Mandy and John Have a "License to Wed"

She first came to our attention as a bubblegum pop star. Since then, singer/actress Mandy Moore has been on a personal search for meaning and direction in her life and seems to have found it. She's come a long way with her acting since we first caught her as a snotty cheerleader in The Princess Diaries. We most recently saw Mandy in Because I Said So with Diane Keaton and she has a new album out this summer which showcases a style of music that she's now comfortable with.

He is John Krasinski, Mandy's fiance in the new romantic comedy License to Wed and he makes us crack up regularly as a paper pusher on TV's hit comedy "The Office". You probably heard John's voice as Lancelot in Shrek the Third and the actor is filming another off-beat comedy Leatherheads with Renee Zellweger, directed by mega-star George Clooney.

We checked in with the two young actors recently at the trendy Shutters on the beach in Santa Monica. As we were leaving, Britney Spears arrived driving a black Mercedes, wearing a sundress and hat and trailed by a horde of paparazzi, pushing and shoving right up to the hotel door. Sometimes we are glad we are just a low-profile journalist. Back to Mandy and John. She's in a bright print dress in shades of blue and he's dapper in gray suit jacket over a blue dress shirt. The actors both admitted they'd never been engaged in real life but had a blast playing a young couple and acting with the tornado that is Robin Williams who paid us a surprise visit late in our interview.

TeenHollywood: You two play a couple in love in this film. Did you just hit it off right away?

John: Doing a movie about getting married, I was extremely nervous because you need a partner that's really willing to go there and be silly. It was also fun because we were really getting to know each other as our characters. I think that's the real premise of the movie. You never really know someone until things go badly for you. So it was fun to get to know Mandy. I can say that [it's great] working with someone that has so much more experience than you do and yet is still extremely invigorated and youthful and fun. I just took her lead as far as what I needed to do on set and just tried to make it okay. The kiss I tried to not make look terrible.

Mandy: I think when you get along with someone, it's just natural and it comes across on screen and I think we had good chemistry. We appreciate each other and respect each other.

John: It would have been bad to hate each other. Put it that way. That would have been upsetting. The first scene that we shot was us breaking up, her leaving the church which I thought was pretty insane.

Mandy: Before you've established anything.

John: Yeah. 'Hi, Mandy. I'm John and you're about to break up with me'. That was really exciting and a fun way to go about it.

TeenHollywood: Neither of you two is married but what do you think of marriage anyway?

John: I've never been engaged, despite popular belief. I think I'd like to be married some day but I'll start with love. Why don't we try falling in love first and then I'll see what happens after that? I know I'm guilty getting starry-eyed with love and overlooking the bad things. You don't really prepare for how much work marriage really is. When I look at my parents I'm like 'this is easy. Staying together for 35 years? How hard is that?' They're like 'very hard. You should know the ins and outs'.

Mandy: I've never been engaged. I definitely believe in the institution of marriage but I'm twenty-three and it's not something that is in the forefront of my mind right now.

TeenHollywood: What would you say is the secret to a good relationship?

John: I'd say the key to a good relationship is communication which I think our characters didn't have for a really long time in the movie. I always think about the simplest things in a relationship that have frustrated me. It always comes down to communication. Even something as simple 'where do you want to go to dinner?' 'I dunno. Where do you want to go to dinner'? 'I dunno'. That might be the worst thing in the world. Well, not the worst thing...

Mandy: Yeah. I think communication is key too. [to John] You're answering all the questions. Thank you. I'll just sit back here.

TeenHollywood: You started your career as a singer, Mandy and you John as a writer and you are finding success as actors. How do you feel about acting vs. what you originally intended?

Mandy: I feel like they go hand-in-hand. I feel lucky to do a little bit of both and that people have been accepting of me in both roles. I don't ever feel overwhelmed by it. I feel like anybody else who has a lot on their plate. It's about prioritizing. They are such different creative entities. Being on stage and getting to perform in front of an audience and that rush of adrenalin and that connection with an audience is very, very different from making a film and the teamwork aspect of everything. So, I just feel lucky and fulfilled differently by doing a little bit of both.

John: I think it's about doing things that you are excited about. I don't think I ever planned on being an actor or a writer. I planned on being an English teacher. For me, it's really just an outlet. I'm not tying to be the triple threat guy. I'm still working on this one threat; acting but it's easy to be intimidated by somebody who does music. Working with Mandy and having her developing the album as we went was incredible to watch. I wish I could do something as cool as that.

TeenHollywood: Is there anything of yourselves you found in these roles?

Mandy: I'm slightly controlling. I'm an Aires and I like things to have an order and I get slightly disturbed, distressed and flustered if things go awry but I think Sadie [her character] kind of skipped a couple of steps in terms of calling off the marriage. I feel there were a couple of things that could have been worked out before that.

John: A slight negotiation would have been nice.

Mandy: Exactly, before calling it quits but I have related to the sort of ambitious, controlling streak she had in her.

John: What did I relate to in my character? I think he's a pretty laid back guy and I definitely would have had the idea to like 'go to the Caribbean and get married' and so I would have been taken aback probably if somebody had said 'I want to get married here with this sort of regimented thing'. It wouldn't have derailed me but it would have been definitely a surprise. I think I'm spontaneous and not as controlling. Sort of willing for things to go whatever way they go so we were perfect for each other.

TeenHollywood: How was working with Robin Williams in this and did either of you have a Robin moment?

Mandy: Robin he's pretty dynamic. I had a lot of fun but I also felt like there was no onus on me to be funny. I think I enjoyed witnessing Robin and John play off each other really well, even just joking around in between takes and stuff. I just got to stand back with the crew and be entertained and watch the show in front of me. I found it difficult though to keep a straight face when we were actually working and I wasn't supposed to be laughing. I was always the first one to break. I'll admit it. I couldn't keep a straight face.

