Video:Dear John - Henry Thomas and Scott Porter Interviews

Transcript:Dear John - Henry Thomas and Scott Porter Interviews

Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the World Premiere of Screen Gems' Dear John.

Henry Thomas - 'Tim' in Dear John

Henry Thomas: "For me, the lure was just working with Lasse Hallstrom. I love his films, and he's a great guy to work for."

I hear that kid that plays your son is actually autistic.

Henry Thomas: "Yes, he is."

What was that like to interact with?

Henry Thomas: "You know, Lasse wanted to have a kid in the role that was really autistic because he wanted to add that element of realism in the interplay between the characters. That's exactly what he got because, you know, obviously because of his condition, a lot of things were on his schedule, you know? So, consequently, we had to work a little bit harder, but I think the end result is great."

Well, does it keep you kind of fresh too because you never know what's going to happen?

Henry Thomas: "It absolutely does. It absolutely keeps you fresh. And you can't always follow the page because the page doesn't exist in his mind. I mean, it does, but it was interesting."

I hear that there's this ABBA video floating around from the people on the set who actually made it. [Director Lasse Hallstrom directed ABBA videos during the group's heyday] Did you get to see that one?

Henry Thomas: "I think I saw it."

Are you in it?

Henry Thomas: "I think I make a cameo or two, yeah."

Do you sing?

Henry Thomas: "I don't sing, no. Not in that."

Some ABBA dancing maybe?

Henry Thomas: "I think I was photoshopped as one of the female members of ABBA. I think Lasse did that or someone very close to Lasse did that."

I can't wait to see that on the DVD.

Henry Thomas: "Well, it might make it. I don't know. You have to talk with some of higher ups."

Scott Porter - 'Randy' in Dear John

So, you're kind of not necessarily a jerk but Channing's opposition in this. What was that like?

Scott Porter: "You know what? Randy is not a jerk. He gets the hots for a girl and somebody else gets the hots for her at the same time, and she picks him. He's got a wounded kind of ego, you know? A little bit of his pride is just gone and he shows it. He's the type of guy who wears his feelings on his sleeve. He says a couple of things that aren't great. But he tries to make up for it later on."

Are you close to that?

Scott Porter: "No. No, that's why I wanted to play this role. It's different than me. I'm closer to the guy I play on Friday Night Lights. I'm kind of like a Midwest kid, come from a really great family and was raised right. I feel like Randy's very privileged, and because of it he's got a chip. But it was fun. I got to just insult Channing take after take in a couple of scenes, and Channing's such a nice dude."

Was it tough?

Scott Porter: "It wasn't tough. It was just funny because, you know, he'd say, 'Cut,' and we'd just laugh. I was just throwing out ridiculous stuff out there, and Lasse Hallstrom, the director, he's such a great filmmaker but he's also great with the actors. I've worked with some directors who are way in their head and can't really talk to the actors. He has a great rapport with all of us and let us really play and kind of find a comfortable space to work in. He was great."

What I've heard is that it was really fun behind the scenes.

Scott Porter: "Yeah. There were pranks everywhere. Channing's a jokester. Marty Bowen, one of the producers, is a huge jokester. They would go back and forth at it. Amanda got involved and things got messy… No, no, no. I'm kidding. We had a great time. I came into this thing with friends who worked on the movie. One of my best friends is the screenplay writer, Jamie Linden. He called me up and asked me to come to a table read. I read Randy and the producers offered me the role that day. It was great. It was kind of like one of those dream Hollywood-kind of moments that don't happen that often. So coming into it there was no pressure. It was a great time."

And was it a great time doing the ABBA video? Did you get to be a part of that?

Scott Porter: "I didn't get to be a part of the ABBA video."

You didn't? Why not?

Scott Porter: "You know, I don't know. They didn't tell me. But I did a music video for Music and Lyrics a couple years ago with Hugh Grant. I feel like maybe they think I had my moment. 'He's already done one.'"

What else are you working on?

Scott Porter: "Right now, my first episode of Caprica just came out last Friday. I've got 10 more episodes of that coming up, and I have a movie called The Good Guy that I star in with Alexis Bledel and Bryan Greenberg and that premieres on February 19th. "

Is this the type of movie you'd go buy a ticket to go see?

Scott Porter: "You know what? I have a beautiful girlfriend who loves movies like this, and I will buy ticket for her. She loves this stuff. I'm less of a romantic kind of guy. I play video games and like big action movies. I go see the worst movies of the year every summer. I go and see just terrible blockbusters over the summer."

The ones that get nominated for Razzies.

Scott Porter: "Yeah, yeah. But I love going to see those and making fun. But you know what? I've got to say I would buy a ticket for this. The Notebook was such a fantastic piece of work and I think this is on par with it."

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