Adam Brody and Kristen Bell on playing lovers in ‘Nobody Wants This’

Kristen Bell and Adam Brody are lounging in a dining booth of a restaurant, nearly swallowed up by an array of oversized pillows, contemplating the premise for a potential podcast they could co-host.

“What do we talk about?” Bell says, cocking her head and narrowing her eyes at her friend and co-star.

Then it clicks.

“We talk about TV shows and movies,” they both say nearly in unison.

“But we disagree a lot,” Bell says.

“We do,” Brody chimes in. “In general, I don’t like stuff and she likes stuff.”

“Yes, that would be what it would be called: ‘Adam doesn’t like it, Kristen does,’” she declares. “But I respect him enough and I know his intelligence level enough that I’m always trying to be like, ‘Why? But why do you think that?’ And then he’ll turn me on to an alternate point of view that I didn’t think about.”

“What else do we talk about?” Bell continues.

He considers the question for a moment: “I was gonna say parenting, sharing things we do with our kids. Like, ‘This is a good book for your kids …’”

Co-hosting a podcast is not in their future — though, it would be an apt promotional tool for their new series. Two decades after the actors rose to fame in the early aughts on teen dramas “The O.C.” (Brody) and “Veronica Mars” (Bell), they’re giving millennials all the feels by teaming up for “Nobody Wants This,” the romantic comedy about the unlikely relationship that develops between a candid lifestyle podcast host and a rabbi.

In the series, now streaming on Netflix, Bell is Joanne, a woman who often regales about her single life on the podcast she co-hosts with her sister, Morgan (Justine Lupe). Meanwhile, Brody’s Noah is a progressive rabbi who is newly single. Together, on L.A.’s east side, they navigate a complex but passionate relationship that confronts a number of obstacles, including their careers considerations, family and religion.

The series was created by Erin Foster, who previously acted on shows like “The O.C.” and “NCIS: Los Angeles” and is currently the co-host of “The World’s First Podcast” with her sister Sara; it’s loosely inspired by her real-life conversion to Judaism after meeting her husband, music executive Simon Tikhman. Foster originally wrote the pilot with the intention of playing the lead role herself, but in the four years that lapsed between selling the idea to 20th Television, which produced it, and the show getting bought by Netflix, which distributes it, things shifted in the television marketplace and in Foster’s personal life.

“I was knocking on the door of 40, and I was not desperate to be acting in something,” says Foster, who gave birth to her first child earlier this year. She says Netflix loved the script and that they thought it could be a big show, but with someone else in the starring role — Bell.

“It was honestly a really easy decision for me,” she says about relinquishing the role. “I don’t have ambitions to be the world’s biggest actress.”

Plus, chemistry can’t be planned. For Foster, making sure the central couple had some was important, as well as a shared sense of humor. Bell and Brody delivered.

“I think that a sense of humor is such a big connector that we forget about in dating — he’s in on the joke, or he’s not in on the joke,” Foster says. “If I’m gonna write a character who has a sense of humor and doesn’t take herself too seriously and has a funny, sarcastic point of view, I really wanted to find a guy who is sensible and responsible and sweet and charming and kind, but also makes her laugh. I think that’s the sexiest quality of the person.”

Over lunch recently during off hours at Mirate, a Mexican restaurant and bar featured in the series, some of that dynamic was on display as Bell and Brody discussed pairing up for a rom-com series, stepping into their respective roles and how the show portrays love at a more mature age. This conversation, which has a few spoilers, has been edited for clarity and length.

You both have worked together before — on things like “House of Lies” and “Scream 4”— but what was it like to come together for a project like this?

Brody: We came as equals this time, not that there’s a power thing, exactly. But the first time we worked together, it was a movie that I was the lead of that she came in for a few days. Then I did her show, [and] I came in for a few days. This time, just even the conception of it, we just came in as real partners.

Bell: I will say, I read it first — not to take credit for instigating the partnership, that’s not what I’m doing.

Brody: It’s credit deserved.

Bell: The facts are: I read this, I thought it was such a thoughtful, fresh, edgy take on a rom-com. I loved the fact that we weren’t 22. It felt very real. The second I read it, I was like, “Well, this is Brody, of course.” In the very first meetings, I was like, “OK, yeah, I’d love to do this. And, also, Adam Brody is the guy.” Thankfully, they all agreed.

So much of what makes a rom-com compelling is the chemistry, and that’s such a hard thing to capture or generate. Do you think your history or that familiarity helped?

Brody: You get incredibly familiar with someone on set within a few hours; if I sit here with you for three more hours, we’re going to know each other pretty well and be comfortable. It’s not like something that can’t be acquired, but I do think having worked together before, knowing that we got along, knowing that we work well together — you know there’s a high floor, if that’s the phrase. You’re starting from a good place. How high you can go, is still an open question.

