‘That Awkward Moment’ Q&A: Zac Efron, Michael B Jordan, and Miles Teller’s Best Moments

Yesterday we were treated to a double dose of movie teasery with our premiere of the red band trailer for “That Awkward Moment” followed by a livestream Q&A with the film’s stars: Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan, and Miles Teller.

We were already excited to see the film after getting a glimpse at the boys-will-be-boys shenanigans in the trailer, but after hearing the guys talk about making the movie and the fun involved in exploring the complicated, R-rated dating world, we can’t wait to see the full length feature.

You can watch the full Q&A below, but here are a few of our favorite takeaways:

The movie is a romantic comedy- with a twist
“A big part of this for me, part of the story was to tell this from a guy’s perspective,” said Efron, who also serves as one of the film’s executive producers. “We did. And not to say that all the other stuff out there isn’t valuable too, it’s just we made an effort to show a romantic comedy in a way that we’d never seen it done before, which is kind of how our lives are, so we knew a lot about it, and I think we really had almost too much fun filming.”

Efron doesn’t really use pick-up lines, but his costars have some for him:
When asked to deliver his go-to pick-up line, Efron came up empty. “I have some I’ve never used,” he said.

Luckily Jordan swooped in to answer the question for him: “Have you guys seen High School Musical?” Jordan asked the crowd, who responded in the affirmative with loud enthusiasm. “That works,” he said, smiling at Efron.

“It’s weird for Zac to meet a girl who doesn’t know who he is,” Teller added. “That’s a weird place to come from. Me and Mike actually get to pick up girls a lot of time who definitely don’t know who he is, so it’s different. When we were in New York I was like, ‘Zac, stay away from this one, don’t talk to that one.’

A new bromance brewed
A casual observer of Efron, Teller, and Jordan can easily discern that the three actors have an easy rapport and really like each other. Throughout the Q&A there was plenty of teasing, playful punches to the arm, pats on the shoulder, as well as declarations of love and hate.

“I’m a huge fan of Michael B Jordan,” Teller said when asked if he knew the “Fruitvale Station” actor before filming. “I hate Miles Teller,” Jordan deadpanned, which according to Teller, might have been partially true in the beginning.

“Before the movie they were on this snow log cabin trip with the director,” Teller explained. “I couldn’t make it so I came in and they had already buddied up, they’d gone on this crazy cool trip in the mountains – I saw the photos.” Log cabin trip or no, both Jordan and Efron said that Teller fit in just fine and that they welcomed him with open arms.

Efron is a ‘Mini-Wolverine’ and everyone looks great naked
When the subject of the film’s ‘R’ rating came up, conversation veered naturally into naked territory, specifically about the bare bottoms we see in the trailer.

“My bottom makes it in a lot of movies I think because it’s funny, it’s smooth, got tan lines,” Teller said proudly, before diverting attention back toward Efron’s more chiseled cheeks, which apparently didn’t require any extra squats or lunges to be camera-ready.

“This dude is a like a machine. Mini-Wolverine is what I like to call him,” Teller said about Efron. As it turns out however, on the day of filming the bare butt scenes, Teller wasn’t feeling very confident about baring all.

“I was really sick one day so I was pumped full of steroids and meds and I felt very groggy and I felt fat, like when you take steroids your face gets puffy, it’s just what happens,” Teller recalled. “I felt bloated and Tom, the director, is like ‘Hey man, today’s the day you have to get naked on this toilet seat,’ and that’s when I’m planking. I’m like, ‘What does Zac look like?’ ‘Oh Zac’s full nude, he looks great.’ So that was just, in this tiny little bathroom. A bunch of 40-year-old dudes crowded in with me, ‘Can you move your leg up there like that?’ I didn’t want to be there but knew it was a funny moment.”

Exploring the Efron evolution
When asked if choosing to do a comedy is completely different from the last few films he’s done, Efron said that it’s not so much a calculated decision but an exploration.

“I’ve never really thought of [doing comedy] as a transition, sort of just natural progression of things, what I’m able to do, a best of my abilities at that moment,” he said. “This one was interesting, it was the first time on a producorial level, I was there from the first time we read the script, to meeting with producers at Tree House Pictures, all the way to casting, meeting these guys, bonding with them. Sort of the whole movie. I was there for it all, so that’s interesting for me, that’s new and I really enjoyed it. [Producing] made it less stressful really because we were able to cater to our wants and needs, I always told myself if I was a producer on something I’d want to make sure that I could do it in a unique way with a an opinion and perspective that made sense, really be able to lend my character, my personality to the material. This just happens to be an area of life – dating girls, hanging out with your friends – that I know well. It was nice, it was refreshing.”

Bonus observation: Miles Teller is a talker
We’re pretty sure that if you let him, Teller could talk at length about any subject. He seemed perfectly content to address all the questions with a cheery, wordy and usually funny spin. And he does so with enough charm and sass that you don’t get too annoyed with him. The real challenge, in addition to preventing him from dominating all conversation, is to figure out how much of what he says is actually true vs. how much is total fiction. At least he’s entertaining, to audiences and to himself.

And now we really can’t wait to see “The Awkward Moment” when it hits theaters January 31.

Watch the "That Awkward Moment" Q&A with Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan, and Miles Teller: