In Sam Mendes's AWAY WE GO, John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph play happily unmarried parents-to-be Burt and Verona with such grace and confidence, it's as if the roles were written for them - which, it turns out, they kinda were. As for what screenwriters Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida saw in these two actors that suggested they'd make a dynamite onscreen duo, I haven't the slightest clue. Krasinski is a tall, affable leading man type, while Rudolph has, stretching back to her SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE days, largely specialized in broad caricature. Though I was a fan of both walking into the film, I've got to admit they didn't make sense in the least as a couple.

That is until the opening scene, where Burt "discovers" Verona is pregnant while clumsily performing oral sex on her. It's such an aggressively offbeat scene, a total sink-or-swim moment for the film, and yet I immediately bought into this (lightly) stylized world because Krasinski and Rudolph were both genuine and completely unlike any onscreen couple I'd seen in some time. The unexpected slap Verona lands to the side of Burt's face in the opening moments is the end of friction between them. From that point forward, they are a solid, unbreakable unit; the conflict comes courtesy of the outside world, which is filled with whacked-out notions about child rearing.

The absence of even fleeting acrimony between Burt and Verona as they enter her third trimester may seem somewhat unrealistic, but it's a nice idea. Though many great novels and plays and films have taught us that marriage is where love goes to die, isn't it possible that, say, one out of ten relationships don't disintegrate into invective-hurling, drink-flinging, child-scarring affairs? Perhaps this why Verona refuses to officially tie the knot with Burt. The further they stay away from convention, the more insulated they are against that kind of cliched unhappiness.

Though Krasinski and Rudolph are occasionally upstaged by the cavalcade of eccentrics who parade through the film, AWAY WE GO would just be another indie quirk-fest without their straight-man and -woman expertise. Of course, they're doing more than simply reacting to the weirdness of their co-stars, but the ability to underplay is always more impressive to me - particularly in the case of Rudolph, whose most memorable work has been in sketch comedy. Though Rudolph was effectively low-key in Robert Altman's A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION, this is the first opportunity she's had to show off her range as an actress, not just a comedienne. And she's incredible.

The below interview with Rudolph was supposed to be in person, but, thanks to a scheduling snafu, ended up being done over the phone several hours early. Any awkwardness caused by this was compounded by a lousy connection, which dropped out three minutes into our conversation. Fortunately, it was all smooth sailing after that. When I started recording, Rudolph was in the process of giving me shit for my phone voice.

Mr. Beaks: Alright.

Maya Rudolph: Is that how guys talk on the phone?

Beaks: Pretty much.

Rudolph: (Low voice) Hey, dude. What's up.

Beaks: That's it! We're basically reduced to complete boneheads when we pick up a phone.

Rudolph: (Laughs) Just short grunts?

Beaks: It's all guttural. So... I noticed that you were profiled in The Believer a few years ago - which, of course, is edited by Vendela Vida. Did you have any sort of friendship with Vida and Eggers prior to joining the cast of AWAY WE GO?

Rudolph: I didn't know them at all. It was a quite a surprise. (Suddenly, our connection goes bad, and the rest of Maya's answer is lost.) Can you hear me?

Beaks: I can now.

Rudolph: Our connection is really bad. It just got really crackly. Is it better right now?

Beaks: Yeah. Let's hope it stays that way.

Rudolph: This is different than in person. In person, I would've had to get all crackly visually. That's very difficult. I don't know how to do that.

Beaks: I'm sure you could pull it off. Put that improv background to work.

Rudolph: (Laughs) I'd probably figure it out.

Beaks: So you didn't know Eggers and Vida before getting involved, but they wrote it for you, right?