Bell: You can attribute it to lightning in a bottle, if you want. From my perspective as a performer, I am keenly aware of other performers’ lanes — when they’re fighting to play a character, and when they’re just belonging in that body. I feel like I know Adam’s zones, and I feel like that’s because I have watched a lot of stuff he’s been in. I’m a big fan of his work. My husband [Dax Shepard] has cast him in movies we’ve done before that he’s directed, and I’ve worked with him a few times, so I knew when I read the script, this had to be a person who led with charm and intelligence and vulnerability, and I just know he has those modes very easily; simultaneously, as a rom-com, and particularly this one that so often leans into just the eye contact and no dialogue, I know he has a mode where he can just stare deeply into somebody’s eyes [reporter’s note: as Bell says this, Brody blows a raspberry] for an uncomfortable amount of time. I also have that mode. It’s just a trick in the magician’s bag. Some actors can do it, and some actors can’t, in my opinion. I was like, ‘Well, I know I can do it. I know Adam can do it. We can fill all the space.’”

Brody: I guess it’s another way of describing a romantic leading man, I suppose. And yeah, I feel comfortable in that space with myself.

Bell: You can look with longing, Adam. You want to stay with it and you don’t even need to hear him say anything. Plus knowing he’s easy to work with and fun on set was also a huge contributing factor that I’m sure no one’s gonna find interesting when they’re reading about this project, but it is though.

Brody: Oh, no. We’re selling them on the friendship. Let me piggyback onto that with a slightly different thing, but equally as pragmatic: I’ve been a fan of Kristen’s for a very long time. I think she’s a flawless comedian and actor all around. I still can see you in modes I haven’t even seen you in yet, but I know you know you can do it and I can picture it, because I think you’re tonally very, very versatile.

This is loosely based on Erin’s personal experience, and she initially wrote the pilot with the intention of playing Joanne. Kristen, what were those conversations like about you taking over the role?

Bell: Very honest because I had heard that. I had a meeting with her and I said, “I want to be involved with this, but I also want to discuss the fact that you wrote this for yourself. Also know that if you want to do it for yourself, I will step aside and not be here.”

She was very honest and said her first experience with writing this was writing it for herself but then slowly realized that there were other things she wanted to do in the same time frame, which was have a baby. She said, “No, I actually think it’s not my path right now.” So then it felt like it was all aired out.

Adam, Noah is a rabbi, but it’s not this traditional portrayal. You’ve talked about how you’ve been bar mitzvahed, but you’re not super observant. Did you have trepidation about playing a rabbi?

Brody: I did. I initially winced at the religiosity of it. But I came around to being excited by that aspect and going, “Well, that’s the different part than me, and that’s what will be fun stuff to research and explore and commit to and play.”

Bell: And he did. Every time I would come up to him, he would be listening to some Jewish podcast, or reading some very Jewish book, really putting in the work. And I put in about zero work. I was like, I’m going to show up, that’s what I’ll do. But Adam was impressive.

Brody: It’s important because here’s a person who’s a scholar of something, and I should at least have a passive, light understanding of it. I’ve inherited some things through osmosis but, by and large, I didn’t know the first thing about Judaism — even having been bar mitzvahed, having played Jewish characters before. It was important because I could speak with some authority on it, both in the character and even outside of the character, as someone who’s going to play a community leader of a specific creed and race. It did unlock a much deeper knowledge and appreciation for the history of a people and a culture.

We’ve seen fans of movies like “Anyone But You” or TV shows like “Bridgerton” speculate online or ship a real–life romance between the actors, not just the characters they play. What does that feel like to you, as married people, with a highly anticipated romantic comedy coming up?

Bell: You said “ship,” is that what the kids say? That’s understandable. It’s not realistic, but it’s understandable.

Brody: I think if anyone’s shipping us, as the kids say, they’re shipping our friendship. But no one wants to see broken homes. Those people are all younger, that’s understandable.

Bell: They don’t know the consequences of that …

Brody: I think as we get a little older, people are just happy to know your friends.

Bell: I get it because I remember watching things and being like, “Oh, God, those two people being in love feels so good to me.” But I don’t know that I ever thought about actors offscreen having that dynamic, but now with social media, and just content about everyone being everywhere, there’s a larger perspective of voyeurism that is allowed to happen. Is that healthy? I don’t know. Is it happening? Yeah.

Brody: I just don’t think people are really hoping that for us. I also think that we’re in public relationships that people also ship.

Joanne co-hosts a podcast with her sister. And Noah brings up his reservations about that and this idea of sharing too much — though, he does come to find it useful when he applies it to his work. You both have been guests on countless podcasts. And, Kristen, your husband has ”Armchair Expert.” Does this idea of sharing too much feel like a familiar conversation for either of you?

Bell: I think you know the answer to this question is that I’ve never asked myself that question.

Brody: There’s never been a moment where you’re like, “F— wish he didn’t share that?”

Bell: I don’t think so. First of all, the reason that interviews with people that are very close are interesting is because it is a level of eavesdropping. There is a level of, maybe I shouldn’t be hearing this happening. And that’s exciting. I tend to be an oversharer, as does my husband. I’m sure there was a formal discussion at some point — I have a terrible memory — about being in the public eye as a couple alongside him starting a podcast and deciding that a greater good was going to come out of being open and honest and vulnerable, even about things that are embarrassing. I’m a firm believer that everyone deserves to be loved and everyone deserves to be embarrassed. I think we’re happier and healthier because of it.

