NOBODY WANTS THIS Trailer (2024) Kristen Bell, Adam Brody

NOBODY WANTS THIS Trailer (2024) Kristen Bell, Adam Brody

NOBODY WANTS THIS Trailer (2024) Kristen Bell, Adam Brody
© 2024 - Netflix

A disclosure: I’m not sure how much critical distance I can have from the Netflix comedy “Nobody Wants This,” since the entire show seems to have been filmed within five miles of my house. The feather-light romance, starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody as an oversharing podcaster and the sensitive rabbi who sweeps her off her feet, was inspired by the life of creator Erin Foster, former star of “Barely Famous” and current co-host of “The World’s First Podcast” with her sister Sara. But it’s also a throwback to a TV micro-trend that peaked about a decade ago: low-stakes series that chronicle the emotional and romantic lives of self-involved “creative” types in a small handful of neighborhoods in the northeast corner of Los Angeles. (The mere presence of Bell and Brody evokes millennial touchstones like “Gossip Girl” and “The O.C.,” though those parallels are more superficial than stylistic.)

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Yet “Nobody Wants This” is to “Transparent,” “You’re the Worst” and their ilk what the so-called “indie sleaze” revival is to The Strokes and LCD Soundsystem: a faint echo that’s content to echo the aesthetics of its influence without much in the way of substance. (Bring in the heavyweights of TV-as-extended-rom-com, like “Catastrophe” and “Fleabag,” and the comparison is even more unflattering.) I suspect this will be more of a boon than an impediment to its success. Netflix has made megahits of shows as shiny and frictionless as “Nobody Wants This” in the past; after downing 10 episodes in two sittings, I entered a thought-free state of mind I’ve come to think of as “Emily in Paris” Syndrome. The sugar high nonetheless wears off. Despite the name, plenty of people will want to watch “Nobody Wants This.” I just doubt they’ll have lasting memories of it.

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Not that there’s much to remember, in terms of either conflict or depth of character. Joanne (Bell) chronicles her chaotic dating life with her sister, Morgan (“Succession’s” Justine Lupe), on their indeterminately successful chat show. (As a former Spotify employee, I have some serious qualms with how this show portrays the audio industry.) Yet when she meets Noah (Brody) at a dinner party, the obstacles in their path seem practically to remove themselves. Conveniently, Noah has just ended a serious relationship, though he seems to have few hangups about diving headfirst into his next one.

The good news is that the sine qua non of “Nobody Wants This” is firmly in place. Bell and Brody have easy, warm, infectious chemistry, lapsing into casual and convincing banter from the moment they lock eyes. In fact, their rapport might be too easy. Noah is funny, kind, commitment-friendly, wealthy by way of his family and more easygoing than his vocation might suggest. The most serious fault Joanne can find in him is that he’s too eager to impress her parents. The wish fulfillment is sweet, but a barrier to fleshing Noah out beyond the fantasy, let alone depicting his relationship with Joanne as a pairing of two equally complex individuals.

In theory, the primary roadblock to the couple’s happily ever after is that Noah is Jewish and Joanne isn’t. This supposed tension, however it manifests, strains credulity. When played for laughs, it’s unbelievable that an adult Angeleno has never heard the terms “shalom” or “Shabbat.” When mined for drama, Noah’s spirituality isn’t taken seriously enough to serve as its own center of gravity. And when refracted through Noah’s mother (Tovah Feldsuh), sister-in-law (Jackie Tohn) and ex (Emily Arlook), “Nobody Wants This” paints Jewish women with a discomfitingly broad brush, casting them as clannish harpies who practically start spitting when a shiksa enters the premises. The Haim-heavy soundtrack suggests all this plays out in the 21st century, but sometimes I had to check.

“Nobody Wants This” fares better when it sets the bar lower. The show is a sitcom at heart, and is plenty proficient at, well, situational comedy. Noah and Joanne run into a congregant at a sex shop! Noah’s brother Sasha (Timothy Simons) has to help his teen daughter with a boy problem whilst stoned! These scenarios appear and dissipate within 25 minutes, the better to press forward in a binge unencumbered by weightier emotions.

But “Nobody Wants This” seems ideologically opposed to cultivating deeper connections to and among its protagonists. Lupe is a gifted comedian, yet Morgan remains little more than Joanne’s quippy sounding board. Apparently, she’s divorced, but it’s never explained why her marriage ended or what effect it had on her. It’s briefly teased that Noah may have issues standing up to his overbearing mother on Joanne’s behalf; before they can become a recurring problem, they’re swiftly overcome. Initially, the late-in-life coming out of Joanne and Morgan’s father (Michael Hitchcock) is deployed as a gag. Only toward the end of the season do we learn valuable familial context for Joanne’s romantic dysfunction — and even then, it’s an exposition dump from another character.

Charisma and nostalgia are powerful lures, and they’ll take “Nobody Wants This” far. Frankly, there’s so little to the series’ nominal stabs at interfaith culture clash that one wonders why it bothers with them at all. If “Nobody Wants This” can’t make Joanne and Noah a lived-in partnership, it at least gives us Bell, Brody and a pleasant-enough time.

All 10 episodes of “Nobody Wants This” are now streaming on Netflix.

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Adam Brody, Kristen Bell, Nobody Wants This
It’s been only a few days since Erin Foster‘s new Netflix series Nobody Wants This debuted on the streaming platform, and it’s pretty safe to say that the response has been quite the opposite of the show’s title. Both online and in real life, people everywhere seem to be talking, sharing and posting about the romantic comedy that stars Kristen Bell as an agnostic podcast host who falls for an unconventional rabbi, played by Adam Brody, who has just broken up with a longtime girlfriend. During the interview with The Hollywood Reporter below, Brody reveals the secret to great on-screen chemistry, the research he put into playing a rabbi and whether he’s truly as hard-to-get as people say.

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***

I read that Kristen Bell was already attached when this came your way, and she told Erin Foster there was only one guy who could play this part, and that was you. Who reached out first?

My agent has been my agent for a long time, and his wife [Nicole Chavez] has been Kristen’s stylist and good friend for a long time. We have well-traveled back channels, so I heard about it through him. I think Kristen reached out, unofficially, early on to warm up the stove.

Erin told The New York Times that they wanted you, but to cover bases, they auditioned “every hot Jewish guy in town.” Were you aware of the competition?

I didn’t know they were auditioning people. I wanted it. I only got the first episode of the script but I thought it was charming, and a fun role that felt both comfortable and a familiar, fun place to play. At the same time, with the character being a rabbi meant that it had this whole other side to it. I had a lot to learn and study so that I could do an actorly thing with it. I should also be so lucky to work with Kristen. She’s a phenomenal actor who has an amazing track record. I wanted to do it, but I was content to let it all play out.

Kristen Bell and Adam Brody in Nobody Wants This. Stefania Rosini/Netflix © 2024
Tell me about those actorly things. I read that you watched documentaries, listened to podcasts and attended a Shabbat service. Is that a normal deep dive for you?

Mostly I watched and listened to things like books, podcasts, movies and documentaries. I dabbled in the temple. I normally do that sort of thing, but I typically don’t have as long of a prep time and I don’t normally feel as obligated to do as much. More than anything else, I always do a bit of reading for inspiration. For whatever role that I’m doing, I will read related materials that appeal to me and help me think of some psychological ideas as well as performative ideas. With this, there’s such a real history representing a real culture and religion, and I felt more of an obligation to get it right.

I know that some people watching could be sensitive to it, and I wanted to make as many people happy as I could. I had the job before the strikes, and when the strikes happened, I had an abnormal amount of time that allowed me to really dive in. I really did learn so much about the history of Judaism, and both this mythology that has affected and shaped a lot of our culture for millennia, and also so much about the people and their travels throughout history. I knew as much as your average American about the Holocaust, but now I know a lot more. It helped me look at the world with a clearer perspective and a better context.

As an actor going through the strikes, how did it feel to have a job on the other side of it?

It was a very nice comfort. Everything felt so up in the air. I was pretty certain we were doing [the show], but I don’t think anyone was a 100 percent certain of anything. To have something, even theoretically, to look forward to was a great comfort.

Words that are often used to describe you and Kristen are “charming” and “lovable.” Is there extra pressure to perform when you are paired with someone like her? How did you find rhythm together?

