And were you familiar with the book?

GN: No, I actually wasn't. We were filming as the book came out so I didn't really know about it.

TM: I read the book while we were filming.

Taylor Momson Photo by Matt Carr

Did you find the book informative for your performance or was the screenplay more useful?

TM: Yeah. The screenplay was almost like an outline of what was supposed to happen. It wasn't very specific. A lot of it was ad-libbing and bringing what you want to your character and what would you as your character naturally say in this scene, in this situation. That is what made it so cool because it made it really natural and easy to watch. We didn't look so "acty."

What sort of direction did Van Sant give you on set or did he leave you to your own devices?

GN: He totally directed us. But it wasn't like he was telling us exactly what to do. He just told us the key concept of the scene and we built on that. We discussed the scene beforehand.

Did he rehearse the scene with you?

TM: A couple of times. It was general. It was different every time.

GN: We would maybe rehearse just as the camera was getting ready, just for fun.

TM: Or the blocking, you have to walk and the technical stuff, we would rehearse that. But the actual acting part of it wasn't really rehearsed.

Did you feel pressure because you didn't have a specific text to fall back on?

GN: No, because everyone there and Gus were so chill and laid back that it really took off a lot of the pressure. The way that Gus directed you was to [help you] imagine his vision so it made it easier for you to do what you wanted to do.

TM: He described what he wanted to happen in a scene, how he perceived the scene. And then he would [say]: "So this is what is happening and this is what just happened to you... what would you be doing then?" When he would say that, you would be on the same page as him and you would be thinking the same thing as him. So you would technically be giving your creative input, but it would be the same thing that he was thinking.