Francois Arnaud and Robbie G.K. are the stars of the third episode of Heated Rivalry and they quickly make you fall in love with them as a couple.
The actors star as hockey player Scott Hunter and smoothie barista Kip Grady in the hot new HBO Max and Crave series, which everyone is talking about. Episode three follows Scott’s backstory and gives insight into his secret relationship with Kip.
So, how did they develop that on-screen bond in such a quick amount of time?
“The first time I met him was with the intimacy coordinator,” Francois told Variety. “I don’t think we shared a meal before.”
Keep reading to find out more…
“We were making dick jokes before the sex scenes, but as soon as the cameras were rolling, we were clocked in and tuned into the reality of these characters, and we didn’t feel like laughing,” he added.
Francois did meet Robbie virtually for their chemistry read.
“We did one chemistry read over Zoom, as so many things are, unfortunately, now,” he told TV Guide.
He added, “I texted [series creator Jacob Tierney] right after, and I was like, ‘Oh my God. He’s so open and simple,’ and that’s what I like about his performance in the episode. It’s really built like a rom-com, albeit a sad one. It reminds me of Notting Hill a bit. I get to be Julia Roberts! [Laughs.]”
“Anyway, I think that he plays all those rom-com beats but delivers them so that you forget [there] was ever a line — and it’s really not the case, I think, for all rom-coms that I see. I often feel the dialogue too much for my taste, and he has a way to just bring it to him and show up in a really open way. He sustains eye contact. There’s something really beautiful and easy about him,” Francois said.
Francois also spoke about filming the intimate scenes with Robbie.
“We had a few conversations. Also, there wasn’t a lot of time to get to know one another, which kind of worked for the characters because they were just meeting and falling. So it was nice to be surprised by whatever the other person brought and have the little butterflies and the spark, and I think that’s good in that context because we’re not playing people who have been in a relationship for very long, so that was useful,” Francois said. “We worked with an incredible intimacy coordinator [Chala Hunter]. I think we’re still figuring out what that role is, but I’ve had intimacy coordinators that have made me feel and certainly made other people feel more uncomfortable about the scenes we were supposed to shoot. Sometimes it’s so serious that you’re just now like, ‘Oh my god, am I supposed to feel assaulted or something?’ And Chala was amazing. She’s a friend of Jacob’s, and she was just with us and really reading the room, and we were able to joke about them if we needed to. It wasn’t hyper-serious and careful. It was respectful of everybody, but also was in the spirit of the show, which was, in general, maybe the loveliest set I’ve ever been on.”
Learn more about the ages of the new characters and how they compare to the actors’ actual ages.
Here is what Francois has said about his sexuality in real life.