![\"Cherry\"](\"http:\/\/www.shockya.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/cherry.jpg\" "\\"Cherry\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nOdds are, you know Kyle Gallner for one of the many high profile horror films he\u2019s appeared in over the past few years. There was The Hunting in Connecticut<\/em>, Jennifer\u2019s Body<\/em> and the highly anticipated reboot, Nightmare on Elm Street<\/em>, but his success in the genre and the prominence of these films doesn\u2019t mean these are the only types of films Gallner has to offer. In fact, he\u2019s got quite a number of non-horror films on the way, one of which hits theaters this weekend, Cherry<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Cherry<\/span><\/em> stars Gallner as Aaron, a somewhat sheltered guy starting his first year at a prestigious college. He may not be as socially and romantically developed as his roommate, but when it comes to academics, Aaron\u2019s above and beyond his peers. He\u2019s enrolled in an advanced engineering program and while the work should be his top priority, Aaron\u2019s distracted by a woman, a much older woman. Aaron meets Linda in class and the attraction is instant. Problem is, Linda (Laura Allen) has a 14-year-old daughter, Beth (Brittany Robertson), and when Linda brings Aaron over for dinner one night, the attraction between him and Beth is instant as well.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Not only was I thankful to have the opportunity to chat about such a purely enjoyable film, but to an actor on the rise that\u2019s certainly worth keeping an eye on. Check out everything Gallner told me about working on Cherry<\/em>, working with Kevin Smith on his upcoming film Red State<\/em> and his hopes for the future in the interview below, and be sure to catch Cherry<\/em> at the Village East Cinema in New York City.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n How’d you get involved with this project? Did you go through the audition process?<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, it was your typical audition process. I got sent the script to read, I really liked the script a lot and a couple days later I had the audition and I ended up booking the role.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n What scene did they make you perform? Was it anything with your co-stars?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I can\u2019t remember, but I ended up getting to audition Brittany and they ended up having me and her get together and actually run scenes together. When I auditioned it was just me reading with the casting director, but when they auditioned Brittany, they had us go to this place and me and her ran a couple of scenes for like an hour or two. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n So you were the first to be cast?<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n What was it like seeing everyone cast around you? You\u2019re really the centerpiece of the film, so did you get to have any input?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Kind of. It was one of those things that they took the best person for the job for each role. It was pretty cool to see everybody get cast slowly, one-by-one. The audition process was cool too because I got to read with Brittany. She was the only girl I got to read with, but then I got to read with a couple other actresses for Laura Allen\u2019s role. I read with like two people before Laura ended up being cast. It\u2019s the first time I ever did that where I\u2019ve gotten to read with the other cast members and help with the audition process.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Did that help you get into your role more, too?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Anytime you can run scenes from the movie it definitely helps you get into it. It was like rehearsal.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Did this end up being your only rehearsal or did the filming schedule allow for some actual rehearsal time?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n When we got to Michigan we had like two, three days where we rehearsed and all read the script together, talked about the scenes and talked about the movie and everything, so I had a little bit of rehearsal time; we didn\u2019t have a ton, but we had some.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Your character, Aaron, he\u2019s got his issues, but he’s basically a normal college kid. Were you able to relate to him at all?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, he\u2019s kind of the kid I was in high school. I wasn\u2019t so nerdy and na\u00efve, but I had a group of friends who were like these skate rec kids that nobody really paid much attention to, so I can understand where he\u2019s coming from with that where he doesn\u2019t have a ton of friends and he doesn\u2019t have interaction with girls, but Aaron\u2019s kind of where I was in high school, but he\u2019s in college. [Laughs]<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n So what was it like when you first got on set with Lauren and Brittany?<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n It was good. I\u2019d known Brittany for a couple of years before that. I met her when she was really young when I was out in California and I was really young as well, so I\u2019ve known Brittany for along time so that was cool to work with her. It\u2019s always nice to know somebody on set before you get there. And Laura was great. She just had her baby; she was there with her baby, her husband. Her husband was awesome. It was just a nice cast to be around. Everybody was just really nice people and really came to play. They wanted to make this movie the best they could.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Was it kind of like it’s portrayed in the film? Like a surrogate family on set?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, it was. It was a very nice set to be on. It was a very close set. Everybody got to know each other really well, especially the crew. They all lived in a college dorm room and had roommates. They got to know each other very well. When you\u2019re on location, you tend to get to know people better just because you don\u2019t go home at night. If you live in LA and shoot a movie, you go home and don\u2019t really talk to anybody. When you shoot on location, you all kind of stay in the same place, you don\u2019t know anybody in town so everybody gets together. A crew on a location is pretty much your family.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n So, with Laura and Brittany particularly, what was it like when you had some more romantic moments with them? Did this on set dynamic make it awkward?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n [Laughs] It\u2019s weird. It\u2019s part of the job. When you do those scenes it\u2019s not like they\u2019re really all that romantic. It\u2019s kind of invasive in a way. You have people watching you and telling you how to do things, you have to lift your head up or cheat this here, there. It\u2019s a job. You don\u2019t earn those moments of being romantic. It\u2019s a job at the end of the day.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n On a less awkward note, how was it working with [director] Jeffrey [Fine]? With such a small-scale shoot I\u2019d imagine everything has to be planned precisely to make use of the time. Did you ever have the chance to take a breather and just explore the store?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Jeff always made time to make sure we were comfortable with the scenes and everybody was comfortable with what we were doing. I got to talk to Jeff a bunch before the movie started. Everybody was pretty prepared and pretty ready to go before we even got to Michigan. Jeff is a really great director. It\u2019s a story he knows very well; it\u2019s a very personal story, so any questions you have, he could answer most of them.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n It is clear he has a great handle on the material. The film itself has such a great laidback and simple feel to it.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, I think that was what Jeff was going for. For indie shoots, you\u2019re doing six-day weeks and it\u2019s pretty run-and-gun chaotic, but he got a very cool, laidback feel to it. It\u2019s just a good movie. It just flows nicely and it\u2019s fun to watch. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n