Josh Hutcherson, were you bullied in school?

Hutcherson: I got a lot of crap from kids in school when I first started acting. I didn't understand that, because it was something I loved doing, but I learned that you just don't let it bother you. I didn't understand what they were laughing about. I just ignored it.One of the messages in this movie is that guys and girls can be friends. Do you have girls who are just friends?

Hutcherson: Yeah, isn't that unbelievable? Guys and girls can be best friends. I have girl friends, and I've had girlfriends, too, but friends who are girls my age and played around with, sure. They come out play guy stuff, play kickball and stuff. We don't do girl stuff, but it's OK. They are humans too. Girls are not a different species, and you can be friends with them.Did you ever have a crush on a teacher?

Hutcherson: Zooey [Deschanel] is so perfect as Ms. Edmonds. My teacher is a dude, so I don't really have a crush on him. I have had a lot of great teachers, but there was one I had in both the third and fourth grades who stood out as one I learned from a lot. She was one of those teachers who was really strict, and I talked so much and got in trouble for talking so much. I did not have a cool, hip teacher, like Zooey, and I'm mostly home-schooled now. I have a 51-year-old teacher who acts like he's a lot younger. We have great time, playing sports together while we're learning.How do you identify with this character?

Hutcherson: My character is such a real kid. He has all the real-kid problems. His home life isn't that great in the movie, and that's not like mine, but I am into sports, football, soccer at home, and have a great imagination like Jess [the character]. How did you get into acting?

Hutcherson: I had to beg and beg my parents since I was 3 or 4 years old, and they said "Why not play sports?" They heard all this negative stuff about Hollywood and being an actor. ... Finally they opened the Yellow Pages and we met with an acting coach, and to this day I have never had an acting class in my life. They tried me out there and suggested I go to pilot season in Los Angeles. I was so excited and begged and begged and begged, and so they took me out for one pilot season. I got a pilot, and things took off from there and never stopped.Does imagination play an important part in your life?

Hutcherson: Imagination is important part of everybody's life. With today's kids, imagination is lost because kids play so many video games, and it's bad for that. My little brother plays a lot, and I was always outside playing Army, rolling around on the ground, playing with squirt guns and playing kickball. ... I think kids need to do that more often.How was it dealing with the special effects and acting against nothing?

Hutcherson: They built the forest after we shot a lot of it. So, we imagined it all and dodged and dived and hit things that were not there. We had to watch the tennis ball that was there. Gabor [Csupo, the director] and others showed us drawings and painted a picture of what was going on. What did you like about the role?

Hutcherson: There were a lot of great scenes. They had so many great scenes, and I got to show a wide range of emotions. I got to be shy and timid and hurt, and then let my imagination run wild. I love playing a range of diverse characters.Did you know about the director's work with animation in the past?

Hutcherson: Sure. I used to watch Rugrats all the time. I also loved [Aaahhh!!] Real Monsters. I watched that every day after school.Did you ever have imaginary friends?

Hutcherson: Yes, I did. Hannah and Danno were my imaginary friends. I used to play with them all the time, talk to them. She was pink and he was blue. When I couldn't play with my real friends, they were always around.You have some exciting things coming up, right?

Hutcherson: Yeah, Firehouse Dogs, which was shot before I did this one, is coming out around the same time, and two weeks after I finished Terabithia I went to Montreal to film Journey to the Center of the Earth with Brendan Fraser, and that's coming out 8/08/08. ... It's the most action-packed movie I've ever done.How have you liked the whole Hollywood thing so far?

Hutcherson: I like it when people say they've enjoyed my movies. It's nice when people ask, "Can I have an autograph?" and I know that they're enjoying what I'm doing.

AnnaSophia Robb, have you ever experienced bullies?

Robb: People who are different are a bit intimidating to others. People don't know how to interpret them. People are scared of them. My character Leslie is a fun person, and ... she is being nice to everyone and wants to be accepted. ... I still go to the same school I've been going to for ages, since kindergarten, and school is still nicer for me than it has been for Leslie. ... But people do things that are mean, like call someone fat or say crazy and demeaning things to others for no reason, and it's hard, it's torture, especially for a kid. Bullying comes in all shapes and forms, even when they're adults. ... People like to push someone down to make themselves taller. When find out [the bully] Janice is going through something at home, it doesn't make it acceptable for their bullying when they're going through personal issues, but the person being bullied should try to be understanding and turn the other cheek, because you can't change everyone.Did you read the book before?

