The Boys who "Dare"

You know the types; the sensitive and cute, keep to himself, crushin' on his BFF guy and the cocky jock/prom king. Ah, but in the teen-aimed indie film Dare, nobody is who they seem. 20-something actors Zach Gilford of TV's "Friday Night Lights" and the film Post Grad and nerdy-cute newcomer Ashley Springer of the controversial film Teeth, play Ben and Johnny, the nerd and the jock. Both are seemingly hot for Emmy Rossum's wallflower turned seductress Alexa.

We wanted these fellows' take on their roles, who they were in high school, Zach's tale of his hook-up scene with Emmy and we learned cool stuff like Ashley used to be a performing magician and Zach leads teen backpacking trips into the isolated boonies. Who knew?

While Zach wore a Western shirt over tee with jeans and sneakers, the more style-flamboyant Ashley was in a dark blue blazer over tee with "You will love each other" written on it, rolled up jeans, tennies with "Get a Life" written all over them.. one blue lace, one white. Let's start with Zach....
 
TeenHollywood: So, what is your take on your Dare character Johnny?

Zach: All three (lead) characters are placed in these boxes and they don't really fit in those boxes. He's in the cool dude box and it turns out that it isn't quite so. I think, in his family life, there is nobody around.  There's no support network and if he's got a real friendship or a real relationship, he's willing to jump into that 100 percent. You see that in the acting class at school where Alan Cumming's character tells him he's got talent.  He thinks it's a genuine compliment (when the character might have just been coming on to him).  

TeenHollywood: Is there any chance that friends with benefits can work?

Zach: Well, Johnny thinks that he and Alexa are in love and with Ben, he thinks, 'this person is my friend and this (hook-up) is what he needs to I'll do this for him'. But it gets to the point where it's too far and he realizes he didn't make the best decision and at the party later, he's like 'dude, chill out.  I felt like you needed it and I was helping you out'. Friends with benefits? (laughs) Who really knows?

TeenHollywood: Is the scene between you and Emmy's character Alexa where she takes charge and pounces on Johnny, he says 'do you even like me'? Is that his insecurity coming out because most teen guys would be in heaven if a beautiful girl wanted to hook up.

Zach: (laughs) I think, for me on that scene, he's the cool kid and I imagine has been with a person or two. There's a little bit of that in there but he almost sees through her for a little bit. 'Why did you decide to play dress up? What's going on here?' He's an 18-year-old male so he's not going to push her away or anything.

TeenHollywood: Scenes like that are awkward to shoot, right?

Zach: Well yeah, but as awkward as it is, at the end of the day Emmy is a beautiful woman so it's not that bad (laughs).. I mean not bad at all.  It's very technical and that's where the awkwardness comes in. Luckily, we filmed all the scenes later once you knew the person. We were on the same page with it.

TeenHollywood: What were you like in high school? Were you a popular kid, a jock.. what?

Zach: I was kind of a floater growing up. I was friends with all different circles of people but I was kind of under the radar. I wasn't the kid that everyone knew and got nominated for homecoming king. I went to summer camps and had those friends and friends from school who tended to be the jocks but I did a lot of theater so I knew the artsy kids. I'm pretty ADD so I would just float around and take credit for combining a lot of those groups together. I never really fit in a box. I'm sure people did put me in a box and I've done that. One of my best friends that I've known since sixth grade, we didn't really become friends until our senior year in high school and I found out that he'd hated me forever.

TeenHollywood: These teens in the movie are pretty well off. Do you think that the film shows that wealth doesn't matter and we all have some of the same problems?

Zach: I remember shows like "The O.C." and you are watching these very rich kids and it seems like their problems are 'oh no, they're addicted to drugs' designer drugs that I can't afford, not that I'd want to (we laugh) or it's about who they're sleeping with now. I think we did a good job of showing that you see Johnny in one way and then when you see him at home he's getting in his car and it's like 'where's my dad?' Who knows where his mom is and he has this stepmom who is like 'here, take one of my Xanax'. All right, clearly this kid's life is not as great as it appears on paper. Money isn't everything.. old cliché but true.  He doesn't have any love in his life and that's why he attaches himself to these people.  I think that works in the film.  He isn't complaining about something money can buy. All of his relationships are superficial.

TeenHollywood: You have a film coming up that taps into your own experience in backpacking and hiking. You are out in the wilderness, right?

Zach: Yeah. It's called The River Why with director Matt Leutwyler and we were up in Portland filming.  I've been so lucky on this movie and that one. It's with Amber Heard, William Hurt, Kathleen Quinlan, Dallas Roberts. He's an amazing actor. Really cool people and I got to be on rivers the whole time.  I was supposed to be in Alaska climbing Mount Denali then I got that job. At least I get to be fishing in a river.

TeenHollywood: How much of vacation from your Hollywood career is it to get out into nature?

Zach: Great. In the summers I lead backpacking trips for high school kids. I worked in Costa Rica for six weeks and Alaska and Australia and New Zealand, the Grand Canyon, the Rockies. That's what I'm most proud of. It's grounding. On the first trip only one kid had seen my show. They called home and their parents had put it together then it's 'are you on a TV show? My mom was all excited'. So that was the coolest.  I don't have a big Hollywood lifestyle by any means.  It's more fun to go out there and have these kids say. 'I don't know who you are.  I don't care'.

TeenHollywood: You can still play a teen but, as a young adult, are you going to ban the high schooler roles?

