B.J. Novak and ex Mindy Kaling have had an unusual relationship. The two who met on the set of The Office as writers and actors, are now best friends after ending their relationship.
Now B.J. has employed Mindy to help get his book out by starring alongside Novak in a black and white French noir trailer. In the trailer Novak and Kaling portray two pretentious French characters, entirely dubbed by French voice overs. Novak plays the role of the dreamer who wants to impress his dream girl in the café (Kaling) with his book “One More Thing.”
Kaling’s character, who is far more impressed with her cultural knowledge, converses with Novak about existentialism while bantering about the author’s lack of comedic timing. At one point Kaling asserts the idea that the world doesn’t need more books like Novak’s, asking “Does the world need more books?” and then following that up with “What is fiction but the truth we speak with our better minds.”
Despite B.J.’s humorous anti-promotional trailer, he does eventually get around to telling his French sweetheart all about his book. Novak notes that there’s, “all types of stories in the book. They’re all comedic, on some level. Some of them have more emotion, some of them have philosophy.”
While Novak describes the book he’s not really saying much that we haven’t already heard before. The book has all of the bland descriptions you usually read on the jacket of a book, but this trailer has so much character and charm, that Novak has made a golden set up for his efforts as an author. If the book is anything like the trailer, then fans are in for a real treat.
As for his relationship with Kaling, it looks like they have continued to defy the odds as they’re still friends and fans of each other’s work despite breaking up. Since their split B.J. has guest starred on her show The Mindy Project .
Kaling has even noted that the two don’t have a normal relationship, telling Late Night host Jimmy Kimmel :
“We’re best friends, which is weird to a lot of people. It even seems weird to us sometimes. We wrote an episode about our friendship getting in the way of dating other people. Even we think it’s weird. But you’re friends with who you’re friends with.”
The full title for B.J.’s book is called “One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories” and hits book shelves on February 4.