Bobby Cannavale says he and Melissa McCarthy wanted their first kiss on 'Nine Perfect Strangers' to be 'uncomfortably long'

• Bobby Cannavale and Melissa McCarthy costar in Hulu's "Nine Perfect Strangers."
• Cannavale told Insider he and McCarthy improvised their first-kiss scene in episode six.
• He recalled saying: "Let's make it uncomfortably long."

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Hulu's "Nine Perfect Strangers."

In Hulu's "Nine Perfect Strangers," former football star Tony Hogburn (Bobby Cannavale) and romance novelist Frances Welty (Melissa McCarthy) go from foes to friends to love interests during their 10-day stay at Tranquillum House, a mysterious boutique wellness retreat.

Their long-awaited love story finally takes shape in episode six, when they both take elevated doses of psilocybin as part of the wellness curriculum.

Paired together as part of a group-wide buddy system, Tony and Frances have their first kiss while they're tucked away in the woods. For Cannavale, the scene stands out as one of his favorite moments in the entire series.

"It's the culmination of something that we're waiting for and it doesn't quite go the way you think it's going to go. I like the fact that he's not a good kisser. I like the fact that they're both high when they do it," the actor told Insider.

In the scene, Frances and Tony are both clearly feeling the effects of the psychedelics.

She can't stop delivering a stream-of-consciousness narration of her thoughts, and he preemptively warns that he's a "terrible kisser." When Tony eventually goes in for the kiss, he leans slightly too far, causing them both to topple over a log and collapse onto the ground. It's funny, endearing, and awkward all at the same time, and it came together thanks to Cannavale and McCarthy's joint improvisation.

"It was a lot of fun just negotiating that big log of wood and coming up with it together on our own," he said.

The costars - who are frequent collaborators and have previously teamed up for projects including "Spy" (2015), "Superintelligence" (2020), and "Thunder Force" (2021) - also plotted out the timing and length of the kiss.

"I remember saying, 'I think the kiss should be too long. We should just make it too long. Let's make it uncomfortably long,'" Cannavale said.

He said the interaction ended up being "really, really uncomfortably long" as planned, explaining that he and McCarthy wanted it to seem like Tony "didn't know how to pull away" from Frances.

"That's just a good example of two people who are in sync," Cannavale said, adding, "I have so much fun with Melissa. She's like one of the great actresses of our time, and she's such a great physical comic."

"Nine Perfect Strangers" is available to stream on Hulu, with new episodes released weekly.