Zach: Well, if a character is good and the story is. High school has such pivotal moments in people's lives so it's fun to play. Soon on "Friday Night Lights" it'll be 'Zach Gilford, the college years'. Right now, technically I'm the age of a young FBI agent but no one would ever buy it really. I can't even grow a full beard!

Here comes Ashley.  Let's ask him the "friends with bennies" question...

TeenHollywood: Ashley, does friends with benefits work?

Ashley: I couldn't make a blanket statement. When it's on the way to going that way for me, that's when it goes downhill and it's all downhill from there.

TeenHollywood: What was your favorite scene in the film?

Ashley: There are a number. Actors are excited about any scene with conflict going on. The scene with Emmy in her room was fun. Scenes with Zach were fun. Pretty much a joy to work every day.

TeenHollywood: Your character Ben is pretty unhappy and doesn't open up through much of the story.  How do you find fun in playing somebody who is so internalized?

Ashley: I don't know but acting is just fun! There is something thrilling about trying to ride that emotional wave when it has no repercussions in your life. You experience all those feelings and then it's over. There's no catch.

TeenHollywood: How did you get into acting?

Ashley: My career in entertainment started as a magician at age nine.  Magic is theater. You are playing the part of this person who can do these weird things. Most of my favorite magicians approach it that way. I always got a thrill from being on stage. Acting was a logical next step. I did sleight of hand on stage and stuff.

TeenHollywood: Magicians use misdirection and acting is illusion so did that serve you as an actor?

Ashley: Yeah, in magic if you put your attention on something else, the audience will too.  It's the same with acting. But pick-up artist guys are coming up to me at parties asking how to do tricks to impress ladies. I don't get it. This friend of mine who is an Adonis-looking fellow wants some help with a coin trick and I'm like 'dude, just go say hello!'

TeenHollywood: Funny. By the end of Dare, do you think your character Ben is comfortable in his own skin about his sexual identity or is he still questioning?

Ashley: He's still questioning everything but he's onto something.  In the beginning it's like wearing the awkward suit but at the end, he has some sense of who he is. It's a hopeful thing with him.  He's more tuned in to who he is than Alexa is by the end of the film.

TeenHollywood: What was your take on Ben's lack of picking up on the signals a guy was sending out to him.

Ashley: That was the first time that anyone had approached him so that he felt like a sexual object in that way. It was thrilling but also 'oh boy, I've got to get out of here'. Just an overload.  he didn't know what to do. I think, on reflecting, he thought it was really amazing. Enjoying those feelings helps him take a step.

TeenHollywood: What kind of teen were you in high school?

Ashley: I went to a Math/Science high school in New York and I felt very much like an outsider.  I identified with a lot of feelings in the script. I didn't have a growth spurt until my Junior year.  I was friends with a lot of females who were way taller than me.  I felt like a weird, little kid surrounded by all these adults. Looking back, it's preposterous. Nobody knows who they are in high school but you don't figure that out until afterwards. That's the crappy thing about high school.  If I'd only known.  I had a hard time in high school.  I didn't feel comfortable with myself. I didn't know who I was.  I wanted to be completely individualistic and yet wanted to be the same as everybody and those don't go together. It was hard.

TeenHollywood: Our readers can relate. How did you make the move from Math/Science to acting finally? That's not exactly the "Fame" high school.

Ashley: No. We had a nice theater but I remember when I first saw the school, there is a robotics lab with a million dollars with of equipment. It was that kind of school.  I auditioned for a number of plays in high school and never got a callback. Not once. I didn't do any theater but, during my breaks I would go perform magic around the country.  I missed my senior trip because I was doing a tour of Pennsylvania (laughs) while all my friends were in Cancun or something. The low-light of my experience.

TeenHollywood: Do you think more of the heart of this film gets across because it isn't super graphic?

Ashley: I don't think that is mutually exclusive. I think it would have been gratuitous in this film. This movie is about the emotional life, not surface stuff. What we really liked about this movie is that the characters have a strong emotional inner life. What's interesting about Dare is that you don't see movies in the teen genre working like that. It's usually about appearances.  This movie starts out that way but then what's the lie to the appearance?

TeenHollywood: The Alexa character is almost that cliché. Like 'oooo, Miss Brown you took off your glasses and now you are gorgeous'.  Has it been your experience that quiet, studious girls are hiding a well of sexuality and hotness?

Ashley: (he laughs) If only.... I don't think that's true or what Alexa is really about.  She's trying it out but it's not necessarily who she really is. She's like 'whoa, maybe that's not me'. Is every librarian secretly a hot librarian? I don't know, maybe.

TeenHollywood: The dialogue seems really real in this. Did that stand out for you?

Ashley: It never struck me as off. When you really notice dialogue it's like it doesn't ring true. This always felt like an extension of the characters and how they would talk specifically. If that works within the milieu of modern teenagers then it's a testament to the writing.

TeenHollywood: You could still play a teen but you are a young adult. Will you say 'no more teen roles' at some point?

Ashley: I don't know.  It's kind of a gift to be able to do these kinds of parts. First of all I get to go up and audition against 17-year-olds and that's great. I love that. But seriously, I feel still close to high school.  It was very memorable to me, an intense time and if you get to play a part that resonates for you and there's conflict and drama who cares how old you should be?  It all depends on the film.

TeenHollywood: You are from New York so are you staying at Emmy's?

Ashley: Yeah, staying at Emmy's. It could be a lot worse.  I got this little guest room and I'm calling my friends. 'You'll never guess what this room looks like' It's like I'm in the Beverly Wilshire hotel.  The most beautiful mirror I've ever seen is in my little guest room.