good date because she’s a self-sabotager [being] with a “good boy,” where the world around him doesn’t necessarily approve of this relationship, and then figuring out if and how they can make it work.
Brody: That’s very well said. I think nothing matters more than chemistry. It has to be a wonderful pair. Other than that, I like complexity but I don’t have to have complexity. I’m also happy to have pure escapism or wish fulfillment, but you probably need to be pretty funny, then. As long as there’s a voice, as long as there’s intelligence in the storytelling, however broad or idiosyncratic it is, or a surprise being doled out, then I’m happy.
Kristen, you have some podcasting experience, but you’re married to a guy who does it a whole lot. Did Dax provide any input on your character at all?
Bell: No, and I’m shocking myself as I’m saying that out loud. He provides input all the time, which I love. He’s very chatty. Podcasting is a very good line of work for him to have fallen into. He loves talking and debating and just chatting with people. But no, he didn’t really give me any advice, per se. Other than saying, when he read the script, what a wonderful device it is to be able to have your character be a podcast host, because there’s so much you can do from an internal monologue point of view, where you’re having her talk about subjects that are that are just slightly off the mark of what she’s talking about in relation to her real life.
Could either of you do a podcast that talks as candidly about your personal lives as Joanne’s does?
Brody: Honestly, I could.
Bell: I could as well. Look, I value authenticity a lot. I really believe in reducing shame. I think that’s part of what I liked about the character of Joanne, is that, even though she’s a hot mess, that’s her expressed true north. And I think that’s a beautiful one to have.
Brody: I have an inability to keep any thoughts to myself.
Adam, you’ve said that religion wasn’t a huge part of your life growing up, but that you developed a greater appreciation for the traditions while playing Seth Cohen. What was it like for you to play a character this faith-focused?
Brody: Overwhelming, in a way. I felt like I had a decent responsibility on my hands. As light tonally as this show is, I wanted to try and do it justice. Unfortunately, between the time I got this part and we filmed, both strikes happened. But that allowed me ample time to read up and listen up and watch a bunch. I went down a bunch of different rabbit holes about Judaism, and the history of the people and the culture. I’m much wiser for it. I was appreciative of the education I gave myself.
Tovah Feldshuh, who plays Noah’s judgmental mother, is even shorter than you, Kristen, but pretty much everyone else in the cast is very tall. Over your career, what have you learned about playing scenes opposite people who could be a foot taller than you?
Bell: Number one, you need to ask for a half-apple [box]. Which is what you stand on so you can fit in the same frame as your scene partner. That’s just the nuts and bolts. The other thing is, I’ve never played necessarily quiet or shy characters, except maybe once or twice. So I suppose I rely on the same thing Tovah relies on, which is: Bring a boisterous personality and end up looking taller.
Joanne, Veronica Mars, and Eleanor from The Good Place don’t have a lot in common, but all of them have personal lives and personalities that could fairly be described as big and messy. Is that a kind of character the business just thinks you’re good at playing, or is it something you pursue?
Bell: I do not pursue the mess in my personal life at all. I am somewhat boring, if you were to look at that on paper. But, yes, I gravitate towards characters who, on the page, are messy or even unlikable. I think this is what I learned doing Forgetting Sarah Marshall, that there is such a an exhilarating feeling when I’m given the challenge of taking someone who is inherently unlikable on the page and asking, OK, how do I get you to like her? Where are the moments within this scene where I can show you some real vulnerability just for a moment to keep you on the hook with my bad behavior? I feel like learning that and working it out during Sarah Marshall has bled into the rest of my career, and it’s what’s drawn me to messier characters. I also think there’s a reality to me being small, and, I don’t even know how you would describe it, like, cartoonish? Maybe not—
Brody: That’s what I was gonna say: “cartoonish.”
Bell: You don’t think I’m going to hurt you at any point. So because of that, when I swear, it becomes funnier. You don’t think it’s going to come out of my mouth. There’s a juxtaposition that I can play with a lot.
Adam, Kristen talked before about how you have the ability to play people whose behavior can be selfish, yet they’re lovable. How do you do that?
Brody: Oh, boy. The short answer is, I don’t know. A longer answer is, I’m kind of their lawyer. I’m gonna argue for them and their point of view. Also, it depends on the goal of the story. It’s not that you can’t root for or follow a character who’s a terrible person, because you can. But some stories are designed for characters to be very likable, and some are not. And I don’t want to over generalize, but if we need the audience on the side of a character, and we don’t want them turned off at all, then sometimes you just have to soften an edge here or there. I think these characters are maybe accidentally written selfish, some of the ones we’re referring to, but aren’t really consciously written selfish, and if you play them sweet enough, maybe it doesn’t sting so much.
Bell: You can soften an edge or sharpen an edge. Without having a scene in front of me, I can’t break it down mathematically. But when I’m acting, that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m I’m looking at where the hardest edges are and the softest edges are, and I’m inverting them to keep it interesting.
Kristen, when we talked near the end of The Good Place, you said you weren’t sure you’d ever again want to be at the top of a call sheet for another series. Obviously, time has passed and there was a whole pandemic in between. But what specifically changed that made you decide to commit to this?
Bell: What changed is, I had three or four years of not doing it. I went back to focusing completely on my real life. I was still doing some producing here and there, which I love. I don’t know. I just woke up one morning and said, “Maybe I want to act again. Let’s see how this goes.” And the timing was correct.
Brody: This is the last time, for sure.
Bell: For sure. This will be the end. I don’t try to plan things out. I just go on my gut. And so if something comes across my email that’s like, “Hey, these people might want you to do this,” I take a look. If it feels right, I say yes, and if it doesn’t, I say no. I wanted to take a break, I did. And then this just felt right. It’s just kind of as simple as that.
Finally, in success, how long could you see yourselves doing this show?
Bell: Till our faces fall off.
Brody: Yeah, till our faces fall off.
Bell: So, two years?
Brody: Yeah, yeah.
All 10 episodes of Nobody Wants This begin streaming Sept. 26 on Netflix. I’ve seen the whole season.
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