Michael Cera on new film that almost wasn't made
Michael Cera is playing a character unlike any of his past roles in the new indie drama, "Crystal Fairy."
Normally known for his sweet-natured performances, the 25-year-old "Arrested Development"star instead plays the arrogant Jamie -- an American living in Chile who convinces his roommate and his friends to take a road trip with him in his hunt for the San Pedro cactus containing the hallucinogenic drug mescaline. "Now and Then" child star Gabby Hoffman -- now 31 -- portrays the free-spirited titular character, who gets on Cera's nerves throughout most of the film.
"Crystal Fairy" was directed by acclaimed Chilean filmmaker Sebestian Silva (Cera's friends in the movie are played by Silva's three brothers) who also directed Cera in another new film, "Magic Magic."
In an interview with CBSNews.com, Cera said that the primary reason they made "Crystal Fairy" was because of a production delay shooting "Magic Magic" in Chile.
"We had lost hope in ['Magic Magic']," Cera revealed. "We thought we would never get a chance to make it and were disappointed. And then I left Chile where I'd been hanging out waiting for that production to start and then about a month or two went by and then Sebastian called me and said 'Why don't you come back like next weekend and then we'll go make a movie.'"
One phone call was all it took for Cera to get on the next flight he could to Chile, "And it was really just that -- it was one conversation and then we were making this movie never really thinking about it too seriously. Because it was sort of something to do with our time and our energy. I never was thinking about people seeing it."
There was no set screenplay for the film, and the actors themselves came up with the dialogue before filming each scene.
"Yeah, there was basically...an outline without dialogue written. And that's what we worked off of," Cera explained.
"Crystal Fairy" eventually came into fruition -- luckily for Silva -- who won the directing award at this year's Sundance Film Festival for his work on the film that almost didn't get made.
Watch the video above to see Cera and Silva discuss "Crystal Fairy," which opens in select theaters on Friday.
