“We got the joy of getting to fall in love with a lot less stress,” Efron says of their new onscreen romantic dynamic.

For Zac Efron, falling in love with Nicole Kidman is a tale as old as time … or, more accurately, a tale that’s about 12 years old.

The actors first starred together in 2012’s The Paperboy, Lee Daniels’ crime drama based on the 1995 novel of the same name. Efron played a young man who falls in love with Kidman’s older woman, who initially resists his charms but ultimately gives in. The lovers’ story ends tragically, however, but now Efron and Kidman are getting a second chance at happily ever after in A Family Affair.

In their new comedy (streaming now on Netflix), Efron plays mega movie star Chris Cole, who struggles with dating because of his fame. But when his personal assistant Zara (Joey King) quits after one too many ridiculous demands, he unexpectedly finds himself falling in love with her mother Brooke (Kidman) while trying to convince Zara to work for him again. Romantic — and professional — high jinks ensue as the trio attempts to navigate their complicated new dynamic.

Nicole Kidman as Brooke Harwood and Zac Efron as Chris Cole

While falling in love with Kidman is not a new experience for Efron, he tells Entertainment Weekly that their onscreen relationship in A Family Affair was a lot more fun to film than The Paperboy.

“It was a different movie. What did Nicole call it? She called it swamp noir. It’s a cool movie,” he says. “It was very gritty and really raw, and [in] this, we got the joy of getting to fall in love with a lot less stress. We kind of just got to do the fun part and pick up where that left off and laugh and really live in it, which was great. It was refreshing and nice.”

A Family Affair. Nicole Kidman as Brooke Harwood, Zac Efron as Chris Cole, and Joey King as Zara Ford

Filming Chris and Brooke’s meet-cute as they progressively get drunker and drunker before ultimately hooking up was one of Efron’s favorite days on set.

“It was perfect,” he says. “That’s a really, really fun scene. We got to play and just get comfortable with one another. Those scenes with Nicole are very fun because she’s so smart and she finds new things constantly to make very distinct choices and they’re really fun to play with in those moments. It’s all kind of a blur now, but I remember back, we laughed a lot.”

A Family Affair is now streaming on Netflix.