with Cast and Crew of Going the Distance

Drew, did the fact that the Erin character is more of a modern woman attract you to the role?

Drew Barrymore (“Erin”): Yeah, I just wasn’t in that place in my life where I wanted to play a coo-coo, wacky, role-reversal sort of scenario. She’s someone who can hang out with guys, and loves women but has a spine, is funny, and is someone I feel like I can relate to at this point in my life. It was a pleasure for me to get to improv, and work in a much more free-flowing way where you could play around and didn’t have to be censored because you had an R-rating. It was just an absolute pleasure.

What scene would you say was the biggest challenge?

Christina Applegate (“Corrine”): When I stared up into the cavities… [looks at Justin Long and laughs]

Justin Long (“Garrett”): She basically gave me a colonoscopy.

Christina: I think it was the first day of work that was the most challenging because Nanette [Burstein, the director] kept saying “When you see them naked, could you stare longer?” But I physically couldn’t.

Justin: It’s like looking at the face of God.

Christina: He’s very method, and there was no cover-up. And he was bent over. Think about it.

Drew: One of the challenges I was most excited about was doing the drunk scene. Nanette really focused on “what type of drunk is she?” We sort of ad-libbed and tried to figure out if you were angry, how would you let loose? It was the most fun day at work ever because I really just let loose.

Justin: Like a monkey flinging poo. I would say some of the naked stuff was a little uncomfortable, but I think the most challenging was trying to keep a straight face around these clowns [points at the rest of the cast]. But yeah, I think just a lot of the intimate, sexual stuff in a room of 30-40 grown men was a challenge.

Drew and Christina, how was it playing sisters in the film?

Drew: I thought it was interesting. I felt like we really started to look alike, which I thought was cool. I like when people cast siblings that feasibly could have come from the same womb, so I felt like we sort of started to morph. We used to be in a dance class together when we were kids, and [Christina] looked really good in spandex and I did not.

Christina: So I made a career out of it. We kind of look at each other and I feel like I know more about her more than anybody and she kind of knows me on that level that you don’t talk about, so I think being sisters was really easy. You feel really protective, there are a lot of parallels.

Drew: Yep, yep, a lot of parallels. It worked for us.

Justin, one of the key moments in any romantic comedy is the first kiss. Is that something you find difficult to do or is it just part of the role?

Justin: Yeah, I was like “necessary evil, here we go.” The first kiss for us in the movie was kind of sloppy because we were stoned, so it was just so easy to do. I like to think about my grandmother, just because she’s always been an inspiration to me. [Laughs] Sometimes you’ve never kissed someone before because you just met them, and people have different ways of kissing so sometimes it can be very jarringly uncomfortable. There can be very little movement involved but then a quick sudden movement from the tongue you didn’t expect.

Jason Sudeikis (“Box”): But I just had a tooth pulled.

Justin: Excuses.

Drew: I was just lucky because he’s a good kisser, so I was like “Thank God!” It’s the worst when you’re kissing someone that’s not a good kisser and you’re trying to make it look good, like you’re just working on your own. This was a real team effort, you know?

Justin: She’s a great kisser too. And by “she” I mean the lady in the front row.

In addition to Drew and Justin’s couple, there’s also the tag-team of Jason and Charlie in the film.

Charlie Day (“Dan”): For the record, we’re not officially a couple. We’re working on it though, we’re working through some issues.

Jason: You being married is one of them.

Charlie: Yeah, that’s been blocking us. But you know, we get to have the most fun in the movie, in terms of coming in and just being light, and we don’t have to carry any sort of emotional arc…

Jason: Low stakes, high-larity. [Laughs]

Drew: I find that films, for me watching them, work best when you’re kind of really invested in the whole group of people. I love films like with Judd Apatow or Christopher Guest where they have this alumni-quality and you’re just really into all of the people in it. I love when the chemistry goes far beyond just the couple. I think this movie is like that.

Justin: I pride myself on being able to keep it together, but I’ve never had a more difficult time keeping a straight face than working with these guys. We were so lucky being surrounded by all these people.

Nanette: There’s so much comedy and hilarity that comes from Christina’s character and Justin’s friends Charlie and Jason, so I think it just makes the film that much more fun to watch.

Jason and Charlie, how was working on the film different than your TV experience?

