‘The Union’ director reveals why his stars never kiss
A new romantic spy action comedy, The Union, has arrived on Netflix, with Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry in the leading roles. However, the pair do not kiss once – a conscious choice that director Julian Farino went with to keep viewers enticed.
Berry plays a secret agent while Wahlberg is a construction worker, with the two reuniting after initially meeting in high school. They begin a romantic relationship as the chaos of the film unfolds, but there is strictly no intimacy between them.
Farino hopes that this means there will be more opportunity for the pair to kiss in a sequel, telling Variety, “We take the relationship to a certain place, and then I think you’ve got to leave a lot of space to go. Netflix always said to us at the beginning, ‘You have to think of this as a possible three-movie idea.’ So if an audience comes out wanting a kiss, then we’ve probably done alright, in my opinion.”
Berry agrees with Farino, adding, “Once they kiss, then it’s over. We’re hoping if we get to do a second one, we’ll let that chase continue. You want to see the journey — to see these two high school sweethearts find each other.”
A sequel has not yet been announced, but it seems as though Netflix might be gearing up for another instalment in the couple’s story if the movie is received well. So far, it has received rather mixed reviews.
Wahlberg teased his interest in doing a sequel: “If we get to go on and do something else, I would imagine there’ll be a lot more than a kiss. But, you know, we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
The Union also stars J.K Simmons, Mike Colter, Jessica De Gouw, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Lorraine Braco. The thrilling action unfolds as Berry’s Roxanne, a spy, recruits Wahlberg’s Mike to retrieve a suitcase containing crucial information, believing him to be the ideal man for the job due to his lack of ties to this dangerous world.
The movie sees Wahlberg’s character get into all sorts of tricky situations while also falling in love with Berry’s character, whom he hasn’t seen for years. Whether we’ll get to see the couple kiss remains uncertain; we’ll have to hope Netflix wants to pick The Union up for a sequel.