Rachel Bilson and Tom Sturridge are “Waiting for Forever”

She was a star on “The O.C.” for four seasons and had parts in the Sci-Fi thriller Jumper and The Last Kiss. He’s an adorable, dark-haired English actor whom you might have seen in Vanity Fair or Being Julia. This Friday you can catch the duo as an unlikely couple in the quirky romance Waiting for Forever.

In the movie, Tom’s character has been in love with Rachel’s since they were kids and he just won’t give it up. He follows her everywhere but as a very kindly stalker. Will she come around or just think he’s nuts and blow him off?

Were chatting with Rachel and Tom at a trendy hotel on the Sunset Strip and getting info on their relationship in the film, talking funky fashion and what is up next for each. Rachel talks about her fashion column in In Style magazine and Tom clarifies the rumor that he was hanging out with pal Robert Pattinson and found the script for this movie on his floor and read it.

TeenHollywood: Tom, what is it about this character that attracted you to the project? And, once and for all, did you pick the script up off of Robert Pattinson’s floor and read it or is that bull?

Tom: I don’t know how people are still holding onto this story. It’s not true. I said I was staying with a friend and I read the script, and people just went, “Well, he’s obviously only got one friend, so it must be Rob.” [we laugh] I was just staying with a girl and she happened to have a bunch of scripts and I read it. It’s a really boring story.

I think it was pretty clear that Will was a unique character. It was interesting to approach what is potentially a pretty clichéd romantic concept; boy, girl, love, film, from this perspective of two relatively damaged people, and potentially mentally complex, with my character. Doing something relatively straight-forward from an un-straight-forward point of view was very interesting.

TeenHollywood: Your character Will does some amazing juggling in this film. Was that actually you?

Tom: Yes, it’s only because I had an extraordinarily good teacher, who took me from being a complete idiot into being able to do it. It was cool.

Rachel: I witnessed it. He actually did it.

TeenHollywood: Are you still adept at it now?

Tom: No, I literally haven’t touched anything since the moment we wrapped. I hated it. It’s the most frustrating, annoying, painful thing. I will genuinely never juggle again. F**k juggling!

TeenHollywood: Ooookay!  Rachel, how would you react, if you were really being stalked by someone like Will?

Rachel: That’s a hard question. In this case, it’s very innocent. It’s a childhood love and friendship, and I don’t think he means anything harmful by it. Once she realizes that it is innocent, it’s a nice thing, in a way, and not stalkerish at all.

TeenHollywood: Have you ever had an experience like that?

Rachel: No, no stalkers, thankfully.

TeenHollywood: Being an actress like your character in the film, have you seen people in Hollywood that just get so wrapped up in their career and the fakeness of the town that they don’t know how to handle the real things that happen in their lives?

Rachel: I think people definitely can get caught up. I don’t know how that pertains to their personal life and whether they can deal with things or not, but there’s definitely people that get caught up in Hollywood and maybe get a bit jaded. I’m sure that happens.

TeenHollywood: Tom, your character has no electronic gadgets whatsoever. Is that like you, or do you have some electronic gadgets that you can’t live without?

Tom: I’ve got a phone.

Rachel: He does know how to use a phone.

Tom: I would be a slave to it, if lots of people called me. I was with someone the other night and she had to switch her phone off ‘cause she kept waking up when it kept texting. I suddenly realized that I never have to do that ‘cause no one ever texts me.

TeenHollywood: Awwww. Tom, do you feel that your character really did have a mental problem due to trauma in his childhood?

Tom: Mental health is such a complex thing and so difficult to diagnose. What is a mental problem? What’s the difference between mental problems and depression and sadness? He’s definitely different, but I think that’s okay.

TeenHollywood: Was there anyone that you modeled this character after? He has so much trouble telling Rachel’s character Emma how he cares for her.

Tom: To be honest, that’s very similar to the way I talk to women. I was actually trying to talk to Rachel and they just filmed it. [we laugh] No. The thing I was thinking about was that he’s a guy who had an incredibly traumatic experience when he was a child, and potentially didn’t emotionally develop after that. So, I just wanted to play him as a child.

TeenHollywood: Have either one of you had childhood friends who stuck with you through some tough stuff?

Rachel: All of my friends, I consider childhood friends because we met when I was probably 13, and I’m still friends with them today. It’s really nice that I have that core group. I’m from here [L.A. area] and they’re all still here.

Tom: All my friends f**king abandoned me with the tough stuff. When the s**t hit the fan, people were gone. No. I’m joking!  If they’re a friend, they stick with you through the tough stuff. My core group of friends are all from when I was a kid.

TeenHollywood: Rachel, what was the bond like with your on screen parents?

Rachel: I was so lucky and happy to work with Blythe Danner and Richard Jenkins. They’re such kind and amazing people, and also amazing actors. I was really fortunate just to be in their company. They really made me feel close with them. It was a really nice feeling and connection.

