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JH: I tried the horns on [when visiting the set]. And they go so well with almost anything. But they accessorize nicely with formal wear (laughs).

DR: If this was a longer story and went into the mundane-ness of life, we thought they could be used as a dry-cleaning rack and coat hangers and things like that. They are a very functional piece of headwear.

JT: You can propose with them and put a ring on the end.

DR: Put a ring on it! There you go (laughs).

Is there anything that you saw in the script that scared you with, “How am I going to pull this off?” or “I don’t know how I am going to do this, but it will be fun to try?”

DR: Most of it I think (laughs).

JT: The whole thing. But I think that goes for every actor in a film. It wasn’t a walk in the park for any of the characters. Each one had their challenges and some that were really dark and made you feel uncomfortable, but I think that’s the joy of being an actor – challenging yourself. It should never be easy I don’t think. And that’s something that the director Alexandre Aja helped us come to. The blessing of having a wonderful director who is patient with you as an actor and loves actors will push you to a limit that you didn’t even know you had, but when it’s over, he is very gentle and helps you calm down.

DR: Yeah. I think actors are lucky to have a job, which becomes more fun as it becomes more challenging. We can do a day of me shooting me shutting doors and opening stuff, and it would be the easiest day of my life, but it wouldn’t be any fun (laughs). I think particularly the break-up scene, it isn’t so much, “Will I be able to do that,” but for me I go, “We can’t not do that right. It has to be perfect.” The breakup scene in the diner is replayed several times through different perspectives and is a real key element in the film. But that’s a great time when you have a director like Alexandre and a screen partner like Juno where you can work off each other.

How reliant were you on Alex for the tone of this? There are scenes that are silly and fun and other stuff that is very serious and you really nail it.

JH: One thing that I find interesting about Alexandre is that he’s made a lot of really disturbing films full of upsetting sequences, but he is a real sweetheart who gave a really lush, gentle romantic arc to this story. And with the scenes in this film, the man’s romanticism comes through – it glows. There is a real affection for the characters, even when they are admitting some really, ugly painful things. There is a feeling that these people are cared for. The storyteller has an emotional attachment to them.

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