It’s very natural. But, listen, those things could cancel each other out just as easily. If two people are too similar, sometimes you need a little bit of different chords, different notes to harmonize. I didn’t totally know how it would work. I know that she’s a lovely person and she’s really talented, and I knew that the writing was really strong. All you can do is go in and do your best. You hope that it turns out, and again, I give a lot of credit to the writing. We’ve been together in different shows and nobody said, “Your chemistry is amazing.” I mean, we had a great time working together and it certainly worked but there’s a reason this time that the show is getting more of a response in this way. That has to do with the shape of the writing.

Those previous projects include House of Lies and you were both in Scream 4, though you didn’t cross paths on screen at all. Do you remember when you first met?

We also did another movie called Some Girl(s). I remember when we met but she doesn’t. It was at a Scream 4 screening. My agent he had a two-seater car and we were going to go from the screening to after party or something. We gave her a ride in kind of the trunk part where she was stuffed into the backseat of the non-backseat part.

Also in that New York Times profile, I read that you are pretty discerning about what roles you take. Erin Foster said that you don’t like to do something “unless it really speaks to you,” while Kristen said you’re “incredibly picky and that’s part of his charm. He’s not always available to everyone.” How has that played out in your career?

As I alluded to in that article, I’m opinionated for sure. I think any actor should be. Any professional should be opinionated about what they do but I think I’m much more pragmatic in terms of what I do. I don’t consider myself incredibly picky. I understand the reality of going to work and I enjoy work, and there’s not a much strong correlation between the quality of a project and the joy I have making it. It has a lot more to do with the personalities involved. All of that is to say that going to work is its own joy, too. There was a moment earlier in my career where I think I was more self-conscious. But, at the same time, I don’t look back on anything I didn’t do and think, “wow, I really missed the boat or I should have done something else.” I’m so lucky to be on the path I found myself on career-wise. It’s my road. It’s so clear to me that there are no regrets.

Brody, left, with Jeffrey Wright in a scene from the Oscar nominated American Fiction. Courtesy of Orion Pictures
You’re coming off a great year. You starred in Fleischmann is in Trouble, Shazam: Fury of the Gods, which maybe didn’t quite perform to expectations but was a great opportunity, and then you had a role in American Fiction, a film that got nominated for best picture at the Oscars. That’s all got to feel pretty good…

It’s lovely. I’ve gotten to work with some of my favorite actors and be in things that make me feel very fortunate. It’s not been by design. Things came my way and I would’ve been a fool not to do them. I’ve gotten to be in things that had some real relevance to conversations that we’re having as a culture. To see them into the mainstream and get a decent amount of people to see them and enter the zeitgeist is its own level of satisfaction and reward.

Nobody Wants This is now streaming on Netflix.

Brody at a photo call for Nobody Wants This at The Aster in L.A. on Sept. 18, 2024. Olivia Wong/Getty Images
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Netflix
Nobody Wants This
Nobody Wants This has all the ingredients to be the new obsession for the dying genre of the rom-com. What's more? It might just be the successor to Fleabag.
What makes a good rom-com? Honestly, it feels like a dying argument already, where the examples of it are all- what feels like, a lifetime ago. What's the name of a recent rom-com that made me feel like the world is a better place? I can't remember. When Harry Met Sally to 10 Things I Hate About You, and 'bout Time, the thread of connection here is that these stories willfully want to make us believe that two people can put their differences aside and treat each other with love. (Also read: One Day review: Netflix hits gold with beautiful, decades-spanning love story)

Kristen Bell and Adam Brody have great chemistry in Nobody Wants This.
Kristen Bell and Adam Brody have great chemistry in Nobody Wants This.
Everybody wants a good rom-com
The genre has been done so many times, but something is always missing- either the guy is creepy, or there is such not much chemistry to root for at the end of the day. Worse, it is all a bit too optimistic to deal with the world at large. Thankfully and quite unexpectedly, the new Netflix rom-com Nobody Wants This does not fall for all these cliches and traps.

It is a fairly simple, non-fussy series about two people connecting over the course of 10 half-hour long episodes, and it helps that these two people are played by Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. Her Joanne is an agnostic, while his Noah, out of all things, turns out to be a rabbi. Of course, he is called the ‘hot rabbi’ at work.

She runs a podcast about sex and relationships in the modern world, where she overshares with her sister-cum-cohost Morgan (Justine Lupe aka Succession's Willa) for a living. Meanwhile he takes his vocation with all seriousness, earning the good opinion of his seniors and a few good stares from the older women who want to introduce their daughters to him.

