In A Family Affair, much like the Zac Efron we know and love, the actor plays a handsome, big-time movie star, but the comparisons stop there. Unlike Efron, who we recently celebrated for being such an inspiring leader on the set of The Iron Claw, his character, Chris Cole, is kind of a pain for his assistant, Zara, played by costar Joey King. Together, their portrayal of this classic industry dynamic is so spot-on that it’s clear the two of them vibed well on set, bouncing their performances off each other. In fact, you may be surprised just how much of their back-and-forth was actually on-the-spot improv and how little they expected would make it into the final cut.

The movie is a romantic comedy about Zara, an A-lister’s assistant with dreams of becoming a Hollywood producer. This dream is the only reason she’s stayed under the thumb of action star Chris Cole for so long, and after one too many ridiculous outbursts, Zara finally stands up to Chris and quits. Unfortunately for her, it won’t be that easy to distance herself from this relationship when she accidentally walks in on Chris romantically entangled with her mother, played by the “ethereal and lovely” Nicole Kidman.

Ahead of the movie’s Netflix release, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff had the chance to sit down with Efron and King to discuss their experience working with director Richard Lagravenese and Kidman. For Efron, the movie was an opportunity to reunite with a former costar, having played opposite Kidman in 2012’s The Paperboy, but for King, she was meeting and working alongside a hero. They also talk about the real-life unsung heroes on film sets, sharing scenes with one another, and tackling the fun challenge of improv together.

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or read the transcript below.

Zac Efron and Joey King Sing the Praises of Hollywood’s Unsung Heroes

PERRI NEMIROFF: I loved the emphasis on Zara being Chris’s underappreciated assistant because, in this industry, there are many people who go underappreciated. Can you each name someone in your orbit who you would name an unsung hero, whether it’s a personal assistant or someone on set who doesn’t get the credit they deserve for their work?

JOEY KING: Oh, that’s a great question.

ZAC EFRON: It’s hard to put it to one. I’m going to have to put it to groups of people. We have our hair and makeup people, we’ve got the various crews that work under us, our camera guys and sound departments, and our directors. People who are behind the scenes. They all need some love.

KING: I think an unsung hero that comes to mind, too, is definitely the sound department. They get a bad rap, man. They have a lot of work to do, and no one appreciates them, and no one listens to them. They just want a little room tone!

It’s make or break for a movie or show.

EFRON: It’s so funny. I’m always on their team, too. [Laughs]

KING: It’s 30 seconds of quiet. We can do that. No one cares about that.

EFRON: You should see how often we can’t get 30 seconds of quiet on our set. It’s shocking.

KING: I also think with good sound, you don’t really notice it, and that’s the best part. Bad sound makes you appreciate how amazing good sound is.

EFRON: Amen.

That’s incredibly true. I am here to sing a sound department’s praises all day long.

Nicole Kidman’s Passion for What She Does Is Inspiring

“Knowing that one of your favorites loves what they do so much is really special.”

Joey, you mention in our press notes that you’ve been a big fan of Nicole’s. There are moments in the movie where you literally have to yell at this god-tier industry icon. What is it like separating yourself from your fandom and being able to do a scene like that with her?

KING: One of the cool things about our job is that we get to meet our heroes a lot of the time. Sometimes it’s a good thing, sometimes it’s a bad thing. In this case, it was a very good thing. When working with someone like Nicole, of course, there are all these ideas you have about what someone might be like. You hope they’re nice, you hope they like you, all this stuff. When you meet Nicole, she’s so disarming and so wonderful, and you do really get lost in how human she is. So, it was very easy to settle into these scenes with her because she’s so generous as a scene partner, and she’s just excited to be there too. You can feel how much love she has for acting when you’re on set with her, which is really lovely because knowing that one of your favorites loves what they do so much is really special.

EFRON: Yeah, it’s inspiring. It really is inspiring. She’s got this ethereal quality that can kind of be intimidating at times when you’re meeting your heroes, but that’s gone in seconds with Nicole. She’s just so lovely.

‘A Family Affair’ Was a “Judgement-Free Zone”

Zac, in our notes, you were talking about working with Richard [Lagravenese], and you said, “I learned how to do more by acting less.” I feel like no matter what creative field you’re in, that’s a really difficult thing to wrap your head around. Can you give us an example of a time on this set when you were able to achieve more by doing less?

EFRON: They’re all the way through the movie, but in particular in a lot of scenes with Joey, actually. We just had a lot of fun, and it was when Richard would just encourage us to let it breathe and let it be real. Those are always the best takes. Those are always the best moments, in my opinion. We had, also, a lot of really funny, honest moments come up when we were improving, and they were really cool. I can look back, and I have no memory of how we got to where we got, but, like, we start singing. [Laughs]

KING: I don’t know. I have no idea. But that’s the best part about Zac, too, is when we’re improving together, it’s such a judgment-free zone. We can do the stupidest stuff and it probably won’t work or won’t make it in the final cut, but no one’s making the other person feel weird, which is so nice.

EFRON: It works when you’re on the same train, and it’s fun to improv with Joey because she always picks it up. You have to believe the improv is, like, the first rule.

KING: The first rule of improv is, “Yes, and…” you know what I mean?

Is there any improv you did on this set that made you stop and say to yourself, “There is absolutely no way they’re going to use this,” and now it’s in the final cut of the film and everyone can see it?

EFRON: The whole driving scene.

KING: There’s a lot of shit you did that I was like, “They’re never gonna use that,” and they used it. [Laughs]

EFRON: I know! I walked away going, “Don’t worry, they’re never going to use that,” and it’s all in the film.

KING: Because you’re kind of masterful at improv. You’re so funny. He does what I think is the best part about improv, where he takes a concept and makes a broad joke about a niche subject so everybody can find it funny, but how specific it is is what makes it funny. I don’t know if that makes any sense. Your line, “It’s my shahtoosh! It’s one-of-a-kind. I only have two!” There are so many things that Zac said. I don’t even remember what I said. There’s some weird shit that I said. Some of the stuff, I was like, “I hope that makes it in,” and it didn’t. That happens more often than not.

EFRON: Our whole car scene was pretty much improv.

The whole beginning of the movie rests on your shoulders and your natural cadence with each other, and it’s spot-on.

KING: Yeah, that was insane.

EFRON: It was so fun. The whole thing was just so fun. I’m excited for everyone to check it out.

For the full interview, be sure to check out the video at the top of the article! You can catch Efron, King, Kidman, Kathy Bates and Liza Koshy in A Family Affair, streaming on Netflix on now.