But it’s Craig’s wife, Tami, a recent cancer survivor clearly still fawning over her firefighter ex-boyfriend, played by a quietly funny Kate Mara, that serves as our entry point into Robinson’s cringe-comedy world. Friendship marks new territory for the veteran actress, whose body of dramatic work — which includes House of Cards, The Martian, and Fantastic Four — initially made her feel intimidated when filming the comedy.

Yet, it’s exactly those experiences that made her the perfect choice to embody Tami—in fact, the process of getting into character was almost natural for Mara. “Well, entering [Robinson’s world] wasn’t strange at all, it was actually very much like any other movie,” Mara tells RANGE “Andrew wanted to treat it like a drama… so it’s not made like a typical comedy, especially when it comes to my character,” who, in comparison to her co-stars, is far more understated and “normal” (if such a moniker were even accurate in a film as bizarre as this.)

“I was intimidated to be working with Tim and Paul because I’ve never done comedy before, and I didn’t know what to expect,” Mara says. “It was such a joyful experience making a comedy. Especially one as strange as this because Andrew created such a wonderful experience on set…there was this freedom to explore and try things out.” She continues, “All I had to do was react to the film and Tim’s brilliance or try not to react in a way I naturally wanted to, because most of the scenes you’re not meant to be laughing,” just put off by its excruciatingly awkward oddities.

In approaching the film’s absurd language through the lens of a drama, Mara could finally get past the baggage that comes with the label of “comedy.” She notes, “Once it was clear that I could play the character as I usually would and not think of it in that comedic way, then it took all the pressure away and I treated it like any other film I made.” She continues “the real challenge was the intimidation of being around really funny people.” And for Mara, that became the driving factor in why she finally decided to make the jump to comedy with Friendship.

“I love doing things outside of my comfort zone, and I’ve never been offered a comedy that I immediately knew worked and is so unique.” Mara says. “I just knew I wanted to be in that world, and I try to find roles that are different to anything I’ve done—as an actor that’s sort of the dream, to constantly do things that are different from the last and find ways to challenge yourself.” 

Yet, there’s one challenge Mara wasn’t a big fan of conquering, as shooting in a dark sewer, where her character is dragged away on a pointless odyssey by her husband, got a little too uncomfortable for her liking. “I didn’t like shooting that scene at all, it was disgusting, there were bats, and it was cold, gross, and wet.”

Instead, Mara loved filming the more personal, off-putting moments in the family house. “The very opening scene of the film was really memorable to shoot because there were some things that didn’t make it to the film, some performances in that room that were so hysterical that it helped us get into that scene,” she says. “It was meant to be quite serious and there was a fine line of not making fun of Tami being a cancer survivor…but when you’re dealing with such traumatic things, there is also this opposite taboo feeling of wanting to laugh hysterically and finding the real similarity between those two feelings.”

In a film that sees a consistent stream of the most cringeworthy outbursts across its 100-minute runtime, Mara’s measured performance bridges the gap of extremes in the most subtly hilarious ways. As we shudder and wince at Craig’s ceaseless antics, Mara’s Tami is there to awkwardly guide our hands as we enter Robinson’s one-of-a-kind cringescape.

Friendship hits theatres May 16 (VVS).