Michael Cera and Kat Dennings in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Read more: Kat Dennings Q&A

In Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Nick and Norah's big city adventure begins with a lie. Caught in a rock and a hard place at the Lower East Side's famous Arlene's Grocery, Norah walks up to a complete stranger and says, "Would you be my boyfriend for five minutes?" Norah's trying to look good in front of her snotty frenemy Tris — little does she know that the guy she's kissing, Nick, is also Tris' ex, and the same guy who has been sending Tris the amazing mix CDs that Norah's been fishing out of the garbage.

Their meeting turns into a mission is to find a hush-hush late-night concert performed by their fave indie-rock band on Manhattan's Lower East Side and in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. But when Nick (Michael Cera of Juno, Superbad, and Arrested Development) and Norah (Kat Dennings of The House Bunny and The 40 Year-Old Virgin) head out into the New York night, they find more than they expected. The two young rising stars chat about that orgasmic scene, swapping gum and watching themselves on screen.

What is the key to romantic chemistry? Did you know each other before this film?

Kat Dennings: We had met a couple times and hung out a little bit. We did just a lot of rehearsal with [director] Peter [Sollett] and got to know each other really well first. And through the whole shoot we got to know each other a little better, so that helped.

Michael Cera: It's like any acting, I think. You've got to trust each other and listen to each other, and [work] off what the other person is doing.

A lot of your films feature these fantastic indie soundtracks. Is that reflective at all of your own taste in music?

Michael Cera: No, not really. I don't have anything to do with the soundtracks.

Kat Dennings: I like all kinds of music. I try to listen to everything I can get my paws on. I don't have any real specific taste toward any special type of music. I like all music.

Coming off The House Bunny, this must have been a different project. The House Bunny is a heightened reality type of comedy whereas this, even if it has some lavish situations, is very grounded. Does that present a different set of challenges a an actress, or do you approach it in the same way?

Michael Cera and Kat Dennings in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Kat Dennings: I just think about the person more than the film. I knew with The House Bunny what it was gonna be. I wore a wig through the whole thing and had hilarious costumes and everything around was pink. But I didn't want to make [the character of Mona] a fantastical person. I just thought she would be like this, and Norah would be like that. I didn't really contextualize it. Maybe I should start doing that.

New York is a character in and of itself. How was it shooting nights in the city?

Kat Dennings: It was great. It was like a big city camp.

Michael Cera: It was fun. We were around the same vicinity for a lot of the movie, like the East Village and the Lower East Side. And we could walk to work a lot of times and walk home. It was really nice.

Kat Dennings: It was nice community feeling. I grew up literally in the woods [in Pennsylvania], and I never really had a neighborhood so it almost felt like a tiny little woods.