Inspired by creator Erin Foster's relationship with her Jewish husband, the show retains a perceptive and gentle tone throughout, drawing these characters together with care. Their meet-cute occurs quite unobtrusively in the pilot episode, although Joanne cannot help but decide what she wants for herself. The show does take some time to find its own pace, but even with Joanne and Noah giving it a shot, the big gaping crisis in their relationship is that she is the outsider within the community he thrives in. His parents are scandalized, but they are sure this will last not more than a few minutes.

Nobody Wants This is about an inter-faith romance, but the show does fall short in delving into Noah's identity as a Jewish person, and begins to feel like it is a part that exists to somehow navigate the more important question that whether the two of them will make it or not. Brody brings more to the screen than what he is given, and injects Noah with an aching sense of vulnerability and pensiveness.

Bell, in comparison, does seem more pragmatic and poised. It certainly is because the show is more focused on Noah's vocation, and as a result shows more about Noah's family, his community, his hobbies. Joanne's podcast is left as a residue, which miraculously continues to grow despite her growing reserve.

Final thoughts
Directors Hannah Fidell, Karen Maine, Greg Mottola, Oz Rodriguez and Lawrence Trilling manage to neatly balance the emotional stakes in these two characters, even when their equation threatens to derail because of miscommunication. It helps that Bell and Brody share an electric chemistry together, which truly holds the show together despite its shortcomings. Brody, in particular, brushes past stereotypical urges to make Noah as somone who has to suffer and cry, and be a complete man-child. He is more than that. Noah asks the questions, is ready to take charge when a situation turns cold, and can talk it out from a perspective not his own. Brody makes us root hard for him to make this relationship work out.

Nobody Wants This feels like a breath of fresh air in the sea of OTT shows obsessed with the pitfalls of modern relationships. Or where the man is not a complete fool. Yes, there is despair and cynicism and the world has so many problems to deal with outside of work. Misunderstanding is a beast. But there can be a safe space if we allow it a little bit of time and consideration.

Nobody Wants This allows that time and energy for Noah and Joanne, patiently waiting for that love to not go unanswered. It is one of the most romantic shows of the year so far.

Nobody Wants This is currently streaming on Netflix.
Despite having worked with him multiple times, Kristen Bell still can’t quite remember the first time she met Adam Brody. The actors had certainly known each other socially, having both risen to fame in the mid-2000s on teen dramas that garnered cult followings (Bell on Veronica Mars, Brody on The O.C.).

But, as he recalls on a joint video call with Bell, Brody’s first significant memory of meeting her happened during a screening of 2011’s Scream 4, in which they both appeared but didn’t share any scenes together. Brody and his longtime agent, who is married to Bell’s longtime stylist, were on their way to a Scream after-party when Bell asked for a ride and proceeded to “fold” herself into the back of their two-seater car. (Although she has no recollection of this event, Bell jokes, “Listen, I’m not going to argue that that’s not on brand for something I would do, if I needed to get to a secondary location.”)

Over the years since, Bell and Brody have shared the screen a handful of times: as exes in Neil LaBute’s 2013 bittersweet comedy film Some Girl(s), and briefly as love interests in the second season of Showtime’s corporate satire series House of Lies. But when she first read the pilot of Nobody Wants This, Erin Foster’s new semiautobiographical series based on her experiences falling in love with her Jewish husband, Bell knew there was only one actor she wanted to play her co-lead — someone with whom she had clear chemistry and could catch lightning in a bottle.

Play Iconpreview for Nobody Wants This – official trailer (Netflix)
“The reason I thought it could only be Adam is because, as an actor, I’m acutely aware of what other actors do well and do not do well. Adam can stare longingly into someone’s eyes for an extended period of time — and so can I,” Bell tells Harper’s Bazaar. “And, not to burst everyone’s bubble, but [the on-screen connection comes from] the math of that, the anticipation of that. If someone can hold it with you and you know that they can stay in that eye-contact space, you are going to crack a lens.”

Brody was “flattered” by the offer to re-team with Bell for one of their favourite genres. “Not only do I like watching romantic comedies, I like performing them. It’s a very fun space to play in as a performer – at least for myself,” Brody says. “I thought Erin had a really fresh and funny take on it, which was ripe for stories and ripe for comedy.”

nobody wants this
netflix
In the new Netflix rom-com, which premiered this month, Brody plays Noah, an unconventional Los Angeles rabbi who falls for Bell’s Joanne, an outspoken, non-Jewish podcast host. From the moment they meet at a mutual friend’s dinner party, sparks fly between them, but the new lovers must wrestle with how much (if any) of themselves they are willing to give up to make their relationship work.

