Rashida Jones plays Cindy, a lesbian lawyer in a relationship with Natalie (played by Zooey Deschanel) in the upcoming comedy, “Our Idiot Brother,” and the actress has confessed she wasn’t quite sure what to expect when filming romantic scenes with her first on-screen girlfriend.
Luckily, Rashida knew just who to turn to for lady-lovin’ advice — her good friend/fellow actress Natalie Portman, who won both a Golden Globe award and an Oscar for her smoldering “Black Swan” performance alongside Mila Kunis.
“I’m friends with Natalie and I asked her [what to expect],” Rashida told Access Hollywood at the junket for “Our Idiot Brother” in Beverly Hills. “She was like, ‘Dude, it’s awkward to make out with your friends – I’m just warning you right now. It’s super awkward!’
“They had like, a full-on love scene though – it was totally different,” she added.
So did Natalie’s warning hold true for Rashida and Zooey?
“It was totally fun,” the “Parks and Recreation” star told Access of kissing the blue-eyed beauty. “I mean, it was slightly awkward, only because Zooey and I have known each other for a long time. It’s kind of weird to kiss your friends.
“But, you know, she’s so pretty – she doesn’t make it that hard!” she added with a smile.
Natalie famously revealed she’d dubbed Mila “Sweet Lips” during her Golden Globe acceptance speech, so we had to ask — did Rashida give Zooey a nickname after filming their affectionate scenes?
“I should give [Zooey] a name, right?” she laughed. “I would just call her ‘Softy.’ She’s soft… very soft.”
While Zooey maintains her striking beauty for the film, Rashida’s good looks were played down– complete with a masculine wardrobe and thick, borderline Coke bottle glasses.
“The glasses were kind of everything,” Rashida said. “I wanted to rock a pair of glasses that were so hipster they were not even hipster at all. I didn’t want it to be too ironic – I mean, they actually put my prescriptions in them. I enjoyed them – [they] were weirdly kind of like a little bit of a mask I could hide behind.”
Catch Rashida and Zooey, along with Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks and Emily Mortimer when “Our Idiot Brother” hits theaters on August 26.
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