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Rebel Wilson, Dakota Johnson are 'Single' together

Andrea Mandell
USA TODAY

HOLLYWOOD — Rebel Wilson has mastered the art of bro-friendly gym talk.

Rebel Wilson and Dakota Johnson are solo but never alone in 'How to Be Single.'

“There are a lot of guys there,” says the How to Be Single star. “I can converse for like 45 minutes on the topic of football."

“Really?” says co-star Dakota Johnson, 26, who admits that her football vocabulary is limited to a cheery "Go Broncos!" "That’s probably a good thing to talk about with prospective —

“Lovers,” Wilson, 35, cuts in.

In How to Be Single (in theaters Friday), Johnson trades Fifty Shades of Grey's Anastasia for Alice, a perennial relationship girl who decides to break up with her long-term boyfriend and strike out on her own after getting her degree. “But she doesn’t really realize that’s a scary thing,” says Johnson.

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That's when Alice meets Robin (Wilson), “the eternally single girl living it up in New York City,” says the Australian comedian. Cue a plethora of hook-ups, would-be relationships and hungover mornings at the law office where both work.

"They are a great comedy couple,” says director Christian Ditter, calling Johnson the “perfect straight man to Rebel’s hilarious comedy riffs.”

Dakota Johnson as Alice (left) and Rebel Wilson as Robin deal with the dating scene in 'How to Be Single.'

Timed to Valentine's Day, the friendship-focused How to Be Single is positioned as the antidote to the traditional girl-lands-guy rom-com.

"I feel like the more recent romantic comedies are being a bit more honest about relationships and what really goes on," says Johnson.

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Wilson nods. “There was a period, especially with romantic comedies where the women just — and I believe a lot of it was in the casting — weren’t really reflective of the everyday woman," says Wilson. "The way they behaved and how they just tried to fall in love with the guy and do things" — she pauses a beat — "I’m talking about Katherine Heigl movies and stuff." (Johnson slightly gasps.)

Wilson continues: “She’s probably lovely, I don’t know, I’ve never met her, but to me someone like me, I never related to that. Whereas you see a movie like How to Be Single, it’s very relatable.”

In real life, both stars are single, and this Valentine's Day will be spent in London making the media rounds. (Plans are quickly hatched: "Let’s go on the London Eye," proposes Wilson.)

But generally speaking, "talking about dating, it stresses me out," says Johnson.

Wilson grins at the idea of what would happen if they joined a popular dating app. “Imagine if we posted our photos. They would just hit up our phones so badly it would make our phone inoperable because they would all want to date us,” she cracks.

Next week, Johnson will begin filming the next two Fifty Shades installments back-to-back. “There’s been a lot of exercising happening,” she says, noting there's "more of a thriller aspect” in the new movies (plus a new director).

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Wilson, too, will pick up her franchise with Pitch Perfect 3 (again helmed by Elizabeth Banks), playing the fan-favorite Fat Amy. “There’s also that one with Channing Tatum where it’s kind of soft porn that I’m really excited about,” she jokes. “It’s edgy. If you thought Fifty Shades of Grey was going there, wait until you see this one.”

Rebel Wilson and Dakota Johnson co-star in 'How to Be Single,' a different sort of Valentine's Day movie.
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