Jon Foster: Actor and Gamer

Cute 21-year-old up and comer Jon Foster played Ben on the "Life as We Know It" TV series and wowed critics in the more "adult" film The Door in the Floor with Kim Basinger. Now the young actor joins Sophia Bush, Samaire Armstrong and Frankie Muniz as a gamer trapped in a life or death videogame in the thriller Stay Alive.

We caught up with Jon in L.A. recently and got the scoop on the shoot in New Orleans pre-Katrina, fun on the set, his fave first date destination and more. Check it out!

TeenHollywood: You play Hutch in the film. Tell me about him.

Jon: Hutch is a young man with a lot of secrets. He is working at a law firm as a law intern. He's a very caring person but doesn't confront his problems that he's had in the past and some of the secrets that he's kept. He gets his hands on a video game from his best friend that passed away and he begins to realize that the videogame is actually playing them.

TeenHollywood: Well, that's pretty scary. Is there a real game and did you guys get to play it?

Jon: We didn't get to play it at the time. I guess they have the first level built now but they have a whole game bible for the game although there is not an entire game set yet.

TeenHollywood: Were you a gamer as a kid or are you now?

Jon: Yeah, huge gamer. I'm really old school. I loved "Street Fighter" and "Double Dragon", old-school stuff but I'm into the new stuff. I have to admit I kind of like the violent games, "Manhunt".

TeenHollywood: Who was the best player in the cast?

Jon: I would say Jimmi Simpson. He and I played videogames all the time on set and he's a pro.

TeenHollywood: Your brother Ben is also an actor. Do you still share a place with him?

Jon: Yeah, we're still living together. We are going on like three years now. There's no rivalry whatsoever. It's funny because we do go out for the same part occasionally but we're so different so pretty much from the get go, one of us is going on and one of us is not so it's really just the most supportive friendship you could possibly ask for.

TeenHollywood: You play drums and guitar. Are you in a band on the side?

Jon: I started playing drums when I was eight and stopped because my neighbors started hating me. So, I gave them up and went to the guitar, then the bass and I played the piano for a few years. I love music and I'm always making it on my off time. I've got a couple of friends now and we made a studio out of our friend's second bedroom. We're not planning on ever coming out with anything. It's just fun to have a hobby.

TeenHollywood: Do you think that "Life as We Know It" really didn't get a fair chance to succeed? Didn't ABC move it around a bit?

Jon: I really do. It really was such a great experience. I thought the creators of the show are geniuses, "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared", they are really smart guys. I think they are too smart for TV. They need to start moving into films.

TeenHollywood: Did you shoot any "making of" footage or digital behind the scenes stuff on Stay Alive?

Jon: We had press kit rounds and the magazine "Game Informer" came a couple of times and that was fun. There were a lot of stills shot.

TeenHollywood: What did you guys do off set for fun?

Jon: Most of all we had this video game called Eye-Toy. It's this little camera that sits on top of your TV and it's very interactive. You put your body in the videogame. The entire cast, pretty much every night after work would go to one of our hotel rooms and just play Eye-Toy. It was by far the most fun. We have footage of that actually. Maybe we'll release that. Footage that looks like we are convulsing in different directions. You are on TV and little things come across the screen and you have to slap them in mid-air trying to kill them. It's a strange parallel to the movie game.

TeenHollywood: Yeah, shoot deadly game movie all day and play cute game at night. Way too much gaming! You shot in New Orleans. Did you leave right before Katrina or earlier?

Jon: We shot about six weeks before Katrina. Watching TV and seeing where we shot was awful. Our hotel was destroyed. It was a very different experience to watch.

TeenHollywood: Do you stay in touch with anyone from the cast?

Jon: It's crazy. I've never done a project before where you stay in touch with your fellow cast members so religiously but I talk to 90 percent of the cast all the time. Jimmi and I hung out pretty much every day but he was only there for half the shoot but no one was ever singled out. It was such a tight cast. No one was ever excluded.

TeenHollywood: What was the most difficult scene for you to do?

Jon: There is this scene where Samaire Armstrong and I get locked in two different rooms and we're talking through this little hole in the wall. It's a very intense, emotional scene where the finale is about to happen and that was definitely a very heart-wrenching scene to do. She was there for me 100 percent.

TeenHollywood: What is your favorite scary movie?

Jon: I'm a huge horror movie buff. If one comes out I'm there without a doubt. I would have to say The Shining. How can you beat it? I think Pumpkinhead is definitely a foster-favorite.

TeenHollywood: What, in real life, scares you?

Jon: I have this thing in my life and my dad kind of instilled this in me when I was younger, if I was ever afraid of anything he would make me face it. I had really bad arachnophobia when I was younger and he brought me to the zoo and told me to put my face up against the glass where all the tarantulas were. So I stayed there for like an hour with my face pressed up against the glass. Now I pick them up and play with them so if it's heights or anything exists that might be terrifying, I just have to do it, step up to the plate and do it.

TeenHollywood: Kind of harsh but hey, it worked! Who are your favorite musical artists?

Jon: Oh man...! All time favorite band would have to be Pearl Jam. They own me. I'm really into some downtempo acid jazz like DJ Crush and things like that. I'll listen to Sam Cook one day in my car and the next Ludacris.

TeenHollywood: What was your biggest break and who gave it to you?

Jon: I would have to say The Door in the Floor. That was the best thing. I have to give credit to my brother for that because they were interested in him first and he was too old and he recommended me.

TeenHollywood: What was the best advice you've ever been given and who gave it to you?

Jon: The best one is silence. A lot of people overlook the beauty of silence. I've meditated since I was five years old. But in acting, life, anything, having the ability to listen is probably the biggest gift of all. Got that from my brother but I didn't understand it for a while, 'silence? What does that mean?' But, over time, it's made a huge impact in my life.

TeenHollywood: What is your idea of perfect first date activities.. where would you take the person?

Jon: The drive-in movie theater. It's the environment. I just found one not long ago. It's a movie where you can watch if you please but you have the ability to talk to one another. I would say that would be the preference for first dates. I hadn't done it until just recently.

TeenHollywood: Who are you dying to work with?

Jon: I'd say Spike Jonze and Clive Owen. He should have been James Bond in a heartbeat.

TeenHollywood: I totally agree. Would you ever work with your brother Ben?

Jon: We have never worked together and we are dying to. We've had opportunities but we want to make sure it's the perfect one. He's a writer. I'm beginning to start producing and have created some shows and movies that we're pulling together right now so we're trying to produce and he's trying to get into directing right now. We're coming up with a lot right now.

TeenHollywood: In addition to Stay Alive, do you have anything coming up we should watch for?

Jon: I just wrapped a TV series called "Windfall" that will be out in June on NBC. It's about twenty people who win the lottery and how the money effects their lives. There are about six main characters and it touches on other characters.

TeenHollywood: Any words for teen horror fans or gamers about why they should see Stay Alive?

Jon: When they do see it, they are going to be calling End Game up and be begging for the videogame. It's that cool. It's PG-13, not as scary as Hostel but it puts you on the edge of your seat the entire time. The main point is it looks amazing. They shot it in an artistic way. They wanted to make a piece of art that looks really cool.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.