Nina Dobrev Got Hilariously Honest About Kissing Aaron Paul on Screen — and the Reason Is Relatable

Nina Dobrev has a new ground rule for her acting career — and it has everything to do with what happens when you film a love scene with someone you’ve known for over a decade.

During a June 30 appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark, the actress opened up about her experience filming a romantic scene with longtime friend Aaron Paul in their new action thriller comedy The Get Out, and her take on it was refreshingly candid. According to Parade, who originally published the interview, Dobrev described the kiss as feeling about as far from romantic as physically possible — comparing it directly to kissing a sibling rather than a co-star.

She was quick to clarify that the awkwardness had absolutely nothing to do with Paul’s performance, which she praised without hesitation. The problem, she explained, was purely situational — the two have simply been friends for far too long for any kind of on-screen chemistry to feel natural. Dobrev noted that she and Paul, along with his wife, first became friends back in 2011, making their relationship well over a decade old by the time they found themselves having to share a romantic scene together on set.

Despite the personal awkwardness of that particular moment, Dobrev described making The Get Out overall as a genuinely enjoyable experience. The film stars Russell Crowe as a nightclub owner trying to leave his dangerous past behind, whose retirement plans are derailed when Dobrev and Paul’s characters — a pair of masked gunmen — rob him, and a web of ruthless cartels and a mysterious buyer pulls everyone into a deadly fight for survival.

Ironically, Dobrev is now heading straight back into a collaboration with another close friend from her past — this time Paul Wesley, her The Vampire Diaries co-star. The two are reuniting for the upcoming series You Deserve to Know, on which both are serving as executive producers in addition to starring. Based on a 2025 novel of the same name, the story follows three suburban women whose lives begin to unravel after one of their husbands is found murdered following a dinner party — dragging buried secrets, betrayals, and long-hidden affairs into the open as the investigation deepens.

Whether Dobrev will find herself in another uncomfortable on-screen romance with Wesley remains to be seen — but given her recent experience with Paul, she may be approaching that question with a little more caution this time around.