“I think one of the beautiful parts about this show is that it’s trying to show something real and entertaining. I don’t know that there’s an orchestrated, calculated statement trying to be made,” Bell says. “I think this show is more experiential in a very realistic way, because I love the fact that [the characters] are not 20-somethings. I have so many friends that are 38, that are in this position of, ‘How do I date? Should I settle down?’ So this show is more of an experience than a statement.”

Below, Bell and Brody discuss this latest collaboration, the evolution of their own relationships with faith and religion, what they’ve learned about love — and the keys to landing an epic on-screen kiss.

The central relationship between Joanne and Noah is less a case of “will they, won’t they,” as is the custom for most rom-coms, and more “should they be together?” How would you describe the constant push and pull between them that creates all the tension in their dynamic?
Adam Brody: Both of our [characters’] jobs, for starters, are kind of at odds with each other in our relationship. They’re not just our jobs; they’re our passions. We’re deeply passionate about our chosen careers, and that’s a bit at odds. I would say both families are also in the way. Mine might be the bigger obstacle out of the two, especially since I feel more beholden to them than Joanne [does with hers]. And then I think there’s the ongoing issues of trust and commitment. I have a very committed life and lifestyle. Joanne’s committed to her job, of course, but has not had the same level of commitment and roots [in her personal life].

Kristen Bell: One reason I find this particular love story so interesting is  that  it’s nuanced enough to recognise that you should not be searching for a missing puzzle piece. That does not exist. That’s a myth. And let’s blame it on John Cusack and that goddamn boom box, if we must. But the reality is, you will find someone who you feel connected to. You’ll spend the next however-long amount of time deciding whether or not the compromises you need to make to stay with this person are worth it, and that’s the level of nuance that the show gives you.

I love the way you said it — it’s not, “will they or won’t they?” It’s “should they?” Part of that has to do with the external circumstances of families, lifestyles, values or lack thereof, and part of that has to do with the individuality of the two characters deciding, “am I giving up too much of myself to get this thing I want? Am I going to regret having lost this part of myself?” Technically, you could map out those [same kinds of] stories in a Marvel movie — you find a hero, he has a problem, he kills the villain. This is way more complex, because these characters have to decide for themselves if they’re giving too much up — or not giving up enough. That, to me, is a constant roller coaster, which is why it’s interesting.

AB: I think that’s also very true to life — and very true to the show.

nobody wants this
Netflix
As Joanne and Noah deepen the intimacy of their relationship, you two share some dramatic, romantic kisses over the course of the first season — including the big, sweeping first kiss at the end of episode two, which will likely take some viewers, like myself, by surprise. What would you say are the keys and mechanics of landing an epic on-screen kiss?
[Bell and Brody’s jaws both drop, and they both laugh.]

AB: They’re intangible, my friend! They’re intangibles. Truly, I don’t know. All I can say is, in the script, it says something to the effect of “the greatest kiss of all time”.

No pressure!
KB: We were both so nervous!

AB: There also just happened to be paparazzi right there too, kind of getting it all. That was also a little disconcerting. [Laughs.] But to me, all that really meant was, “just take your time.” That’s it.

KB: I think there is no way to truly break it down, but one could certainly try. I think when Adam and I read the screen direction for “the best kiss either of them has ever experienced on earth,” we were like, “Fuck! Okay, do we talk about this? Do we just go in for it? Do we just try something? I don’t know. Do we wing it?” I think what’s clear to both of us is that the butterflies and the heart palpitations live in the anticipation; the lead-up is so much more romantic than the actual kiss.

Adam, didn’t we do a couple of takes where one of us was like, “Let’s just make it doubly as long — not the actual kiss, but the lead-up”? Like, “Let’s just stretch out staring at each other for as long as we possibly can before we feel like we really should have wrapped already.”

AB: You’re probably right.

KB: Focusing on the anticipation was the starting point, and then realising in the moment that Adam does this really cute thing — or did this really cute thing, [to Brody] I don’t know if this is how you actually kiss people — where he held my face a lot. And the second he did it, I was like, “Okay, well, this is so cute, and we’ve got to have it be a through line [in all the kisses].” And I think we did.