This is a show about two people finding each other at a more mature stage in life. When you watch shows like “Love is Blind” or “The Bachelor,” it’s often people in their 20s and you’re like, ‘You’re not ready for this yet!”

Bell: Like when a 22-year-old is crying that it’s their last chance at love? We did have a lot of these discussions about how old [our characters] are. We still don’t know their ages — mid 30s, late 30s, early 40s.

Brody: I think what makes it feel that way a little bit too, besides that we have jobs, is that we get together pretty quickly, we’re together, and then we’re like, “How does this work?” Versus the will they or won’t they attempt anything forever or it’s a one-night stand and so and so overheard this and there’s a misunderstanding.

[To Bell] I’m just going to keep eating your fries as you answer because they’re so f— good.

Bell: It’s not about our status to one another or in our group of friends, which I find a lot of younger love stories tend to be about. It’s about what could we mean to each other going forward, which is innately a very adult question.

L.A. is very much a part of the show. You’re shooting in Los Feliz, you’re shooting in Eagle Rock. Does any experience stand out?

Brody: What I loved about it was, it’s all on location, there’s no stages, which can’t help but make things feel lived in. I always prefer that, even if it can be more logistically challenging. That said, we’re mostly sitting down in restaurants or in somebody’s house. What was somewhat surreal to me was walking down Vermont Avenue for the kiss scene. Just having spent so much of my 20s on that street, so now to be on it thinking, “If you knew you’d be back here filming a series and doing a walk and talk down the street of your youth”— that was a surreal moment that was cool.

Bell: There was a man who wanted to be very involved in the scene. He was very vocal during the takes.

Brody: There was also like a paparazzi there, which is weird. It’s weird how you can have a bunch of bystanders, a hundred people you’re working with, three cameras and are totally comfortable, then one guy’s like taking out their lens and you’re like [mimics an eyeroll].

Bell: It ruins the vibe.

With that kiss scene, or the meet cute between Noah and Joanne, were those moments that you felt like pressure to get right. How did you approach them?

Brody: I did feel pressure to get that wine bottle open. That’s really me not being able to do that.

Bell: Talk about lightning in a bottle. He was supposed to have been able to open it, flawlessly. He could not do it.

Brody: Most of the pilot is just trying to open the wine.

Bell: In the original cut, we fought for, like, a six-minute version of that scene, just watching him struggle with the bottle. I was adamant that it should stay in because I was like, “This is something you just don’t get” — he’s genuinely struggling and I’m genuinely laughing at him, but it’s also so adorable. We did have to cut it down.

Brody: My first scene was that scene before the kiss where we’re in a restaurant on Vermont and called you to dinner as friends. If anything, that’s the only scene I felt the pressure because it’s the first day and you’re like, “Lemme put this on film and see if it flies.” I would say maybe figuring out the ending couple of scenes had some weight to it.

RomComs tend to end on a “happily ever after” note. The final episode concludes with a sweeping kiss, but we know there are still barriers or roadblocks that need to be navigated — which could be explored in another season. Is that the hope?

Bell: I think it’s interesting and thoughtful and realistic to end it on a note that you’re unsure of, or maybe you’re sure that they want it, but still unsure if the world does. I think that’s what relationships feel like. That’s not to say I don’t feel great when a movie is tied up with a nice, big bow, and I’m finished watching it and I go, “Oh, thank goodness. Two hours of escaping the monsters of the real world and getting sucked into the story.” But I kind of liked that it was much more realistic. It was nerve-racking, I would say that. I was unsure if we should be ending it like that, or if we should do what people are told to do in a script or series, which is tie it up, tie up all the loose ends.

Brody: Well, this is a show. That’s your difference. As a couple, and how are they going to navigate something being the question for a heart of a show, it’s got to be somewhat open-ended as life is.

What’s the last great rom-com you saw? Adam, you can disagree with Kristen.

Bell: He will, don’t worry.

Brody: I’m thinking. What do you got? I can have thoughts on that,

Bell: Oh, oh, oh, 100% “Colin from Accounts.” Have you seen it?

Brody: No. That’s a rom-com? This was a topic on set: “Watch ‘Colin from Accounts.’”

Bell: Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer are real-life husband and wife. They are from Australia or New Zealand, I think Australia. They are comedians. They wrote it. It is a true romantic comedy. It’s so funny and so heartwarming. It is one of the best shows I’ve seen in the last five years.

Brody: [laughs] Nothing is coming to mind.

Bell: Remember what you said to me the other day?

Brody: What?

Bell: “The Apartment.”

Brody: Yeah, you can’t beat that one. I think it was adult. I think it had dramatic qualities I really liked. It has a really somberness to it, even though it’s as funny as it is. You know who I thought really had a good thing going? It’s been a minute, and I don’t know how it’s all aged, but especially in his heyday, I was a big Nick Hornby fan. He was really special. Not just “High Fidelity,” but in general, he was a big music fan and so brought that into [his work] a lot. But most of the classic romantic comedies, I haven’t revisited.