Rudolph: I got my hands on it early on. I'd heard that they'd written this project, and that they'd written [Verona] with me in mind. I was totally flabbergasted by that. So I read it and immediately fell in love with it. I was like, "God, I want to do this movie so badly!" Then I re-read it, and asked a bunch of questions, and no one was making it. So I kept poking around, asking, (Rapidly) "Is anybody making that movie? Have you heard about that movie? God, what about that movie? What's going on with that movie?" (Laughs) I was just trying to get the message out to Dave and Vendela that I was a very big fan of the script. And then I finally heard from them a while ago, and they said, "Hey, it's Dave and Vendela. Just checking in. We heard you really loved the script, so it'd be nice to meet sometime." We ended up meeting up in the Bay Area, and it was really great. But that was before anyone was making it. And then the process started over from scratch. I auditioned for Sam, and read with John, and that's when the magic happened!

Beaks: So with Sam on board, he's always been known for being an exacting filmmaker. But on this movie, he tried to run it a little more loosely. Did you feel like you had a lot of freedom to try things on set? Did you ever feel like you were being guided toward something more particular?

Rudolph: I felt like he was very welcoming and receptive to what we were trying to create. We rehearsed for quite a bit of time, and it was mainly just the three of us: Sam, John and myself. And we pored over the entire script, like every single part of it. And I just felt like it was ours together. Because of all that time we spent really getting to know it, once we were there on set there really was an understanding of... where [Burt and Verona] were going and what they were feeling. It was just nice to finally get to be them.

Beaks: So with all that rehearsal, was it akin to doing a play?

Rudolph: Yeah, that's so much a part of Sam's process. The way that he thoroughly examines every nook and cranny of what we're doing so that, when we get there, we feel completely armed; we're not figuring it out on the day in the room. We know who these people are, so we can travel in their shoes. I felt like I knew these people really well.

Beaks: With all of that time that you spent on the script, did you make any additions? Did you improv any of your dialogue?

Rudolph: Sometimes, Sam would say, "Do you guys think this is working?" He was open to anything and totally receptive to our suggestions. But in general - and we really went over the script with Dave and Vendela as well - I think there were only a couple of [changes] here and there. Mainly the motel room scene, where he comes home from his job interview and he's really disillusioned and kind of sad, and she says, "C'mon, we should go to Montreal. It's going to be great. They have their gravy and french fries" kind of thing. I think John came up with the gravy. But mostly everything was written, and pretty fantastically. I think there were little things here and there that we worked on sometimes with Dave and Vendela in the room. Or sometimes Sam would say, "Hey, I need this from you guys," and Dave and Vendela and come back with something unbelievable. I think the only thing I came up with was "We're leaving, and I hate these slippers." I guess I'll go down in cinema history for that line.

Beaks: It's small, but indelible.

Rudolph: Small, but... small.

Beaks: You got to work with an incredible group of actors in this film. It must've been a blast to rotate from Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels to Allison Janney and Jim Gaffigan to Maggie Gyllenhaal and Josh Hamilton... and so on. How did that work?

Rudolph: It was awesome. We shot the majority of stuff with me and John in Connecticut for the first six weeks. I think Catherine and Jeff might've been the first pair after weeks of us just working with each other. It was like, "Oh, my god! That's right! There are other people in this movie! Thank goodness!" We were all so looking forward to all the scenes because they were so goddamn funny in the script. It was really exciting to have those days and know who was coming and what was going to be said. Like "I think it's more than 3,000 miles, isn't it, Burt?" Or "Burt are you on shed-ule?"

Beaks: The "shed-ule" bit was nice.

Rudolph: "Shed-ule?" That's gross, isn't it?

Beaks: It is, but the delivery is exquisite.

Rudolph: (Laughs) Yeah.

Beaks: The great thing about these characters is that we're expecting them to have a falling-out in the third act, then break up, and then get back together. But they don't go through any of that. I really admire the film for finding a way to not fall back on that kind of obligatory conflict.

Rudolph: I guess you're right. It was so their story. I really felt like it was just so beautifully written and unapologetically its own thing. It wasn't trying to adhere to what a movie romance is supposed to be and all the buttons you're supposed to hit. I felt like that really worked. It felt really honest. It just kind of moved to its own rhythm. It didn't necessarily go too crazy; it just stayed in its sweet little areas. I think it's really important to see how much they love each other. I think that really carries them - and you - through the movie. You just feel an enormous amount of trust for people who have each other's backs.

