Kristen Bell and Adam Scott met more than 20 years ago when he guest-starred on her teen detective drama “Veronica Mars.” They’ve since shared the screen in a handful of comedies — “Party Down,” “Parks & Recreation” and “The Good Place” — becoming so friendly that Scott’s teenage daughter babysits Bell’s kids.
“Here’s the problem with actors who are friends or see each other socially: It all blends,” Bell says as the two sit down to discuss their latest projects. “We went out to dinner two weeks ago. I don’t know if that was a scene or if we were at dinner.”
Scott chimes in, joking, “Were we shooting that?”
They weren’t, but fortunately the cameras are rolling for this conversation about their current hit shows — Bell’s “Nobody Wants This,” a rom-com about an agnostic sex podcaster who falls for a hot rabbi, and Scott’s “Severance,” in which he plays a white-collar worker who undergoes a medical procedure so that his at-work and at-home selves will exist separately — without any knowledge of each other.
Kristen Bell: We met on “Veronica Mars,” and then we worked together the next time on “Party Down.”
Adam Scott: I did “Veronica Mars” because I was buddies with Angelique Jackson Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge and John Enbom, and then they, of course, created “Party Down” with Paul Rudd. They called me, because when “Veronica Mars” got canceled …
Bell: [Feigns surprise] It’s canceled?!
Scott: I’m so sorry. Can we take five? We may need to take 10. Let’s take 15.
Bell: That’s fine. Moving on.
Scott: Around 2008, we started making the show, and that’s when you came and did it.
Bell: That was actually one of my favorite characters ever. I have a hard time when people are like, “What’s your favorite character?” (A) I can’t think spontaneously like that; and (b) it’s not like I’m marinating about my favorite characters at home, so I don’t have an answer. But if I really were to think about it, Uda [Bengt, from “Party Down”] would have been it, because she was so stoic and sharp and just on another planet. She was in another key than everyone else was in.
Scott: I remember when you came to do it, we hadn’t seen each other or worked together since “Veronica Mars,” and I remember being palpably nervous [about you doing] the episode. I’m totally serious.
Bell: Why?
Scott: Because I hadn’t seen you since then, and I don’t know, I just remember being nervous. It actually made it easier for me because I could be nervous and not know what to do, because Uda is such a force of nature.
Peggy Sirota for Variety
Bell: I get what you’re saying about being nervous around people. You’re very comfortable for me, so I wouldn’t say I’m nervous. But when I see other actors, even [those] that I’m friends with, I’m like, they’re still someone who’s on my television. I’ve never said it before, but people should know: I get nervous and excited to meet people because they’re on my TV too.
Scott: People who grow up in Los Angeles or around show business, the big advantage they have on the rest of us is that that’s not a big deal for them. Whereas for me, being on a television or on a movie screen or something felt about as likely as going to the moon. So I’m still pretty freaked out about it and get excited on a set.
That reminds me. Now seems like a good place for you to maybe officially apologize for the voicemails that you and Dax [Shepard, Bell’s husband] leave me?
Bell: I would try, but I’m not that good of an actor.
The endings to every episode of “Severance” are so biologically frustrating that I don’t know how you guys expect anyone to sleep after an episode with that level of a cliffhanger. So what Dax and I tend to do is, when we see someone whose work we love or whose work frustrates us — as in your case — we leave you a nice, long, detailed, unedited voice memo. And you got a lot of those.
Scott: I sure did. And I’ve kept all of them. They’re hilarious and deeply flattering, but also deeply insulting.
Bell: My favorite one was when Dax pretty much screamed into the voice memo, “Hey, Adam. Kristen just fell out of a two-story window. I bet you’d like to know how she’s doing. I’ll tell you next week!”
Scott: Or the one where you guys called while we were in the middle of shooting Season 2 and just said, “Hey, just curious, are you guys shooting this one minute per week? Why is it taking so fucking long?”
Bell: Give us the show!
Scott: Just because you guys left that message, it’s now going to take seven years for the next season.
Bell: Your show has the ability to really evoke a reaction from my family, because my kids watch it as well.
Scott: Oh, they do?
Bell: They love it! Did you have any idea “Severance” would be as big as it is?
Peggy Sirota for Variety
Scott: No, not at all. In fact, I remember being particularly freaked out because it was so weird. I mean, I knew I loved it. You never know how something’s going to be received until it’s out in the world. The most we were hoping for was that people would like it and there would be a following that thought it was weird and cool. But then when it was as successful as it was in Season 1, we were thrilled. It was all a really lovely surprise.
Bell: What did you think when you read the scene where your work self and your at-home self meet face-to-face?
Scott: If you read something like that, you just immediately start dreading.
Bell: That made you nervous?
Scott: Oh, yeah — I was terrified to do that.
Bell: For what reason?
Scott: I just see it as a series of opportunities to screw it up and lean in too far.
Bell: Don’t talk about my friend like that. I thought it was one of the most dynamite sequences I’ve ever seen.
Scott: We need to talk about your show.
Bell: Why would we do that?
Scott: Because “Nobody Wants This” is so great. You and Adam Brody obviously have this palpable thing. The word “chemistry” is overused with actors because it generalizes something that either works or doesn’t and is incredibly special. Sometimes it’s manufactured and the audience can’t tell, and they think people have incredible chemistry.
Bell: And sometimes you can’t stand the person, but you read like you have incredible chemistry. Isn’t that weird?
Scott: It is weird. But with you and Adam, I feel like there is something crackly and special there. And you guys know each other.
Bell: We were in ancillary friend groups since our 20s. He was on “The O.C.” I was on “Veronica Mars,” and he dated a close friend of mine. So I always assumed I knew him — mainly because sometimes we were at his apartment when he wasn’t there. Then we worked together on this movie, “Some Girl(s),” and he played a love interest of mine on “House of Lies.” I was eight months pregnant; we had a sex scene, which he affectionately refers to as our “threesome.”
Scott: Oh, Jesus. That’s amazing.
Bell: It was a whole thing. He’s always been such a delight to watch. He makes so many weird choices, and you can’t tether him. He’s so alive.
When I read [the script for “Nobody Wants This”], I was completely convinced it had to be Adam, and I said that to everyone. They were like, “Adam Brody, huh? We hadn’t thought of him,” and I was like, “Please trust me.” And then I showed the producers a tape of Adam and I working together, and I’m like, “Something about what we can manufacture with that lens just works.”
Scott: That’s interesting, though, because you hadn’t done something specifically like this before together. It’s just something you knew.
Something else that’s so interesting is that this is an interfaith relationship.
Bell: Adam’s character, Noah, is a rabbi, so he has had a very specific upbringing. He wants to be the head rabbi; it’s ingrained in him. My character doesn’t really believe in anything. They meet, and they feel each other on a level that doesn’t make sense to either of them — because nobody wants this.
But what I liked so much about it is you could insert anything here. This person is a Christian; this person is not. This person is a witch, and this person is not. There’s all these different walks of life that you could small-mindedly convince yourself are not for you. Not to be too “coexist bumper sticker” about it, but the reality is we’re all just human beings trying the best we can.
Production: BAUIE+RAD; Production Design: Francisco Vargas
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