Laura Dern reveals the surprising scene with Will Arnett that director Bradley Cooper found 'so s...

Dern and Arnett played the longmarried couple Tess and Alex Novak still working on their relationship in the romantic dramedy directed by Cooper. Laura Dern reveals the surprising scene with Will Arnett that director Bradley Cooper found 'so sexy' Dern and Arnett played the longmarried couple Tess and Alex Novak still working on their relationship in the romantic dramedy directed by Cooper. By Ryan Coleman :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/RyanColemanauthorphoto0081ce8f0254478080f35972c433877b.

Dern and Arnett played the long-married couple Tess and Alex Novak still working on their relationship in the romantic dramedy directed by Cooper.

Laura Dern reveals the surprising scene with Will Arnett that director Bradley Cooper found 'so sexy'

Dern and Arnett played the long-married couple Tess and Alex Novak still working on their relationship in the romantic dramedy directed by Cooper.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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March 24, 2026 8:17 p.m. ET

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Will Arnett and Laura Dern in 'Is This Thing On?'. Credit:

Searchlight Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collectio

Laura Dern and Will Arnett have palpable chemistry in the recent romantic dramedy *Is This Thing On? — *and director Bradley Cooper found it in an unusual place.

Dern reflected on the fruitful collaboration with her fellow A-listers in a Monday interview for AARP's Movies for Grownups.

"When [Will Arnett and I] were reading the scene in *Is This Thing On?* where we were talking about what we didn't like in the relationship or in each other, and Bradley Cooper, our director, was like, 'That scene was so sexy.' And I just loved that," Dern shared.

Laura Dern and Will Arnett on Dec. 17, 2025.

Steve Jennings/Getty

The *Blue Velvet *and *Big Little Lies *star explained that she "loved that this filmmaker saw communication as hot and intimacy as erotic. Because it's not what you get to see in movies, and it only worked because it's about a marriage of 26 years."

*Is This Thing On?*, Cooper's third directorial venture after *A Star Is Born *and *Maestro*, revolves around Dern's Tess and Arnett's Alex, a long-married couple who decide to end, and then maybe restart, their relationship. To Dern, eroticizing a dramatic conversation, rather than sex itself, worked perfectly for the film, which is "not about new infatuation."

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Dern clearly had affection for Arnett on and off camera while making the film. In January, a month after its release, Dern called her costar "the smartest person I've ever met in my entire life."

Arnett, in turn, revealed a moment early into production where he "admitted" to the prolific daughter of legendary actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, "'I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm intimidated by it, and I'm going into deeper water than I've ever been before.'"

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*Is This Thing On*? marked the first big-screen collaboration between Dern and Arnett decades into their careers. But it wasn't the first project they've appeared in together. In 2011, the actors both had memorable turns in the chaotic, 30-minute expansion of the Beastie Boys' iconic "Fight for Your Right" music video, which also added Danny McBride, Seth Rogen, Rashida Jones, and more to the cast.

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Published: March 25, 2026 at 01:00AM on Source: PRIME TIME

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