John: Yeah, working with Robin Williams, what can you say? He's the best of the best. What I really liked watching was, not only is he probably the funniest person on Earth which is a tough award to give out, but what it really takes to be a huge star is way beyond a good partner being extremely funny. It goes into being an incredibly classy person and bringing such an enthusiasm to the set where it makes everyone around you do the best they can. If he's there committing and not complaining, there's nothing you can say about it. You have to do as good work. I definitely learned a lot from him.

TeenHollywood: Mandy, when you were a little girl, did you have a fantasy about your wedding?

Mandy: I wanted a fake wedding in Jamaica [like in the movie]. No! In terms of the fantasy wedding thing, I can kind of cross off the island beach thing. Maybe at sunset or something but we were shooting during the heat of the day and it was unbelievably hot and humid and sticky and yuk, no fun. As a little girl I thought I'd like to get married on the beach. But I'm not the quintessential girl who had these sort of fantasies about that stuff.

TeenHollywood: There are two fake robo-babies in this film that you get to baby-sit. They were pretty creepy. Were they heavy?

Mandy: They were like fifteen pounds each, right?

John: I think more than that. I was carrying them the whole time. They were really heavy but they smelled so bad!

Mandy: Really bad! I can't even begin to describe it.

John: It was like a locker room made of rubber. It was really gross.

Mandy: Sweaty rubber, yuk, gross.

John: It definitely went against that old saying 'all babies are cute'. I mean James Cagney as a baby is not my ideal thing. It was fun to work with them because they were so hideous and really hard to hold so it really made those scenes a lot easier to do, especially smashing it against the glass. I was happy to do that.

TeenHollywood: John, are you still doing Leatherheads?

John: We just finished like three weeks ago.

TeenHollywood: What was working with George Clooney as your director like?

John: It was incredible. To be that big of a star and that grounded and that classy, I mean he was a true mentor for me and, as a director, he's incredible. He knows exactly what he wants and so he knows that you're done a good job before you do. After three takes, he's like 'we got it' and I'm still thinking 'I'm just getting used to this. I shouldn't have done it in a Russian accent'. No he's great. He's a good guy.

TeenHollywood: Mandy, can you talk about your new CD just out? Didn't you write a lot of the songs?

Mandy: Yeah, I co-wrote it. It's just sort of what my life has been for the last two, two and a half years. I was adamant about writing and being a part of the creative process and I kind of stood my ground and left two record labels to make this record exactly what I wanted it to be and working with the caliber of people that I got to. I'm a huge singer/songwriter fan and a fan of independent music and I got to collaborate with a lot of my favorite artists and a fantastic producer and so it's something personally that is really exciting for me and that I feel invested in and I'm excited that people can finally hear it. It's called 'Wild Hope'. I'm going on tour at the end of this summer.

TeenHollywood: Mandy can you compare and contrast doing music and acting?

Mandy: I think you're flexing the same muscles doing the music and the film stuff. You are trying to convey your emotions in lyrics across to an audience if you've written a song a few years ago and it doesn't really hit you the same anymore. There's a little acting in that and obviously, when you're relaxing or trying to get in character, sometimes you listen to music. They do go hand-in-hand.

TeenHollywood: John, have you gotten any reaction to the season finale for "The Office"? It might not be what people expected.

John: If you were a fan of the show, I think this finale would make more sense to you and you would love it more because you know that that moment's been coming for a while so the sort of anti-ending was really brave to do, for the writers, not for us. It was pretty easy to just get the script and do it. But, yeah it was really nice. We're extremely lucky.

TeenHollywood: What keeps two successful young actors like you two grounded in Hollywood?

John: I've got a great family and honestly I attribute a lot of it to that. It's always surreal and exciting, but what makes it really fun is having special people to share it with and my family's the best, I call and say 'I'm in a movie with Robin Williams' and they're like 'that's ridiculous'. And I'm like 'good, as long as you think that too' because as soon as you say 'I deserve this', it's over.

Mandy: I think I have a similar answer to John. It's a testament to my family; the way that I was raised. I don't like to pat myself on the back or anything but I feel like innately, it's just who I am. I don't like to subscribe to the crazy party lifestyle. It's just not who I am. I'm a little boring and lazy. I take my jobs seriously but at the end of the day, I just want to go home and live a simple, quiet life I guess. It's what I'm choosing to do.

At this point, Robin Williams peeks into the room..

John: Oh no!

Robin: [In a gay fashion designer voice to Mandy] I just want to say I picked that dress. Very Pucci. Now, don't you go to rehab because I don't want to be there. You'll be coming out the revolving door saying "I'm having a birthday party sponsored by Stolichnaya." If you go to jail, I'm going to be your pen pal [loud laughter].

Robin leaves...with John and Mandy and me cracking up. We try to get back on track...

TeenHollywood: Who do you go to for romantic advice?

Mandy: I would probably go to my best girlfriend, sure.

John: I go right to "The View". They get it right.

TeenHollywood: Do you listen to your friends or give them advice?

Mandy: Yeah, absolutely. It's a reciprocal relationship, sure.

TeenHollywood: Mandy, do you feel that you've sacrificed things for your career? You started so young.

Mandy: Yeah, sure. I didn't have the normal, average high school experience and the social aspect of high school or going to college but I don't feel bad because of it. I may have missed out on stuff but it doesn't really bother me. I just know the life that I've led and I kind of believe, everything for a reason and this is just the path I'm supposed to take.

John: We're going to Spring weekend in Jamaica! Let's do it. Catch you up!

Mandy: Ah, Spring break.

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