Beaks: Yeah, they have this unified front against the dysfunction of the world.

Rudolph: Absolutely. And it's definitely helpful on this journey that they're on; it's really them against the world. It's nice to be part of an army - even if it's an army of two... and-a-half.

Beaks: Of all the actors you worked with in this movie, who was the hardest to keep a straight face around?

Rudolph: I couldn't be around Catherine O'Hara without being tickled from head to toe. Even talking to her in the trailer, I was like, "Goddamn, she's funny!" And also just exceptional and lovely and amazing. Allison Janney... I just feel madly in love with her. She's just fucking cool. And she's totally different from that character, which is great. She'd just put on that wig, and all of a sudden you were like, "Holy shit, who just came out of you?" But I'm such a crazy Catherine O'Hara fan that I could not believe I was in the same room with her. And when it was just her and Jeff Daniels talking to each other, I was like, "This is the greatest show I've ever watched! I want to watch this channel every day!" It was so much fun. I was sweating, I was crying, I had to go to the bathroom... I was just laughing hysterically. And John couldn't keep it together at all. We were terribly, terribly unprofessional.

Beaks: I worship Catherine O'Hara.

Rudolph: She's the greatest. And she's hot in person.

Beaks: Yeah?

Rudolph: Oh, my god. She's smokin' hot!

Beaks: This does not surprise me.

Rudolph: I just saw her last night. She's gorgeous.

Beaks: Damn. You're breaking my heart.

Rudolph: That's what I'm trying to do.

Beaks: (Laughing) Do you miss Saturday Night Live at all?

Rudolph: I do. I miss it everyday. I love that place. It's my family, you know?

Beaks: Is it the week of the show that you miss, or the actual performance?

Rudolph: I miss the ritual of it. I love the performance. But really, more than anything at all, I miss the people. I miss that gang, that... army of goofballs. That life was just a fun, crazy life. You have this building where you go in with these weirdos who don't even sleep - I mean, they get as much sleep as you do - and you try to make each other laugh all day long. It was just a really fun, insane experience. It's such a unique place. I love it.

A few hours later, I was at the Beverly Hilton fully prepared to chat with John Krasinski. Before diving into our Q&A, it's worth noting that he is a) very tall, b) extremely engaging, and c) an AICN reader. Whenever someone tells me that, I find myself frantically calling up every awful thing I've said about them for a cheap laugh. Fortunately, I've been nothing but complimentary of Krasinski's work - as an actor, at least. I've yet to check out his directorial debut, BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN (based on the book by David Foster Wallace), which debuted at Sundance this year. I was alluding to that as I asked my first question.

Mr. Beaks: You knew about the script before it came to you, correct?

John Krasinski: Yes.

Beaks: Do you travel in the same literary circles as Eggers and Vida?

Krasinski: God, I wish I was cool enough to do that. I think because I adapted the David Foster Wallace book people think I'm this literary, amazing guy. The truth is, you go to any of these 826 screenings - which is Eggers's charity; we've been doing these screenings with them - and you realize that a lot of these people from 826 are incredible writers. That's when you go, "You know, there about seven people who should've done the adaptation of the book before I did." I'm glad I did it. It's just that those are the real literary people who are actually smart enough.

I read [AWAY WE GO] almost a year before we did it, and I remember thinking that it was truly one of the best scripts I've ever read. It's so fleshed out, and so incredibly dynamic and cool and smart, and the characters are kind of weird. I liked that. But I remember calling my agent and saying, "When seventy-four people pass, let me know and maybe I'll have a shot at doing this." And then Sam called and offered it to me - which was totally and completely surreal.

Beaks: It's such a peculiar script. There isn't a whole lot of conflict between the two protagonists. I was talking to Maya earlier, and we were saying they sort of have this unified front against the weirdness of the world around them. And I especially like the fact that when you get to the third act, you're like, "Here's where they quick break up and get back together," and... it doesn't happen.

