Melissa Fumero Says There Was ‘No Work Required’ to Fall for Randall Park in ‘Blockbuster’ (Video)

It may be hard to picture Melissa Fumero having an on-screen romance with anyone but Andy Samberg at this point, but such is the case in Netflix’s new series “Blockbuster.” Here, she gets to act opposite Randall Park, and according to Fumero, it was a very easy thing to find a spark with him.

In the series — the first season of which is now streaming — Fumero plays Eliza, an employee at Blockbuster who’s going through some rocky times at home. Her husband Aaron cheated on her with a girl named Erin, and her daughter has no idea, so she blames Eliza for everything falling apart. Meanwhile, Eliza is only begrudgingly at Blockbuster, since it was the job she had in high school. The only thing that makes it bearable for her is her friend and manager Timmy (Park).

“Well I mean, thankfully, Randall is like the easiest person to have chemistry with, and act with, and work with, and just know,” Fumero gushed to TheWrap. “So that part was really easy. No work required. But yeah, I love that these two characters have known each other for such a long time and know each other so well. And that’s where we’re starting with them.”

Of course Timmy, as it turns out, had a massive crush on Eliza in high school and still harbors those feelings. Throughout the first season, they dance around each other, flirting but never crossing that line, each with their own person at various points. And that tension was something Fumero thoroughly enjoyed.

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“Obviously, there’s this spark that they have some level awareness of, but not really,” Fumero explained. “They both have their individual journeys with it, I think. It just was really fun. It was fun to play all those little moments, find those little moments between them. And also play with like, the closeness of them that already existed on the page.”

Obviously, by the end of the season, both Eliza and Timmy are pretty aware of how they feel — just not of how the other does. As showrunner and creator Vanessa Ramos would tell it, they’re a “Blockbuster Maybe,” while Timmy himself is a “Blockbuster Daddy.” But exactly does it take to be a Blockbuster Daddy?

“Oh my gosh. I don’t know,” Park told TheWrap with a laugh. “I don’t know! I think the key is to really have a passion, as Timmy does, for what he does for a living, and to really like, love movies, but also to love community, and also to love his workplace family. I think that’s like, at the heart of the character. And I think that’s what makes him a great blockbuster daddy.”

For the record though, Fumero refused to call him Blockbuster Daddy on set. You can watch TheWrap’s full conversation with Park and Fumero in the video above.

All 10 episodes of “Blockbuster” are now streaming on Netflix.