Academy Alumni

During rehearsals for the film, first-time directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris challenged the cast in some unconventional ways. Greg says by day three they had the cast playing dodgeball! "I remember [co-star] Alan Arkin trying to throw a dodgeball at me as hard as he could, and I remember thinking, 'Boy, maybe we're in trouble on this,'" he says. "They had us do all sorts of crazy stuff together and at some point, there was a real kind of method to the madness, I think. It was to try to get us all comfortable, [to] get to know each other."

One of the biggest challenges of filming the movie—which took a mere 30 days—was spending so much time in the 1969 Volkswagen van, says Greg. During his scenes, Greg had to perform while driving on the freeway in real traffic! "It's the most dangerous movie ever made," he jokes.

With such limited space in the van, Greg says the directors had to curl up in the back—occasionally poking their heads up to give direction. "It was a strange environment to shoot a movie, but we all had a good time," he says.