Dax Shepard was stunned watching his wife Kristen Bell kiss Adam Brody in the Netflix hit Nobody Wants This, created by Erin Foster.
At the New Yorker Festival on October 26, the 49-year-old comedian, who tied the knot with Bell in 2013, candidly spoke about his partner’s on-screen make-out session with Brody, which captured the hearts of many viewers.
While discussing his podcast, Armchair Expert, Shepard was asked about his chemistry with the Forgetting Sarah Marshall star. The actor said he and Bell have “incredible chemistry”; although, after seeing his wife get hot and heavy with The OC star, he said he wasn’t convinced their chemistry was “as good as her and Brody.”
“My friend... we watched that scene together, the kissing scene, which I’d argue is the very best kissing scene ever, ever put on film,” he said.
“And my best friend, Aaron, from childhood, he goes, ‘Does she ever kiss you like that?’ No, I didn’t even know she could kiss like that.”
Bell and Brody play each other’s forbidden love interests in the heartwarming series that took Netflix by storm last month. As Noah, Brody assumes the role of a devout rabbi while Bell plays Joanne, a sex podcaster who falls for him even though she’s not Jewish.
Throughout season one, Joanne and Noah are faced with the question of whether their love will prevail against their disapproving families and differing life priorities.
Bell opened up to E! News about the viral scene where Joanne kisses Noah for the first time shortly after the show’s release. “Even I can acknowledge watching it, like, ‘Whoa, that’s hot,’” the Veronica Mars actress admitted.
She also discussed Shephard’s interest in the scene. “My husband said the same thing. Like, watching the first episode he was like, ‘Oh my god, I want you to kiss him so badly,’” she said.
According to Bell, the chemistry between her and Brody isn’t as “effortless” as it appears to fans of the show. In reality, she and the Jennifer’s Body actor follow a “math” to make it appear natural.
“I’m not trying to be reductive, but I think there’s a math to it,” she explained. “You have two actors that know how to stare dopily into each other’s eyes, and you have to have the confidence to expand that and really sit the anticipatory value before the kiss, which I think is really important.”
Nobody Wants This, described as a “grown-up rom-com” by Bell, was renewed for a second season on October 10.
Brody has been married to Leighton Meester, the Gossip Girl lead, since 2014. The A-list pair welcomed their nine-year-old daughter, Arlo, a year after their nuptials and a son in 2020.