AB: I don’t think we talked about this either, but we might have — but maybe the thing that felt the most real to me is then we stop [kissing], and then you’ve got to go, and then there’s another quick kiss.

KB: That wasn’t scripted.

AB: That, to me, feels so organic, true to life — the first time you’re making out with somebody, and it’s so great and you don’t want to say goodbye, and it’s like you’re kissing until the last second.

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Adam, many of your past characters, including Seth Cohen on The O.C., have been religious. As a secular Jew yourself, did you do any specific research about the particulars of being a practicing rabbi? And how did you and Erin want to go about subverting common tropes or stereotypes about rabbis?
AB: It’s a boring answer, but the truth is I read and watched a lot of things more than I shadowed a rabbi, which is the story people want to hear. I just read a lot of books and listened to some podcasts and documentaries [about Judaism]. I swear it’s a long list. It was an informative and enjoyable one.

I think the pilot — and in many ways, a lot of the show — subverts the stereotype [of what a rabbi looks like]. He’s a young guy on the dating scene, and [Joanne] first realises he’s a rabbi when he’s exhaling pot smoke — and that was the easy part, in a way. I read it, and I was like, “Oh, of course, I can be this guy. I can smoke pot at a dinner party. I know how to do that and talk to Kristen’s character.” But when I thought about it, the truth of the matter is, no matter how casual, no matter how atypical he seems, he is a rabbi. He loves his job. This is a person of deep faith who thinks very thoughtfully and deeply about the Torah and the Talmud all the time and looks at life refracted through that [lens], so that was a challenge, but that was what made it fun, ultimately, for me.

Both of you aren’t religious in real life, but I’d imagine that making a show built on that touchy subject has made you reflect on your own relationship with religion (or lack thereof). How do you personally feel about organised religion, and how has your own relationship with your faith evolved as you’ve gotten older?
KB: I went to Catholic school. My mother is still very religious. I would identify as a humanist. Personally, I love traditions, but what I will say is the irony here is that the community that I grew up in — where I went to elementary school, middle school, before going to Catholic school — was entirely Jewish. I was one of two Gentiles, so I was probably most familiar with Judaism as a religion more than anything else, and I love a lot of the traditions.

AB: I am not religious, and that hasn’t really changed much since I was young. In doing this [show] and thinking about this in a more concentrated way than I have before — thinking about religion, thinking about faith — I think it’s very human, whether you’re religious or not, to have a philosophy, a mythology, and a story for yourself about the world and what you’re doing here. Whether it’s, “I want to leave the world better than I found it” or whatever your morality is, we all do it. Certainly, as someone who partakes in storytelling for a living, I also am constantly trying to impose a poetic form and narrative on cellular happenings around me. So I identify in that way, while not being religious myself.

It’s not to say that I don’t have my own moral philosophy and I don’t have my reasons for being here. I’m not a nihilist. Certainly, [my] children have imbued me with a deeper love, and my emotions are more right below the surface; they’re less buried than they used to be. It’s a religious experience, my experience having kids, but it hasn’t changed my outlook on faith at all. I guess I’m dancing around it, but I’m an atheist, and it’s not that I’m proud of it. But at the same time, I’m not ashamed of it. I’m happy about it, and I won’t shy away from it.

new york, new york september 23 l r adam brody and kristen bell attend netflixs nobody wants this ny fan screening at the paris theatre on september 23, 2024 in new york city photo by jamie mccarthygetty images for netflix
Jamie McCarthy
You’ve both been happily married to your respective spouses for over a decade now, so you’ve likely had some variation of the conversations that Joanne and Noah are forced to have in the show, especially when the going gets tough. How have your own views on love — and what’s necessary to sustain a relationship — evolved since you met and married your spouses? [Bell is married to Dax Shepard; Brody is married to Leighton Meester.]
AB: I just want to echo something Kristen already said, which is the idea of sharing, compromising, and merging: how much are you changing? How much of that is good, and how much are you willing to do? The idea of compromise sounds like you’re losing something — it’s not that. It’s learning as well, but, by nature, you’re changing if you’re going to be with someone to that degree, and hopefully, that person is a positive, that’s all for the better. I think in both of our cases, it is.

