It didn’t take long for Kat Dennings and Tim Allen to build a real-life bond similar to their Shifting Gears daughter-dad duo.
“It clicked pretty fast. We had lunch after I accepted the role and I felt immediately like I could trust him for some reason,” Dennings, 38, exclusively shared in the newest issue of Us Weekly. “And he opened up really fast to me. So I [was] like, ‘OK, this guy is like letting me in.’”
Dennings went on to explain that her and Allen’s “instant” connection has only gotten stronger.
“For some reason it worked pretty immediately — maybe because I’ve grown up watching him for so much of my life, but it just worked. It felt very organic,” she recalled. “And as [filming has] progressed, our scenes are so funny, if I do say so myself. The arguments are my favorite scenes to play because I have no fear. There’s no fear for either of us. We just absolutely go for it and it’s so much fun.”
Shifting Gears, which premieres on Wednesday, January 8 on ABC, follows widowed father Matt (Allen) and his estranged daughter, Riley (Dennings), as they find themselves living together and working to repair their relationship. The sitcom marks Dennings’ return to multi-camera comedy nearly a decade after playing Max on CBS’ hit show 2 Broke Girls from 2011 to 2017.
“I felt scared at first because it had been so long. I felt like I forgot everything. Then as soon as we started the first take, it was like I had never left. It was so crazy,” Dennings shared. “I really worked myself out over it. I was really in my head about it. Then it felt so organic. I feel like I never stopped doing multicam work. I love it, I really do.”
Tim Allen and Kat Dennings Disney/Mike Taing
Behind the scenes, Shifting Gears reunited Dennings with showrunner Michelle Nader, who previously worked with her on 2 Broke Girls and Hulu’s Dollface. The Easter eggs don’t stop there either, with a guest appearance from Dennings’ former Dollface costar Brenda Song — and that’s only the beginning.
“Brenda is one of my best friends in real life because we met on Dollhouse and then Michelle is our Shifting Gears showrunner. And Brenda and I always talked about doing a multicam together. We would joke like, ‘Wouldn’t it be great though? So she did [a guest spot] because we just want to hang out,” Dennings said, teasing the upcoming episode. “I can’t reveal too many guest stars but there will be people coming up that are really incredible. I think Michelle has put in a few special little references for me through the whole series.”
In addition to Dennings and Allen, 71, Shifting Gears also stars Seann William Scott, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, Maxwell Simkins and Barrett Margolis. Before the season even premiered, fans were picking up on the potential chemistry between Dennings and Scott’s characters.
“What I think personally — because it is one of my favorite things, too — is I am on board with stretching it out,” she told Us about the potential fictional romance. “The best onscreen relationships are when they stretch it out for many, many, many seasons because then the payoff is so satisfying. Hopefully — if we’re lucky enough to go many seasons — it’ll take that long.”
While reflecting on her time on the set of Shifting Gears so far, Dennings called filming a “magical situation,” adding, “I was having a talk with a friend and I wasn’t sure what to do next. She was like, ‘Well if you could just describe your dream project, what would it be?’ I was like, ‘I’d love to do a sitcom again.’ I just described this exact scenario. Then the next day, I got the call about this.”
She concluded: “It was shocking. I’m still weirded out about it because I feel like I wished for it and there it was. So that is how it happened. And I grew up watching [Tim’s show] Home Improvement so I was very excited about the idea of being his daughter. It’s just been so fantastic and I feel very lucky.”
For more from Dennings about her next sitcom chapter, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
Shifting Gears premieres on ABC Wednesday, January 8, at 8 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Hulu.
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