Robb: I read the book and script at the same time, so it was something that transitioned into a movie beautifully and captured the heart and soul of it. David Paterson did it well, and I fell in love with the story. It's a timeless tale about friendship and imagination, and every interview I go on I found a new message and new meaning, something different every single time. I applaud her, Katherine [Paterson, the novelist]; I love her.Your character Leslie dressed nicely in the film. Did you get to keep any of the outfits?

Robb: I loved all of Leslie's clothes. They were so comfortable so cool. Dressing like that is a lot of work; there are a lot of layers. Leslie had a fashion designer, and there was a team of people making all the clothes, dyeing them and adding the stitches. I wish I could dress like Leslie all the time. And I get no say about anything in the clothing, but I got to keep two outfits.What was it like working on a stage where you can't see the effects?

Robb: It was challenging. A challenge, but a good challenge; it was fun. Reacting to tennis balls and a little man who had a blue suit on was hard at first, but I had seen paintings of the mythical characters and creatures in the office, and I really tried to visualize them when acting in the scene so I knew how I could act, like when they were attacking me and they were this or that, or they were this big or that big.Even though it's crucial that you win in the big race early in the film, we heard during the takes that Josh kept trying to win.

Robb: Well, he's a boy, after all, so he felt like he had to win. [Laughs.] Josh said he was just trying to work out the timing, but he was trying to show that he was faster than the car with the camera on the side of us and always trying to beat the car on the side. That's what he was doing. ... One time at lunch, I said, "Let's race" and he took off, and then turned around and realized it was a hoax, and his face kind of fell, and everyone laughed. I felt kind of guilty. He's so competitive.Is acting your own Terabithia?

Robb: Sometimes acting can be not that happy, so there's bad things in that, too. Usually in an imaginary world you want it to be a happy place. I get involved in the characters in books. I daydream a lot. Not in school, I don't daydream, I'm serious about school. But when I fall asleep or wake up in bed, if I have a really good idea, I'll write it down. I try to keep imagination alive.Do you have a close family?

Robb: I'm really, really close to my family, unlike Leslie, whose parents are always gone. ... I'm very close to my cousins, and one of them reminds me a lot of Leslie. She was dancing the other day and she just fell over; she tripped and was not embarrassed at all. She just got back up and started dancing again, and I think everybody should try that.You said you like to read. What are you reading right now?

Robb: I read Eragon, all the Harry Potter books, of course, Summer of Kings and The Lord of the Rings, and anything really that has a really good story or really good script.

As director, Gabor Csupo, were you purposefully trying to make the audience emotional?

Csupo: Of course. When you read the book it is such an amazing, emotional, beautiful story, and you want to keep it a real live story. When you get to the Terabithia adventure story you have a very big contrast. It's very important. ... I made a conscious decision not to overdo the visual effects in order to keep the book's integrity. It's not that much in the book where they fight against imaginary creatures in the forest, and you have to try to do it in a movie version.What about the trailers and promotional ads that show just the fantasy world at the end?

Csupo: I believe it's a stretch, and it's a very difficult decision on Disney's part. We, the filmmakers, had nothing to do with that promotion. We don't really think that it's an appropriate way of selling the movie, but they're convinced that that's the way to get kids interested, and hopefully they will be positively surprised. If they are anticipating a Harry Potter movie then we are in trouble. It is not a Harry Potter kind of a movie.What was the writer Katherine Paterson's involvement along the way?

Csupo: She was very pleased from the beginning, because we did not want to turn the movie around or do a movie like the ad campaign is suggesting. We didn't want to do a movie like that.How did you cast the actors?

