Jemaine Clement and Yali Topol Margalith faced an unexpected and disgusting challenge while filming a romantic scene for the new Disney Plus series Alice and Steve. The scene, which was ultimately cut from the final edit, required them to kiss while a fly-riddled dead fox floated nearby in the river.
A Disgusting On-Set Experience
Speaking to Metro, Jemaine explained: 'It wasn't planned, but there was a floating, fly-riddled dead fox.' Yali added, looking disgusted: 'The smell… Just floating in the river… and we just had to play in love.' Jemaine continued: 'We had to kiss each other, but it was like [vomiting]. It wasn't you [Yali], just so you know! It was the floating corpse. It was disgusting. It was one of the worst things I've seen in my life, and it kept floating around. Sometimes you were like, “Oh, it's gone away”, and then it was bobbing back.' Yali admitted: 'We obviously didn't sell it. We were probably gagging the whole way through it.'
The Unlikely Romance of Steve and Izzy
In the six-episode 'wrong-com', Steve (Jemaine Clement, 52) and Izzy (Yali Topol Margalith, 26) form a relationship when both are at emotional lows. Their romance is complicated by the fact that Izzy's mother, Alice (Nicola Walker), is Steve's best friend. Alice furiously goes to war to split the pair up, disgusted by the idea of them being together. Over the course of the series, the dead fox becomes almost a welcome break from the hell Alice unleashes on Steve's life.
Balancing Power Dynamics
Yali noted the importance of showing Izzy making the first move on Steve. 'She knows what she wants, and she goes for it, and I love that,' she said. 'I think it was important, so that their power dynamic would be a bit more equal. Just Steve being a man already makes him a bit more in power, and him being older, the status needed to be a little bit balanced. So her being so forward and so strong, I think, did that a little bit.'
From Best Friends to Rivals
When Alice's attempts to split them become vicious, Steve responds, turning the once-best friends into rivals in a brutal battle for Izzy's heart. Jemaine said: 'Nicola and I played best friends for one episode. It's kind of a difficult thing to do, to pretend you've had a relationship, but we bonded over that. It's like this hard, try and support each other [thing] and make each other look good… and then she hates me for the rest of the time, which is easy!'
Alice & Steve launched June 8th on Disney Plus.
