Michael Cera's Cross-Dressing Adventure

You know Michael Cera; the nerdy-cute guy from Superbad, Juno, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and the upcoming Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. In the new, edgy/funny, rebellious teen film Youth in Revolt, Michael plays opposite gorgeous newcomer Portia Doubleday as a lovesick teen who gets advice from his own alter-ego (a smooth ladies man named Francois) in order to land the girl of his dreams.  

We're having our own edgy experience talking with the duo at the Sunset Marquis hotel just off the Sunset Strip in Hollywood (we just spotted several famous rockers in the lobby!). Portia, who admits she is recently heartbroken, tells us that Michael looks great in a dress (his character dons a dorky dress and wig to get past his lady love's strict parents in the film.)

We get the haps from both young actors on their own high school experiences and what true love really means. Since this is holiday-time, we brought "moose munch" (popcorn covered with chocolate) and we are all munching between questions. Michael has on jeans and a cute checked shirt. Portia is sporting a "rebellious" black leather jacket over a beige silk v-neck tee, skinny jeans and lace-up boot/heels.  Check it out....

Portia you said you are heartbroken? We're sorry.  So what does love mean to you?

Portia: I guess love is just finding someone who knows you more than you know yourself. Finding someone that, in the middle of the night, no one on earth, friends or family, could make you feel better than talking to that person.

Would you agree, Michael (he looks embarrassed at her profound answer).

Michael: Uhhh, hummmm. I don't know. I really don't know.

Okay. Your characters in the film are 16. What were you both like at 16?

Portia: I guess I was a little rebellions, rebelling against being "old" and not being able to play with Barbies anymore. I dyed my hair black and left my eyebrows blonde. I still got good grades so I was like a wannabe rebellious person. I worked on a ranch and had whiskey at 14.

Michael: When I was sixteen I was working on 'Arrested Development' (on TV) and so those are sort of my memories of being sixteen, just trying to keep up with school while doing the show and trying to be around all those people on the show as much as I could. Those were some of the funniest people  I'd ever been around and so I was just really enamored by all of them.

So were you a mini-adult then?

Michael: Kind of, I don't know. I felt like a kid but I felt lucky to be able to be around them and part of a really unique circumstance.

Portia, how do you approach being someone's dream girl?

Portia: Who wouldn't want to be this girl; being confident, having someone chase after you and being a bit manipulative and keep the facade of being somewhat sweet?  It was fun and amazing. I think Nick's (Michael's character's) friends would be saying 'dump this girl! She's a snob!'

Michael, what made the Francois, suave alter ego character fun to play?

Michael: It was fun to get to wear contacts and put a mustache on and transform kind of how I looked and just say kind of really gross things and smoke. I had a lot of fun things to do with actors that I really admire, too. I have a scene (as Francois) where I was having this challenging moment with Ray Liotta. There were just a lot of really fun scenes and things to do and say.

Did you model Francois after any real people you know?

Michael: Not anyone specifically but I was inspired by Malcolm McDowell and James Cagney, a little bit. But mostly we just tried to make it feel like how it did in the book and kind of felt it out on the set as we went.

Portia, How good does Michael look in a dress?

Portia: What's funny is how comfortable he became. I wanted to laugh but it was second nature to him. The dress wasn't the funniest part, it was the shoes, like these wedged flip flops that were bedazzled.

(To Michael) You looked hilarious.

Michael: I was just relieved to have something on, I think, because I was doing a scene with boxers on just before that. So it was nice not to have people not see me as much, I think. That's why it was so comfortable. I don't think I was thinking about the dress. I was trying to remember what to say.

There are several books this movie is based on. Were either of you fans?

Michael: Yeah. There are several books. There's one that's called 'Youth In Revolt' that has three books in it and that's kind of what this movie encompasses but I had read that a couple of times and had really loved it. I think there are a lot of characters that couldn't make it into the movie but it would've been great. It would've been a nine hour movie if we'd put it all in, but someday I think it should be a mini-series. They should redo it and use everything from the book.

Portia: I hadn't read the books but I called my friends and they had written assignments on it in high school.  You got to pick it as one of your summer reads.  It was one of those things that you got to get away with.  It's a great read. I did read it before we started filming.

Portia, you are pretty new to the biz. You auditioned with Michael for this film and just gelled. Did you do plays in school or anything?

Portia: I did the "Wizard of Oz" in High School playing Dorothy and I was opposite a 6th grader. It was me and one other senior. That's the type of drama experience I got in high school.

Did you always want to be an actor?

No. I would still love to get into pre-Med.  It's fascinating to me.

Michael, you are up next in the "Scott Pilgrim" movie.  Anything cool you can tell us about that?

Michael: Yeah. Well, there's an amazing fight between Mae Whitman and Mary
Elizabeth Winstead where they're using these weapons and it's really amazingly done. There are like battles involving music and sword fighting. I don't know how to describe that.

Any news on a movie based on "Arrested Development"?

Michael: I think Mitch Hurwitz (creator/writer) is going to start working on the script soon. I think he's been waiting a while to go ahead with it. I think that he and Jim Vallely have been coming up with ideas and I think they're working on something else right now with Will Arnett and are kind of finishing that up and then will start sometime next year.

Michael, do you have a pet project, anything you are dying to get made?

Michael: I have a pet rock. That's a pet project of mine. Not right now, no. I don't. This movie was that for me for a long time. I was really just hoping that it was actually going to get made and not just go away.