Krasinski: Exactly. It's one of those things where what I read on the page and what we were shooting is, in my opinion, one of the best romances I've seen in a movie in a long time. There's no scene where I jump from one boat to another boat to get her back; there's no boy loses girl, boy gets girl back type of thing. I think one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Maya says "No one loves each other like we do, right?" And she's crying. That's what she's worried about: that we might love each other too much - and are we totally disillusioned? The thing I love about it is, in my opinion, it represents a lot of what is going on right now. When you are faced when any sort of trial or tribulation, you hope that there's someone like that who is your best friend or your confidant. And the fact that we love each other and are having a baby is the romantic side to it.

But, yeah, to be that unified front was phenomenal. I think in a lot of ways our characters are narrators. We'll bring you into the scene and bring you out, but while we're in the scene it is completely these two people seeing whoever it is we're meeting. As an actor, it was phenomenal. Basically, every week we got a free show. Because I still go to movies, I'm still an audience member, and I still look at Allison Janney and go, "You're hilarious!" It was really fun, and it totally reinvigorated the movie every week. But you're right. If I was told there was no conflict in a movie between a couple, I'd be nervous. But the truth is, it's maybe one of the only movies I've seen that executes it so well, you don't even realize there wasn't a conflict.

Beaks: It's just so rare. With marriages and long-term relationships, and divorce being the norm... you go to the movies expecting to see these things. Eventually, you have to wonder whether people can truly be happy - or can they at least minimize the amount of stress that gets put on a typical relationship?

Krasinski: Not to sound like a complete idealist, but I'd like to think that that's the case more often than what we're presented with, which is infidelity and stuff like that. Obviously, it happens, but I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by superhero romances: my parents, my brothers and things like that. So the idea of marriage to me seems pretty comforting; it looks like a fun next step. But I can also see... I've had friends who are so happy together and don't want their relationship to come to a legal document or a church ceremony. I can totally see that, too. That's kind of why I find myself on the fence of this relationship.

But it is such a good movie because it relies on a very old idea of romance. It's pretty simple. It's not about flowers and diamonds; it's about secret languages and special looks between each other where you know everything that's going on in the other person's head. They're a real team unit, and I definitely think that's available. And I definitely think that when you rely on each other like that... I find a lot of people telling me in the times we're facing now that they're seeing their families more, and they're seeing their friends more. They've gone back to the things that make them special, not the things that make them feel special - which I think is a pretty amazing concept. You rely on the people who are closest to you rather than buy a new car or something like that. I think it's a really cool movie to have coming out at this time.

Beaks: You know, there is almost a Jack Lemmon quality to Burt.

Krasinski: Yes! That's an incredibly high compliment, and I appreciate that very much. There's something very quirky. I remember watching THE APARTMENT with Jack Lemmon, and just thinking it's unbelievable how he can be so quirky and so lovable at the same time. Dave Eggers and Sam came up with an amazing note for Burt at the beginning, which was that he's "just off". I thought that was such a great note. Because he's not weird. He's not so weird that he isolates himself where you feel, "Oh, I can distance myself enough to either a) not believe him, or b) not like him." He's just off.

One of my favorite things that came up in shooting was... I was so nervous on Day One or Two. We shot the first scene [in the film] first. And I was so nervous about it that I remember making sure my props were on, and saying "Hi" to everybody, and making sure my boxers weren't too short or whatever. So I went under the covers to do the scene, and I popped out the first time with my glasses still on. And Sam's like, "Cut! That's ridiculous." I was like, "Yeah, sorry about that." And he said, "No, it's amazing. We've got to keep it." It was a small little detail like that that really helped me feel comfortable with the character. I think the temptation would be to play it way bigger, but I loved how real the character was. But, again, that was all Dave and Vendela. They did such a good job. No one writes characters or worlds like they do.

Beaks: I'm so happy to have them writing movies now.

