What if you had never walked away from that special someone all those years ago?
What inspired you two to write this story?
It was written during lockdown, right?
Yes, it was, but we actually had hatched the idea just before lockdown.
That was the initial impetus.
Then, during lockdown, we were watching so many romantic comedies.
That really fueled this, where we wanted to make something like that.
We were like, “Let’s put something positive out into the world.”
Oh, gosh so many.
I mostly remember it because we had a ton of rom-com references.
That didn’t make the cut.
We even sent a version of the film to some friends for some early screenings of it.
It was a fan-favorite scene, but it didn’t serve the story.
It was sort of interrupting.
That’s the biggest heartbreaker of the movie.
What other personal touches did you put on your character?
Part of it was a placeholder name.
Danny [Pudi]’s character was Danny.
There were things like that in the script at the start.
I thought that was a fun parallel.
I used to be in a cover band with my two best girlfriends, Jules and Serena.
We wanted to tap into that.
The scene with him and me on the plane is ripped out of life.
In this case, it was your husband, Dave Franco.
It was like all of my actorly insecurities went away, because I trust Dave so much.
This is her house?"
It’s a surprise.
I read that you two improvised a lot of scenes using some of your real-life inside jokes.
Which ones got included in the movie that we get to see?
I swear that is a Jim Rash joke.
I’m right here.
This is the note."
You see where our sense of humor lies.
[Laughs] It’s a lot of theater school-style jokes.
What can you tell us about the “Community” movie now that it’s in the works?
It sounds like we’re planning to shoot it this summer.
I hope that’s the case and that it comes together.
I would love to shoot it this year.
That was like a toe-dip into the “Community” movie reunion.
It’s so fun, and I love those guys so much.
“Somebody I Used to Know” launches globally Friday, February 10, on Prime Video.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
