Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon played BFFs in the hilarious movie The Spy Who Dumped Me, but were they on friendly terms once the cameras stopped rolling?
Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon haven’t met before starring in The Spy Who Dumped Me. Their friendship blossomed while they were filming and promoting this action-comedy, but it’s unclear if they’re still friends.
Stick around to learn more about their friendship and how this spy movie brought them together.
Different Career Trajectories
Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon were total strangers before being cast in The Spy Who Dumped Me. They enjoyed each other’s work, but their careers had a very different trajectory.
Kunis was still a teenager when she got her big break with the role of Jackie Burkhart on the hit sitcom That ‘70s Show. Shortly after this show wrapped up, she appeared in the romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which kicked off her successful movie career.
She received a Golden Globe nomination for her supporting performance in Black Swan and went on to star in Friends with Benefits, Ted, Jupiter Ascending, and the Bad Moms franchise.
Kate McKinnon didn’t start her showbiz career at a young age – while Kunis still starred on That ‘70s Show, McKinnon pursued a degree in theatre at Columbia University. She co-founded a comedy group, Tea Party, during her time there, and built an impressive comedy resume before joining Saturday Night Live.
This sketch comedy show put her on the map, and she won two Emmy Awards for her performance. Her filmography also includes roles in the Ghostbusters reboot, Bombshell, and Yesterday.
The Spy Who Dumped Me
Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon met at the table read for The Spy Who Dumped Me, an action-comedy about two best friends who find themselves entangled in an international conspiracy after one of them finds out her awful ex-boyfriend is actually a CIA agent.
Director and co-writer Susanna Fogel’s main mission was to show adult female friendships for what they truly are – one of the most important relationships in a person’s life.
“Most movies about female friendships have some manufactured conflict… In The Spy Who Dumped Me, nothing – not dudes, a restaurant shootout or threat of torture by way of a psychotic Russian gymnast – can break these two up,” Fogel told the USA Today.
The Spy Who Dumped Me also starred Justin Theroux, Hasan Minhaj, Sam Heughan, and Gillian Anderson, who just happened to be McKinnon’s childhood crush. The X Files star later said that the crush is mutual and described McKinnon as “the coolest, loveliest chick ever.”
Despite the great cast, The Spy Who Dumped Me wasn’t a critical darling and holds an approval rating of 49% on Rotten Tomatoes. Many critics felt it’s not an especially inventive addition to the spy genre, but McKinnon’s performance received a lot of praise.
Off-Camera Relationship
One of the best things to come out of The Spy Who Dumped Me is the amazing friendship between its two leading ladies. Kunis and McKinnon had an instant connection after meeting for the first time, and their chemistry was obvious during the press tour for this film.
Director Susanna Fogel was impressed by how supportive they were of each other. She could hear their conversations through the mics between takes, and they would often encourage and praise each other before shooting the next scene.
The two stars repeatedly discussed their friendship during promotional events and couldn’t stop gushing about each other. While chatting with the Entertainment Weekly, Kunis described McKinnon as “the greatest human ever” and said she learned a lot from her. McKinnon echoed her statement and said she helped her realize that “friendship is the bedrock of this movie.”
Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell if Kunis and McKinnon kept hanging out together after this movie wrapped up. Neither of them is active on social media, and all of their public appearances have been connected to the promotion of this film.