Krasinski: Yeah, right? And they're already working on another one, so it's not like this is a one-shot thing. It's like "Why'd it take them so long???"

Beaks: I've been reading about how Mendes ran an unusually "loose" set - at least for him. You worked with Mendes on JARHEAD.

Krasinski: Yes. For about seven seconds. (Laughs)

Beaks: But at least you were there. Could you sense a change in his approach from JARHEAD to AWAY WE GO?

Krasinski: To be quite honest, and not saying anything against JARHEAD, because I honestly love that movie, I think that with [AWAY WE GO] Sam was much more in the world that he feels comfortable being in - and by that I mean more intimate, and a more relationship-driven movie. It's funny. One of the biggest comments I got was "Sam Mendes? A comedy? What?" And you just think to yourself that's slightly ignorant, because... he's is Sam Mendes. If he's that good, he can do anything. He could shoot an infomercial, and you'd be like, "This is riveting!!!"

Here's the truth: I think he's the greatest storytelling director we have. There are great directors out there, and they're doing great movies, but no one can tell a story - especially a relationship story - and get so intimate and so intricate and so specific the way he can. I think a lot of that has to do with his theater background. But these relationships, even the guest stars who were only on for one scene... there's so much information and so much commitment and dedication to these parts, and that's all him. He's also the most confident person I've worked with. He's so confident being right, and he's so confident being wrong. If he sets up an entire scene that took an hour or two to light and it was wrong, he'll set up a whole other shot without hesitation. Because, at the end of the day, it's just the movie he's trying to accomplish. When somebody does something like that, you can't help but say, "I'll do anything you want." And he was collaborative in the best way - meaning he would use us as a filter, but always have a directive in what he wanted out of the scene.

Beaks: His forte has always serving the script, and, like you said, that's the theater background coming into play. But one thing about this film that's intriguing is that he made a conscious decision to work with a different crew. And that meant parting company, at least temporarily, with Roger Deakins and collaborating with a new cinematographer in Ellen Kuras. I think that was key.

Krasinski: I think she's one of the best working. One of the things Sam was trying to figure out in the beginning was how to shoot the movie. And the danger with the movie that he realized early on was that if you shoot it very tableau like AMERICAN BEAUTY, with these wide, gorgeous shots, you lose that intimacy. You almost lose that stage quality, where you feel like you're in a play. So he got Ellen to move in and have two cameras going all the time: one of them was on a two-shot, and the other was on singles, and you never knew which one was which. That's so phenomenal. I also remember that she smoked up the room every day; every scene, she smoked up the room as a filter. Little details like that, even after a directing a movie, you don't understand people making awesome choices like that. I was like, "What is that?" And she said, "That plays with depth." That was so amazing.

Beaks: Between FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION and THE OFFICE, you've worked with a good deal of SCTV. That's kind of cool.

Krasinski: It's super cool because their level of talent in comedy is defining. I think what they did changed everything. I personally think you can see it in the Ramis episode [of THE OFFICE]; it's just different from the other episodes of THE OFFICE in the best way.

Beaks: Is there anything you've specifically learned from working with people like Ramis, Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy?

Krasinski: How much fun they have with it. Catherine O'Hara has done so much, and yet she's still the one in the room who's nervous about being on camera. I think that's hilarious. She's not sure if the scene is going to go well. But the confidence and the fun that they have - it's not as calculated as a lot of people think their comedy that it is. It's just in them.

Beaks: Real quick, I know that Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg are writing GHOSTBUSTERS 3. I've heard that you might be in consideration for one of the young Ghostbuster roles.

Krasinski: Oh, really? I think they're in the midst of writing their first draft right now. They've been pitching it for a while and getting studio notes, but I think they're writing it this summer.

Beaks: So no one's talked to you?

Krasinski: No, but I hope they do.

AWAY WE GO is currently in limited release. It begins expanding nationwide this weekend. Don't miss it.

Faithfully submitted,

Mr. Beaks