Olivia Munn explains why she has issues with romantic scenes

For Olivia Munn, the Office Christmas Party scene she loved the most was also the one that had her slightly concerned.

The actress features in the ensemble holiday comedy with Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, T.J. Miller, Kate McKinnon, and Courtney B. Vance, and finds herself connecting romantically to a co-worker (played by Bateman).

“Any time there’s a romantic scene where we have to not kiss, but like be romantic [it’s hard],” Munn said at EW PopFest on Sunday, where new footage from Office Christmas Party screened for fans. “To show the audience that there’s something going on. It’s really hard for me because a lot of times those scenes can be written in a way that it continues this stereotype about women. In that, ‘Oh, I like you, please like me back. This sucks, I like you so much and you’re just a big strong guy.'”

Munn said things were different on Office Christmas Party, because she and directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck worked together to make the scene feel true to life.

“Women, the way they’re depicted on screen, I think, is this — as society it’s been perpetuated because we keep doing it in films. That was something that was nerve-wracking for me before going into it,” Munn said of her concerns of the onscreen romance.

But, she added, “We really made it into something more organic and much more real. It ended up becoming one of my favorite scenes.”

Office Christmas Party is out on Dec. 9. For more on the film’s EW PopFest panel, head here.