Charlie: Yeah, for me it was different than my show [“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”] because we have a very specific way of shooting it, and I’m behind the monitors a lot with the partners in the show, and I have a lot of creative control in that department, so there was a lot of just trusting what Nanette was doing. Outside of that, it wasn’t too different. We got to play, and if we hit on something good, Nanette would write it down and bring it to us, and as you can see it all comes together beautifully. It was super-fun, and I was actually learning things being a part of it.

Jason: Exact same answer, word for word. No, we don’t improvise at all on SNL, even though some people think we do. Maybe little things in the middle, but because of the live editing you have to hit the cue when you’re supposed to otherwise the director gets in trouble, moreso than the actor. We also tend to play things a bit bigger on a sketch show, while the movie pretty much captures what it would be like watching the three of us hang out typically, almost identical to that to a degree.

Nanette, as a female director, was it a challenge dealing with some of the subject matter in the film?

Nanette: Yeah, I mean, we were trying to have a lot of fun, but there were also some very serious scenes, some emotional scenes, but there was a lot of comedy and a lot of improvisation. I remember saying to Charlie and Jason, “I don’t think we’re going to shoot with the script this time” and they go “You mean there’s a script?”

One of the most striking things about the film is the honest language between the characters.

Adam Shankman (producer): One of the most important things that we talked about going into this movie with Nanette before we even had a cast, was the fact that there had to be a lot of honesty in the movie, which is why it couldn’t be anything but R. When you’re in adult relationships living in modern places and urban environments, you have to be honest. You can’t do a good comedy without coming from something that’s very real at it’s core. It was always very important that the honesty be present.

Nanette: It’s different from the traditional romantic comedy. People are uncensored, and there’s a very grounded story about feelings and emotion and you really care about these characters, so from the get-go it was always our intention to make it as honest as possible.

How did you come to choose both Drew and Justin to be in the film together?

Nanette: I’ve been fans of both of them for a long time. They’re both great comedic and dramatic actors, and they have great chemistry together, so it was kind of a no-brainer.

Did you try to avoid some of the clichés you find in other romantic comedies?

Nanette: Yes, we did very much want to stay away from a lot of the clichés of the genre, from the way the characters are written, to the supporting cast, and everything else we tried to make very fresh.

Adam: I want to say something in defense of clichés by the way, they’re clichés because they’re real and they happen, but I understand that we get bored watching them. I think that we successfully avoided them.

Drew and Justin, what are your favorite albums and movies?

Justin: Albums? I would say Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, Joni Mitchell’s Blue, and [The Beatles’] Rubber Soul, I think are my top 3.

What about the new Justin Bieber album?

Justin: Well, that’s assumed, yeah. The Bieb’s Greatest Hits. Leave it to Bieber.

Drew: I’m gonna go with like, Annie Hall, Lost in America, and Sullivan’s Travels. Those are some of my favorite movies.

Justin: What about albums? Albums!

Drew: Okay, I’m on it, spank me! I’m just kidding. Albums…. Like, Radiohead, um…. I’m such a music nut too, so this is sad. It’s like sometimes when someone says “Let’s go to breakfast” and it’s like you’ve never eaten before and your brain just goes blank, I’m gonna call a brain blank on this one. I’m sticking with movies.

Justin: Let me say, for what it’s worth, Annie Hall, Back to the Future and Way Out West.

What is your most cherished item in your house?

Drew: Any of my dogs are my most cherished thing, I’d have to say.

Christina: My Tom Cruise poster.

In conclusion, would you consider this film to be a “recession” romance?

Drew: Yes! I feel like personally I just want something that I can escape into, and sort of forget what’s going on around me, but I don’t want to lose sight of being able to relate to something. For me I just want that beautiful, striking balance, and I feel like this film has that. I’m laughing but I’m crying and relating and emotional about it. I feel like it gets surprisingly real.

Justin: I also think the fiscal realities of the characters play a large part, and it’s good to see that play out as it’s something a lot of people now can relate to—the things you take for granted when you’re in a long-distance relationship, chief among them the logistics of getting from point A to point B and what’s involved in that.

Drew: It’s like you can’t—you want to see each other, but you can’t because of money or your schedule…

Justin: Or you run out of fuel for your hot air balloon.

Drew: Exactly!

"Going the Distance" hits North American theaters September 3.

Special Thanks: Misti Firlotte