KB: Yeah. I think it would be disingenuous to say you can just find your perfect puzzle piece. That’s a preschool story version of it. As you grow up, you realise people have needs, wants, triggers, comforts, and annoyances.

I feel like what I’ve learned in my marriage is that I married my polar opposite — and I love it. For me personally, it is endlessly stimulating to have an alternate point of view and a devil’s advocate in the room. The two things we share is a desire to raise our girls right, and a desire to grow constantly. So there is not one mathematical equation that will work for everyone, and I think that’s a sad thing to say outloud because people want an answer [for a long-lasting marriage].

I think I’ve realised that I can stay in love, and this is something that my husband and I talk about often: he is on my team at all times. At the height of any argument or disagreement we have, I still know he is on my team. To me, that’s what a good foundational relationship is. It actually doesn’t matter how often you disagree or have interests that stray from each other. I like knitting. He likes motorbikes. But can you trust yourself enough to allow yourself to trust the other person? … That’s what I feel like I’ve learned is a true relationship, at least for me.

AB: I didn’t know 12 years ago that I couldn’t stay exactly how I was [in a relationship]. You’re going to have to grow and change and be comfortable with that. And at the same time, I think for a successful relationship, as Kristen was saying, you have to be with someone that’s on your team — and a lot of that starts with you. Before you’re with someone else, you have to have your own self-respect to know — and the sense — to be with someone from the get-go whose intentions are good and whose character is sound. For all sorts of reasons, upbringing has a lot to do with it. Some people have difficulty with that, and it’s hard to change. You’ll grow together, but you’re not going to change someone’s character. So, the foundation has to be really good, and if your foundation’s good, then you can probably weather anything.

This is my own personal feeling: Some people have different wavelengths or different resting moods, but I’m also like, “I want [my marriage] to feel really good most of the time,” and it doesn’t mean you’re not going to compromise, it doesn’t mean you’re not going to swallow your pride, but it should be a joy in general. I’m only speaking for myself, but that’s what I’m after.

KB: I’ll add one more thing: you have to want to root for that person too. You can’t just expect them to want to root for you. You have to be whole enough to want to root for the other person, even when they’re being really annoying. [Laughs.]

nobody wants this
netflix
This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

Hot Priests are so 2019 — this fall, Netflix is debuting a Hot Rabbi.

Given that said rabbi will be portrayed by Adam Brody, we’ll allow it. Brody will star alongside Kirsten Bell in the 10-episode romantic-comedy “Nobody Wants This,” created by Erin Foster (“Barely Famous”). “Nobody Wants This” is one of IndieWire’s most anticipated shows of the fall.

Here’s the official logline: “An agnostic podcast host and an unconventional rabbi on the rebound walk into a party. When they walk out — together — the unlikely pair, Joanne (Kristen Bell) and Noah (Adam Brody), can tell there is something between them. But also potentially between them, with their differing outlooks on life, all of the modern obstacles to love, and their sometimes well-meaning, sometimes sabotaging families — including her sister Morgan (Justin Lupe) and his brother Sasha (Timothy Simons).”

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What a cast!

Anyone who watched “The O.C.” circa 2004 is naturally excited for Brody to be a romantic lead again — something he’s mostly eschewed since his Seth Cohen teen idol days. The actor was last on TV in FX’s “Fleishman Is in Trouble.” Meanwhile, fellow teen-centric star and “Veronica Mars” alum Bell’s last series regular role was Netflix’s “The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window” in 2022.

It seems like both actors are exactly the right people for the series, according to creator Foster.

“This show is based on the only good decision I ever made: falling for a nice Jewish boy,” Foster told Netflix’s Tudum. “But I realized that being happy is way harder than being miserable — there’s nothing to complain about. So, I created this show based on all the ways that finding the right person can be so hard.”

The show also stars Stephanie Faracy, Michael Hitcock, Tovah Feldshuh, Paul Ben-Victor, Emily Arlook, Jackie Tohn, Sherry Cola, and Shiloh Berman. Executive producers include Foster, Bell, Steven Levitan, Craig DiGregorio, Sara Foster, Danielle Stokdyk, Jeff Morton and Jack Burditt. Oly Obst is executive producer for 3arts.

Check out the trailer for “Nobody Wants This” below. The series will stream on Netflix September 26.

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