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Kristen Bell has revealed what her husband thinks of her on-screen spark with Adam Brody in Nobody Wants This.
The newly released Netflix series follows an unlikely romance between Joanne (Bell), a serial dater who overshares about her risqué love life as part of the podcast she hosts with her sister, and Noah (Brody), a progressive rabbi who has just come out of a long-term relationship.
Fans have swooned over the chemistry between Bell and Brody in Erin Foster’s culture-clash romcom, with one scene where they share their first kiss sparking rabid reactions from viewers.
Speaking to E! News, Bell shared what her Parenthood actor and husband Dax Shepard, who she met at a friends dinner party in 2007 and married in 2013, thought of the series’ steamier scenes.
“Even I can acknowledge watching it, like, ‘Whoa, that’s hot,’” she said. “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.’”
Addressing how she made her chemistry with Brody so convincing, Bell explained: “I think there’s a math to it. 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.”
She added: “Whether or not people want to see you end up with someone is a cr*p shoot, and we just kind of got lightning in a bottle.”
The Veronica Mars star previously told People what interested her about working on Nobody Wants This.
“I liked it so much because it felt like a very modern take on romance, and the characters are not 22, they’re, like, 38,” she said.
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“It addresses everything from the perils of dating apps to more serious topics like what it means for people with different backgrounds and outlooks on life to bridge those differences in the name of love.”
Nobody Wants This is based on Foster’s real life, with Brody’s character, Noah, being inspired by her husband, who is the son of Jewish Russian immigrants.
“We didn’t come from similar backgrounds,” she said on The World’s First Podcast, which she hosts with her sister Sara.
“He came from a much more traditional place. I came from a more unconventional place. When we got together we were like, ‘How’s this gonna work?”
In her four-star review for The Independent, Katie Rosseinsky wrote: “Fans of The Good Place already know that Bell is an irresistible comic performer, and she lends Joanne an appealing blend of chaotic energy and vulnerability... Brody also effortlessly slots into the role of romcom leading man; you wonder why he hasn’t done so more often.
“The whole thing is an enjoyable mix of romcom escapism and sometimes acerbic realism. Joanne and Noah are a couple you want to root for. I get the feeling the show’s title won’t be a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
All 10 episodes of Nobody Wants This are out now on Netflix.
