ABC/Paula Lobo
(NEW YORK) — Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell may be one of Hollywood’s cuddliest couples, but that presented a problem for Shepard when he had the idea to cast his real-life wife in his comic CHiPs reboot.
In the movie, which Shepard wrote, directed and stars in, Bell plays the estranged, vapid trophy wife of Shepard’s character. Despite being married to the director, she almost didn’t get the job.
“He sat me down and said, ‘I’m really hesitating about casting you ’cause you’re too, um, ah, what’s the word? Likeable?'” Bell tells ABC Radio’s Good Morning America After Hours. “He, as a director, had to consider the fact that he didn’t want anyone, even subconsciously, rooting for us,” she adds, of the role that called for fans to root against her. So, was there any kind of real-life unpleasantness in their seemingly perfect relationship that Bell could draw on for the role.
“We fight all the time,” she admits, before catching herself. “I wouldn’t say fight — we disagree really well.” Sounds like even those fights are cuddly. Of course Bell is familiar with playing less adorable characters, like the title character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall or the woman who mistakenly finds herself in what she believes to be heaven in NBC’s The Good Place. So is it more fun to be mean on screen? “Always!” says Bell.
“I mean, it’s not…well, yeah, it is,” she laughs. Speaking of adorable, the kids of America are waiting for Bell’s return as Anna, the younger sister of Elsa in the animated Frozen sequel. Bell can’t spill any details though: “It’s being written right now. So we haven’t started recording, so I don’t actually know anything which is so lame.”
CHIPS is in theaters now.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
