But the first time Cannavale really met his costar, she wasn't exactly herself.
Rather, she was in character as Masha Dmitichenki, a wellness guru with a muddled Russian accent and blonde hair cascading down to her waist. And he was dialed in as Tony Hogburn, a former football star that checked into Masha's 10-day retreat at Tranquillum House following years of drug addiction.
"The first day we met was when Masha walks into the ashram," Cannavale told Insider.
According to Cannavale, he hadn't seen Kidman at all until it was time to shoot the cast's first group scene together.
"Nobody had really been around her. I didn't know what she looked like. I didn't know what she was going to sound like," he said. "That was a pretty intense day."
"I remember being blown away and in shock. I did not know what was coming after that," he continued. Cannavale added that the bewildered, mystified looks on the characters' faces were "really true."
"I'd only respond as Masha," the actress said at a Television Critics Association panel on Friday, per Deadline's Peter White.
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Kidman, who also served as an executive producer on the series, would "completely ignore" people on set when they addressed her by her first name. In her mind, method acting was the sole way to make Masha believable to those around her.
"I wanted a very calm healing energy to emanate all the time so I remember going over to people and sort of putting my hand on their heart, holding their hand," she said.
Kidman continued, "The only way I could actually relate to people was that way because I felt like otherwise I would be doing a performance and I didn't want to feel that way."
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