Neophile movie fans can perhaps be forgiven if they've forgotten that before this newfangled "reality TV," real things were actually often filmed in interesting, meaninful ways. Sometimes these videos were made into coherent stores, "documentaries" they called them, that tried to illustrate some greater truth. Oh, the good old days. But, in the name of all that is nostalgia, Nannette Burstein's new movie American Teen is just such an animal, following five real kids in small-town Indiana in their senior year. In this Filmazing exclusive, we chat with Mitch Reinhold, Jake Tusing and Colin Clemens — the heartthrob, the geek and the jock in the movie's Breakfast Club-inspired parlance, about their experience as Burstein's lab rats. Hint: we hear it's "awesome."

Q: Tell me, how invasive was this for you? Going into senior year — and senior year means a lot — to have cameras following you around, how did you feel about that?

Mitch: The idea of having a camera follow you around for so long, for an entire year, is kind of scary, and I think Nannette understood that going into it. She was very respectful and, if we asked her not to film something or told her we needed some space, she was always very willing to comply with that request, and she really did not want to upset us or betray the trust that we’d established, so it wasn’t too bad.

Q: How did they pick you guys, and were the other kids at your high school jealous?

Jake: They had kind of a long casting process. They made an announcement at the end of our junior year saying, "Hey, a filmmaker’s coming to town." [Then] they sent out packets in the mail with a questionnaire. You filled that out, then you went into a casting call basically, where they had a camera setup in the room, and you just kind of explained what you thought about yourself and what your story was.

But then after that, she just eventually narrowed it down to the 15 people who were willing to be open and the people who had somewhat interesting stories. And I guess she just saw where it took her.

Q: So, the heartthrob, the nerd and the jock. Do you guys still fit those stereotypes?

Colin: Yeah, I’m still playing basketball, still pretty much myself. I haven’t changed much. I'm pretty much the guy that was in high school, and I went to college and it’s me again, so I just kind of started again.

Yeah, I don’t mind my stereotype. Everyone seems offended by theirs, but I don’t mind it. That’s pretty much how I am.

Q: So, I have to ask you, do you have a girlfriend now?

Colin: Actually, to be honest with you, I had a girlfriend the whole time in high school. It was just never shown. But since her I have been single, and hence the bold letter statement at the end. Yes, I am single and I do want that to change.

Q: Ok, open to romance?

Colin: Yes

Q: [To Jake] And you?

Jake: Um, I’m fine with my stereotype. I realize it’s only a part of who I am, you know, not the full thing. I mean, these people are willing to talk to me even though they know that aspect of my personality, so it’s all good. I feel like I’m definitely still geeky or nerdy or whatever you want to call me.

Q: And where are you in school, what are you majoring in, and all that?

Jake: I’m actually taking a year off from school because I have no idea what I want to be doing with my life, and my first two attempts didn’t go over too well. So, taking the year off and seeing where it takes me trying to make some money.

Q: That’s right, you had gone to two different colleges, right?

Jake: Right, yeah. Yeah, I can’t find a match for anything.

Mitch: You’re a missing sock, Jake [laughter].

Q: [To Mitch] And the heaththrob, that has got to be just a little bit embarrassing, isn’t it?

Mitch: I’m not a fan of the “heartthrob” title. I consider myself more of a mix of like a geeky jock, I guess. Like, I played basketball with Colin, obviously, and I’m definitely a big geek. So I would call myself more that, but I don’t know. Being labeled “the heartthrob” in the movie was not something I was crazy about.

Q: Did they start off with you as “the heartthrob” originally?

Mitch: That was actually something that came after Sundance. I think it’s more of a marketing thing, with the buttons and everything [a series of buttons featuring teen stereotypes like "Rebel," "Emo," "Geek" etc. marketed by Paramount Vantage], but we weren’t, when we were filming the movie. We weren’t being filmed as “the jock,” as “the geek,” it was just our lives, and that kind of came later.

Jake: We were filmed as people.

Q: How has this changed your life? How has this movie changed your lives?

Colin: Well, number one, we’re here, right now, talking to you. That’s change number one. Other than the fact that we’re out in LA, you know, people are actually going to know who we are, know our stroeis, be able to take something from our lives. That’s pretty much how we’ve changed, I think.

Mitch: We really don’t know how successful the movie’s going to be and what it’s going to be like when we get back to school or back to home or wherever, but it’ll be different in some way. Just not sure how different.

Jake: Yeah, so far it’s been a positive enough experience for [me], hearing people’s reactions to the film. It’s given me a lot more confidence, so this has changed me on some personal level as well.

Q: You guys have internships, I hear. Tell me just a little bit about those.

Colin: Mitch and I are together working at the Dodgers.

Mitch: It’s pretty awesome.

Colin: Yeah, we’re in the PR department, so we get to handle ‘celebrities’ sometimes.

Mitch: We escort high-profile celebrities to their seats.

Colin: Yeah, we got to escort Pamela Anderson on our first day.

Mitch: It’s pretty incredible.

Colin: Other than that we just help run a camp for them. There’s a Dodger Kids camp and we got to go on Dodger field and help.

Mitch: It’s fun.

Colin: So, we’ve had some good experiences.

Q: That’s great!

Mitch: Pretty awesome.

Q: [To Jake] And you?

Jake: Mine’s not nearly as exciting, but it’s fun for me. I’ve got an internship over at IGN. It’s a gaming and entertainment website. I basically do whatever they ask me to do and I’m very happy to do so, but it’s something to look into later on in life as maybe a potential career, getting paid to have fun.

Mitch: Sounds awesome.