"I don't know how to burp": Michael Cera and Portia Doubleday Q&A at the Bridge

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"I don't know how to burp": Michael Cera and Portia Doubleday Q&A at the Bridge

POSTED: Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 7:30 PM

Filed Under: Movies

Photo | Lauren Seibert

Youth in Revolt stars Portia Doubleday (left) and Michael Cera (middle)

Sporting his trademark deer-in-headlights expression and a navy blue sweater paired with olive green pants, Michael Cera proved himself just as awkwardly funny in person as he is in his films. Last night I plunged into an overflowing sea of Penn students at the Bridge Cinema du Lux to check out a screening of Cera's latest film, Youth in Revolt, followed by a Q&A with Cera and co-star Portia Doubleday.

The movie, which opens in Philadelphia Friday, January 8, 2010, tells the story of the sensitive and intelligent ' but sadly love/sex-deprived ' teen Nick Twisp (Cera) and his bad boy alter-ego, Fran'ois Dillinger, who carry out a number of over-the-top schemes to get closer to dream girl Sheeni Saunders (played by Doubleday). As the badass Fran'ois, Cera sports a mustache (the legitimacy of which was later questioned by a student) and a constantly lit cigarette, which he smokes even while sprinting through the forest.

Cheers replaced laughter after the end credits when Cera and Doubleday walked into the theater for the Q&A, which was filmed by Comedy Central. Cera's I'm-just-going-to-plunge-into-it-and-screw-the-awkward-silences-that-may-result method of humor emerged immediately in his introduction: After thanking everyone for coming out, he asked, 'How many of you didn't like it?' (Silence.) 'Cowards!'

Though both Cera and Doubleday (more suavely dressed in a black pea coat) exhibited plenty of laughingly discomfited moments throughout the questioning, the random queries put forth by students certainly encouraged it. One asked for a hug from Cera ' and received it. Another asked if Cera could grow a mustache (he can, but it doesn't look like the one in the movie). A coy student posed the question, 'By chance, has anyone ever told you that you look like me?' Later, a young man asked if the two stars would like to join him at a bar to play Quizzo.

Truth be told, Cera is just plain weird himself. The 21-year-old Cera's advice for breaking into Hollywood rang adorably adolescent: Watch a lot of movies and keep shooting homemade videos yourself, as a start. At one point, Cera interrupted his own answer to apologize for his chest 'making sounds,' which he attempted to let us hear through the microphone. 'I don't know how to burp,' he told us. Doubleday fed into Cera's tangents, noting, 'That ruined a lot of takes, actually. That noise.' Later, Cera expounded upon the dangers of aggressive chimps as the minutes ticked away.

Doubleday talked far less than Cera, but she revealed a bit about her background. Growing up enmeshed in commercial work, she sort of stumbled into Hollywood and is still finishing college in the midst of all her filming. 'I always have to sign up late,' she said, 'so I always end up with ' knitting and basket-weaving classes.' Doubleday admitted that when she first came across the script for Youth in Revolt, based on the novel by C.D. Payne, she was a bit intimidated by it but students praised her work

The session concluded with a student posing the question, 'Pretend your life is a TV show. What would be your theme song in the opening credits?' Cera, maintaining a poker face better than Lady Gaga's, replied, 'Mine would be like, 'We at the hotel, motel, Holiday Inn!''

RELATED: Trailer!: Youth in Revolt

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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