Csupo: They had good chemistry together. We already had another kid actor in mind when Josh Hutcherson came in, and with AnnaSophia Robb, she wrote such a beautiful, heartwarming letter practically begging for the part, and it was nice, with her enthusiasm and loving the book; then it was a natural. I would not have cast her if she wasn't appropriate.Do you have children to bounce ideas off of?

Csupo: I have five children of my own and have a good connection with them. They watch two movies a week, and I have such a massive library of movies, I have to keep a watch for what they are reaching for. It makes me feel good if they like some of my work and don't know it. ...

I have two boys from my first marriage. One is 17 and one is 20, and we were sitting in the car, and one said, "So, Daddy, what is the movie you're going to do?" And they never read the book, and I told them the story. Now, both of them are in the kind of cool hip-hop generation, with their trousers down on the bottom of the floor. So I told the story in 10 minutes and looked back and both of them [were] in tears. I thought, "If I can reach out to those tough cookies, then I know I have something."What is your Terabithia?

Csupo: I always dreamed to be in a free country; that is my Terabithia. I went after my dreams, and now I have my own studio. When I was a child, it was hard for me to make friends. I was a little boy who was always drawing. Then I went to art school, and everyone was the same geek, so I knew I'm not the only outcast. ... My father helped me with imagination; he couldn't support us as an artist, but when he saw me draw as a boy he totally supported me. Were there any films you liked as a boy that motivated you?

Csupo: I saw 101 Dalmations about 60 times as boy in Hungary, and I could only afford to pay for it once. I sneaked in the other times. And also Pinocchio. Those are masterpieces; there is not one extra frame in those.Jeff Stockwell, you worked with David Paterson and his mom on the script. What did you bring to it?

Stockwell: I brought in some of the creatures. I made up the squirrels on the roof and mixed some of the characters with the creatures. ... David has been wonderfully protective of the book, and that is OK. I had to figure out how to make it more visual. It was nice working with them both.David and Katherine Paterson, you were both hesitant to give this all over to the Hollywood system?

David: Yes, I'm the co-screenwriter and producer, so I wanted to make sure it was true to the story. These are real people it's based on, even though it's fiction. It has a lot to do with a friendship I had as a child.

Katherine: It was published 30 years ago. I never imagined it would be a movie.David, you have kids of your own now? Does that make it different?

David: Sure, kids have a structured life now and need to go back into their imagination. Kids have play dates now. Who goes out to make a treehouse or play in the woods anymore?Katherine, what was most exciting for you?

Katherine: I saw Robert Patrick at the premiere, and I'm not a demonstrative person, and I hugged him, and here was a woman he never met before, and he must have thought I was crazy. For me in the book, the most important scene is the father and son, so it was important for me for it to be done right, and he did it. I kissed him, and he thought I was a crazy woman.There were a few changes from the book, but not many, right?

David: The kids were older than in the book, but I also insisted that the last 20 minutes were not going to be messed with at all. That was something they were not going to change.So are you OK with how Disney is promoting the film?

David: OK is a good word. As producer, I can explain it in simple monetary terms: If you need honey, get a bear. And I can tell you, if everyone who read the book brought three friends, then it would still lose money.But it's so different from the book, and ultimately how the movie really is.

David: Although there is a generation that is very familiar with book, if you are over 40 then you probably haven't, and we need to reach them. ... Everyone who read the book and sees the trailer says, "What is this? This is nothing like the book. What are you doing, Dave?" And I say, "You know, what you're seeing is 15 seconds of a 90-minute film. Give me a little leeway and respect. Go see it and then tell me what you think."

So what did you think when you first saw the promotion?

David: The lights came up, and all these suits were very happy, and I said, "Well, my mom is going to hate it," and they said "What do you mean?" and I said, "I don't remember that from the book."

Katherine: Then I went to another meeting with him in Boston, and they brought the lights up after showing me the trailer. I said, "Well, I'm glad I had a talk with David beforehand.'"There are certain things that happen in the film that the studio doesn't want us to talk about it stories or reviews. Do you think it's because kids can't handle such things?

David: I think people overthink those things. The book is on recommended reading lists in schools, but some people think kids can't handle what is in the book. They do not give the respect to the kids.

Katherine: They can handle blood and gore in other movies, but not this. That's too bad.