Michael Cera: Youth in Revolt premiere

Michael Cera and Portia Doubleday at the Premiere of "Youth In Revolt" in Los Angeles on January 6, 2010.

AVC: You have to cut a fair amount to turn a 500-hundred-page book into a film. Was there anything in particular that you were sorry didn’t make it into the film?
MC: So many things, so many characters. There are so many more characters in the book. There’s Apurva, Vijay’s sister, who Trent has a thing with, and then Nick has a thing with. There’s Millie Filbert, who’s this girl. She’s kind of mentioned in the movie, but she’s this girl Lefty’s crazy about. I have the extended version of the book, which you can’t really find. It’s hardbound.PD: Did [Youth In Revolt author] C.D. give you it?
MC: Yeah, I got it from C.D. Payne.
PD: Yeah, he gave me one, too.
MC: Under the table. You can buy this thing that’s called “Cut To The Twisp,” and it’s all the stuff he cut out of the book. And it’s just the stuff that’s been cut out. You can read along with the one that’s published and fill in the blanks. Like in “Cut To The Twisp”, it tells you where in the book it would have gone. But then you could buy the uncut version, and in the uncut version, Nick has a full-on relationship with this girl Millie, and Lefty has an operation on his penis that makes it four inches shorter.AVC: C.D. Payne is something of a mysterious figure.
MC: Yeah, he was going to be here, but he’s going to meet up with us in Seattle and San Francisco and do some interviews with us.
AVC: So he’s not going to be such a mysterious figure anymore?
MC: No. He became less mysterious on set. He showed up on set and hung out a bit. But yeah, he was really nice. Really interesting.
PD: Yeah, I was picturing what he looked like, and who he was, but he was super-sweet, and a laid-back, really cool person.
MC: Very funny, too.
AVC: Portia, this is one of your first movies. Was it daunting playing such a large, central part?PD: I don’t think I would have been able to do it without Miguel. I’m just so happy that I’ve met him just as a person, even if I didn’t work with him, because he’s super-talented and so not egotistical about it, and super-intelligent, and kind of collaborative on your level, and hands-on. Just really a warm, amazing person. I remember e-mailing him and sending him “I don’t know how to do this part. What should I do?” Basically I had a few freak-outs. It was intimidating. I mean, this cast is ridiculous.MC: That one freak-out you had—
PD: No, don’t!
MC: I’m kidding. [Laughs.]
PD: He just said to trust your instincts, and honestly, as a rookie, I think that’s the best thing he could have said, because it just put me in a state where I could give it everything I had, without the pressure of feeling like I had to input so much, especially after reading the book. She’s so complex. It was hard being manipulative and nice and likeable at the same time. So he really, really helped me through the process, definitely.AVC: Juno also had some very writerly dialogue.
MC: Well, it’s very stylized, yeah. But this has its own tone. And we tried to take a lot of the dialogue from the book. A lot of the dialogue was just written in the same spirit as the book. He’s really amazing with language. It’s kind of what makes the book really stand out, because there’s this 14-year-old kid who—you know, it’s his journals, and it’s really clear that he’s just showing off all the words he knows and kind of stretching his legs.
AVC: It seems like they’re also at the age where you want to show off. You want to dazzle the world with your intellect.
MC: Yeah, and that’s really the only thing he has going for him. That he reads a lot and knows a lot of words and is really good with language. And he wants to be a writer.AVC: It’s a form of power when you’re feeling powerless at that age. In this, you play Nick and also his alter ego Francois; which was more fun to play?
MC: I think they were both equally fun to play. What drew me to the movie was the character of Nick, and how much fun he is. It’s a great character in the book, and the Francois stuff was so much fun to do, too. There was a lot of fun stuff to do.
AVC: Francois is probably the biggest deviation from the parts you’ve played in the past. You got to be a bit of a badass.
MC: Yeah. Definitely. Yeah.
AVC: Did the moustache help?
MC: It did. Yeah, definitely, because it’s glued on, and it tightens your mouth up, and it really changes the way you use your face normally.AVC: How tired are you of answering questions about the Arrested Development movie?
MC: No, I’m not tired. I never give a different answer, though. I don’t know anything different yet. I think it’s just in development.
AVC: It seems like it’s been this whole big drama, because it’s been in development for a while.
MC: I guess so. I mean, not really. It’s all kind of pretend drama, I think. It seems like movies normally take a long time to get made. When you focus on it, and you’re waiting for something, it seems to take longer. But I think most movies go through this really arduous process.
AVC: I guess there was this idea, online at least, that you were the lone holdout, that you were depriving the world of an Arrested Development movie. Was that strange?
MC: A little bit, yeah. I get it, though. People like to do that. It’s fine.
AVC: Is there any basis of truth in that? Is it that everyone else has signed a contract, and you are angrily shaking your fist at the world?
MC: No, no. I was hesitant, but I’m allowed to be hesitant, I think.AVC: Why do you hate Arrested Development fans? Why do you want to rob them of this movie?
MC: No, I want to be in the movie. I do. I don’t want to rob anyone. But I love the show. It’s difficult to just say yes to something when… I just had a fear of it taking away from the show. But I got past that, and I’m glad I did, because I really do want to be a part of the movie. I was just afraid. I think that’s okay". Source: www.avclub.com


Youth in Revolt Trailer #2

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