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Rose Byrne, Boyfriend Bobby Cannavale Dish on Working Together in Adult Beginners

Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale
Rose Byrne and real-life boyfriend Bobby Cannavale opened up to Us Weekly about working together in the "realistic" comedy drama Adult Beginners

Playing house already! Rose Byrne and boyfriend Bobby Cannavale may not be married in real life, but the couple of three years do play spouses in the new dramedy Adult Beginners. The Australian actress opened up to Us Weekly about working with her longtime love during the film’s AMC Lincoln Square NYC premiere on April 24.

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“We had done Annie so we had already broken the ice professionally, but it was fun,” Byrne, 35, gushed. (The pair played Grace and Guy in 2014’s reboot.) “The hardest part was that it was so quick, we did it in 22 days in the middle of winter and that was intense. We were all in a house together for the filming so if you didn’t get along it would have been hard, but it was good. We all got along really well with one another.”

Indeed, especially Byrne, 35, and Cannavale, who’ve been dating since 2012. Byrne was grateful to play opposite the Boardwalk Empire hunk, as well as its star Nick Kroll. “The script is so well written. It’s such great dialogue and character,” the Damages alum added to Us at the film’s West Hollywood press junket on April 6. “Nick and I both come from big families, I’m one of four, he’s one of four, I have a lot of nephews, so does he, nephews and nieces. So we just bonded quickly. We had a good rapport.”

Adult Beginners is about an entrepreneur (Kroll) who’s left in shambles on the eve of his company’s launch. Amid his crisis, he heads to Manhattan where he becomes the babysitter for his sister Justine (Byrne) and brother-in-law Jake’s (Cannavale) children. In the film, Justine takes Jake back when he cheats on her.

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Adult Beginners
Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale in Adult Beginners

“There is this idea of forgiveness which happens all the time in life,” Byrne told Us. “It’s great that Justine presents this very put together [exterior] with the house and kids and husband. Yet it’s totally dysfunctional, what they have as well as the brother. It’s like the title of the film. You just sort of develop the charades around growing up.”

Cannavale, 44, also found that audiences could relate to the film — just like he did. He revealed to Us that his brother once moved in with him too. “It’s tough, but at the end of the day they are your family,” he told Us at the junket. “This idea that it’s hard to grow up, that it’s hard when the world is telling you, you have bills to pay, you have a mortgage, you have a business. Can’t I do that and still remain the kid that I feel like inside?”

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He added: “I just thought it was a very realistic depiction of people, people at a certain age, late 30s, who are supposed to be adults and not really understanding what that means. I liked that all the characters had a secret. The secret was their own happiness, and how to convey that in an honest way. I thought it was really very realistic and it made me laugh.”

Adult Beginners is now in theaters.

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