Jimmy Fallon didn't know it at the time, but he had a shot with Nicole Kidman — if only his weak snack game and his love for video games hadn't gotten in the way.
Kidman appeared on The Tonight Show last night, but as she and Fallon explained, it wasn't the first time they'd met. Years ago, a mutual friend brought Kidman to Fallon's apartment to introduce them to each other.
"So Rick, our mutual friend, says, 'Oh, you know, Jimmy wants to meet you, and you can go over to his apartment," Kidman began. "And I'm single — I'm like, 'OK, yeah, cool!'"
Fallon broke in. "Wait, what?!"
"Yes!" Kidman replied.
But Fallon appeared at the door wearing a baseball cap and some shlubby clothes, according to Kidman, who added that the comedian didn't say much during what was supposed to be "a hang." Fallon's snack plate of brie cheese, saltine crackers and corn chips, plus some old Chinese food in his fridge, didn't help the situation.
"And then you put a video game on or something," said Kidman, "and I'm like, this is so bad."
This particular detail sent Fallon diving under his own desk in embarrassment, and he came up with his head in his hands. The hangout lasted about an hour and a half, and it left Kidman thinking Fallon had "no interest" and that there was "no chemistry" between them.
The entire sad story overran any attempt at a typical talk show interview, leaving both Fallon and Kidman giggling throughout the rest of the nine-minute segment. It wasn't until nearly seven minutes in that anybody mentioned Paddington, the film Kidman was there to promote, and at the eight-minute mark, Fallon joked, "I'm going to go back to Paddington; we're going to edit this out."
Paddington hits U.S. theaters on Jan. 16.
