Bobby Cannavale met his 'Nine Perfect Strangers' costar Nicole Kidman for the first time when she was in character as Masha
- Bobby Cannavale met Nicole Kidman when she was in character as Masha on "Nine Perfect Strangers."
- He didn't know how Kidman would look or sound in the role and was "in shock" when he saw her.
- The characters' surprised looks when they meet Masha were "really true," Cannavale told Insider.
Long before Bobby Cannavale and Nicole Kidman were both cast on Hulu's "Nine Perfect Strangers," the actors had crossed paths several times at major Hollywood events and red carpets.
But the first time Cannavale really met his costar, she wasn't exactly herself.
Rather, she was in character as Masha Dmitichenki, a wellness guru with a muddled Russian accent and blonde hair cascading down to her waist. And he was dialed in as Tony Hogburn, a former football star that checked into Masha's 10-day retreat at Tranquillum House following years of drug addiction.
"The first day we met was when Masha walks into the ashram," Cannavale told Insider.
To prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, the cast quarantined separately for 14 days upon arriving in Australia to film "Nine Perfect Strangers," which is adapted from Liane Moriarty's 2018 novel of the same name.
According to Cannavale, he hadn't seen Kidman at all until it was time to shoot the cast's first group scene together.
"Nobody had really been around her. I didn't know what she looked like. I didn't know what she was going to sound like," he said. "That was a pretty intense day."
"I remember being blown away and in shock. I did not know what was coming after that," he continued. Cannavale added that the bewildered, mystified looks on the characters' faces were "really true."
While shooting David E. Kelley's "Nine Perfect Strangers," Kidman remained in character as the head of Tranquillum House for five months.
"I'd only respond as Masha," the actress said at a Television Critics Association panel on Friday, per Deadline's Peter White.
Kidman, who also served as an executive producer on the series, would "completely ignore" people on set when they addressed her by her first name. In her mind, method acting was the sole way to make Masha believable to those around her.
"I wanted a very calm healing energy to emanate all the time so I remember going over to people and sort of putting my hand on their heart, holding their hand," she said.
Kidman continued, "The only way I could actually relate to people was that way because I felt like otherwise I would be doing a performance and I didn't want to feel that way."
The first three episodes of Hulu's "Nine Perfect Strangers" premiered on Wednesday.