Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder are “dialed in,” making the romantic side of Novocaine work.

As previously reported, the Paramount Pictures film Quaid stars as Nate, a regular guy — except for one thing: he can’t feel physical pain. When the girl of his dreams (Midthunder) gets kidnapped, Nate puts his special skill to use, fighting through a barrage of criminals to get her back.

The two stars spoke with Blavity/Shadow and Act Managing Editor Trey Mangum, along with the other cast and creatives, about the action film’s romantic core.

Jack Quaid on balancing action and romance

“I remember when I first had my first meeting with Dan and Bobby [directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen], the thing that really made me want to do this was they said, ‘We have to make sure that we put just as much effort into the romance as we do with the action scenes, if not more so, because… it hinges all on that,'” said Quaid. “We had a lot of rehearsals when we first got to Cape Town, just making sure that [romance aspect] was as dialed in as possible.”

Amber Midthunder talks instant chemistry with Quaid

Midthunder also reflected on how quickly she and Quaid found chemistry.

“We just got really lucky. I mean, we didn’t meet until we got to Cape Town. We did not meet before being cast in this movie,” she said. “We didn’t even have one meeting after we had both signed on. We had a lunch, but it was all said and done at that point. So, I think we just got really lucky and being so simpatico in a way that we work and the way we saw these characters, [because] it is kind of the most important part of [the film].”

They both noted that Dan Trachtenberg, who directed Midthunder in Prey and Quaid in The Boys, suggested that the two work together.

“I just kept hearing from, not only him, but other people… that we would get along so well, and then they were right,” said Quaid.

Watch the full interviews with Quaid, Midthunder, Jacob Batalon and Ray Nicholson, as well as directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, below.

Novocaine also stars Betty Gabriel, Lou Beatty Jr., Ven Hengst and Conrad Kemp. Novocaine is in theaters now.

Amber Midthunder

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