TeenHollywood: Tom, Will wears a wild outfit of pajama bottoms and top but with a cute vest, bowler hat and Chucks tennies. Why do you think Will wears P.J.s all the time?

Tom: I think he’s quite a sensuous and sensual person. I think he’s someone who finds beauty in things, but more specifically in his tactile interaction with the world, which is why he moves the way he does, and why he wants to be on top of things and touch them. I think pajamas are just an accentuation of that feeling. It’s the feeling of something soft on the skin.

TeenHollywood: Sounds cuddly. Do you think that Will is really in love with Emma, or is he in love with his childhood and his life around her before his parents died?

Tom: I think there’s a feeling he gets when he’s close to her, and it’s a feeling that he wants to keep and replicate. I think it’s more about sustaining that sense of safety and pleasure, as opposed to remembering whatever they did.

TeenHollywood: The film is really about the healing power of love. Rachel, how do you think Emma got healed?

Rachel: Well, I think it’s a process, and she definitely wasn’t healed, by any means, by the end of the film. But, things happen and sometimes it takes something to happen, for you to wake up. And, it’s not necessarily a romantic love. It’s a pure, genuine love, of sorts. For her, it was just reconnecting with something real and true.

TeenHollywood: Tom, do you think Will is healed, by reconnecting with Emma again?

Tom: I think it’s about seeing her happy. At the end of the film, when she smiles, I think he feels done.

TeenHollywood: Realistically? An actress and a street juggler?

Rachel: I like street jugglers.

Tom: Realistically, an actor and anyone is iffy. [laughter]

TeenHollywood: Rachel, this film is very emotional. What was the most difficult scene for you to do?

Rachel: There were so many challenging things. The scene with my father was difficult. It was really emotional, to go through that and really feel that, ‘cause I had a connection with Richard Jenkins.

TeenHollywood: Did it help to have Blythe Danner [Gwyneth Paltrow’s actress mom] there with you?

Rachel: Absolutely, yeah. She’s definitely a maternal figure.

TeenHollywood: Tom, what was the most difficult scene for you?

Tom: The emotional stuff with my brother. But, at the same time, in a weird way, it’s much clearer when it says in the script, “He breaks down.” You either break down, or you don’t break down and, at the end of it, you know whether you’ve done it or not. What’s harder is actually just honestly interacting with another person in a scene where you’re having a relatively banal conversation like “Hello! Do you want to go to the kitchen?” That was my relaxed, cool guy. [more laughs].

TeenHollywood: Did you have to stay in that emotional frame of mind during the whole shoot, or did you guys get to laugh at all?

Rachel: We laughed a lot, when we weren’t filming. I can get into a character, but it’s easier for me to transition quickly. I like to step away from it, so that when you go to it, it’s still new and you can explore it more.

TeenHollywood: Rachel, aren’t you still doing your fashion column for In Style magazine?

Rachel: Yes. I work with In Style. The readers ask questions and I answer. I don’t have a clothing line but I have a homeware line.

TeenHollywood: Cool. So what is in right now?

Rachel: I see a lot of faux fur vests making a comeback.

Tom: What!? When I think of a vest I think of buttoned down, like a waistcoat (hey, he’s a Brit!)

Rachel: No. Fake fur.. [laughs] Never mind.

Tom: Now I’m thinking of a fake fur wife beater [sleeveless tank top]!

Rachel: No! That would not be cute! [more laughter].

TeenHollywood: Rachel, did you help pick Emma’s fashions in the movie at all?

Rachel: I worked with the costume designer and played it off of girls that move to L.A. to act, but come from Pittsburgh or wherever, and we found a fine line that wouldn’t necessarily be what I’d wear, but that was the idea.

TeenHollywood: Tom, what’s next for you?

Tom: I just finished doing On the Road [with Kristen Steward, Garrett Hedlund etc.] and then, I’m going to go back to London, where I’m doing a play at the Royal Court, called “Wastwater”.

TeenHollywood: How was the experience of making On the Road?

Tom: It was extraordinary, just taking on that seminal book, and doing it with Walter Salles, who is one of the best 50 directors alive, in my mind. It was incredibly intense and long. We shot for six months. It’s quite unusual for a film that doesn’t have car explosions and stunt set pieces to shoot for such a long time. We genuinely spent six months doing scenes, every day. That sounds stupid, but in most films that take six months, you’re actually spending four weeks to do a fight scene. It was amazing.

TeenHollywood: Rachel, what do you have coming up?

Rachel: I actually finished a film recently, called BFF & Baby, which is a female-driven comedy that was written by Krysten Ritter and Kat Coiro, who directed it. And, Kate Bosworth is in it as well.  It’s a really fun movie. It’s funny. It’s the female version of Judd Apatow films.