Cera and Dennings talk about the fun, joyful vibe of their newest, 'Nick and Norah's

The Daily spoke with Michael Cera and Kat Dennings about their new film, "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist." The film follows Nick (played by Cera), a member of a band called "The Jerk Offs" who sees his ex-girlfriend with a new guy at one of his gigs. Nick quickly turns to Norah (Dennings) to be his makeshift girlfriend for a few face-saving minutes. The rest of the film follows the pair as they run across New York City to see a band's secret performance. Cera and Dennings were both exhausted from their long press tour but took some time to kick back and answer some questions.

Question: Since this movie is about a crazy night following an underground band, can you tell me the craziest night you've ever had?

Kat Dennings: We had some crazy nights filming the movie. Well, you know, middle of the night in New York City, drunk people throwing things, yelling at us, wanting us out of their places where they like to be. I understand, I totally understand. I think they'll be happy, though, when they see it. We got kicked out of a music store because we were kind of disrupting their sales. We went in and we all started to play the instruments and kind of have a jolly time, and they were like, "You're ruining our store."

Michael Cera: It was understandable.

Q: Why do you think this film will connect with audiences the same way I'm assuming it did with the two of you?

MC: I think Pete has a really authentic directing style and he really captures this kind of tone of like a one-night adventure kind of thing. He does it really truthfully, I think. And anyone who has had a night like this or gotten to know someone over a —

KD: Or wanted to have a night like this.

MC: Yes, made a friendship over a condensed period of time can relate or at least fantasize about it.

KD: I agree, and also, one thing that is really cool about watching the film, that Mike and I both think, is it feels, when you watch it, like it felt making it. It just feels really joyful and fun and adventurous when you watch it.

Q: How do you prepare to do a kissing scene in a film with someone that you're working around all the time?

KD: You brush your teeth.

MC: Eat a sandwich.

KD: Michael eats sandwiches and I brush my teeth, because I'm from Philadelphia and that's how they do it there.

MC: I eat a toothpaste sandwich.

Q: What is it like working on a movie based on a book, compared to working on comedies that can be improvised and changed like "Charlie Bartlett" [2008] or "Superbad" [2007]?

MC: No difference to me. I mean, those movies still have scripts and structure, and that dictates what scene you're going to work on and what is going to happen in it that's going to drive the story, but you just have some freedom to say whatever you want. But in terms of scheduling and procedure it's the same; it's just that there's less of a strict dialogue situation. And with this movie we could say whatever we wanted because the only real story was us getting to know each other, so it was kind of irrelevant what the conversations were that we were having.

KD: Yes, interestingly enough "Charlie Bartlett" was pretty script driven. I don't recall improvising that much on "Charlie Bartlett" at all. But, this was filmed during the writers' strike. But like Mike said, it's all just us getting to know each other and liking each other, so it kind of didn't matter what we said, and we improvised a bit. But I think it all flows pretty well, if I do say so myself.

Q: You play like the awkward teenager really well, and you've been doing that in a lot of movies. Do you want to branch out and kind of play some other types of characters? And  if so, which types of characters would those be?

MC: I'm currently working on project where I kidnap a young boy and proceed to smack him around.

Q: In the movie, your characters are running all over New York, looking for this band. What would you guys run all over New York all night to find?

MC: Oh, a child.

KD: Yes, if I lost like a family member, if there was an emergency, but probably not for leisure. I don't find those types of things relaxing.

Q: I have a question about your Web shows that you both have. I know Kat has kind of a YouTube channel and also, Michael, you did Drunk History on YouTube. What attracted you guys to that whole scene of filming?

MC: I just did it with my friend, you know, my friend Derek Waters does this live comedy show in LA, and he was making it for that, and it was fun.

KD: I've had this written blog for  seven years, so when YouTube came around, it's another way to blog and it just seemed like a natural thing and a kind of fun thing.

Q: Okay, and you guys have both been doing the comedy movies, and I was wondering if you would want to do a different type of movie in the future and, if so, what kind would it be?

KD: I think I can speak for both us when we say that it just depends on the script. And, if the script happens to be funny, then so be it. But also it comes to happen where you playing a sort of dramatic role in a comedy or vice versa. It just depends on the material and the director and what you want to do. It's not really a calculated decision.