How tough was it to play a role that had an element of the director in each of your characters?
RORY CULKIN: He would tell his experience with bullies, and he would tell all of us the part of him that the characters were. And he [told] me where Sam came from.
CARLY SCHROEDER: He told us all.

RYAN KELLEY: He told us as a group sometimes, and sometimes each individually. About the gay parents, it does help the more information you can get.

CARLY SCHROEDER: Then he drove us around and showed us the different houses where the kids would have lived, where their clubhouses would be. Their clubhouses would be refrigerators. They'd play outside and hang out in the grass and sword fight with wood they would find, and those were the people we were supposed to be portraying. And it made you feel for those kids because that's how we were supposed to be playing, that's how you wanted the audience to feel. You wanted them to feel sorry for you, too, and so it was helpful.

Can you talk about how they filmed the scenes on the boat?
CARLY SCHROEDER: [There were] five boats in all: there was the camera boat, the director and producer's boat, the food boat, our boat, the prop boat, and the sound boat? Right, there were six boats. There [were] plenty of boats, and we had to have them connected. There was someone in the water all the time pulling them, someone holding onto our boat so we wouldn't be out of the shot. It was crazy.

How about your kissing scene?
RORY CULKIN: We did it three times.

CARLY SCHROEDER: Three or four. It doesn't matter, it shows up once in the movie. Everyone was making fun of us. Trevor [Morgan] was mooning us, probably, and Josh [Peck] was mooning us. And I was like, "Oh my God!" You don't make yourself comfortable.

RORY CULKIN: It's a job, you know.

Rory, are there times when you and your brothers are in competition?
RORY CULKIN: Usually my two older brothers clash for different parts. The role of Sam was meant for one of my brothers, and I guess I'm kind of the last resort. It wasn't written for him, he was thinking of one of my other brothers, and it kind of went down the chain of brothers.

They always know who's going for what role, who it's better for, if they both want the part, they don't want to feel compromised. We don't really talk about what scripts we're reading or what we're doing. Whatever one brother does doesn't really affect the other. It has no affect, they have no choice.

What's next for each of you?
RORY CULKIN: I just finished something with Edward Norton. It's called "Down in the Valley." It's probably coming out in two or three months.

CARLY SCHROEDER: I'm just looking at scripts, waiting for good scripts to come along. And I've developed a kids reality show. I'll pitch that in 2005, it's not ready yet. I'm not quite done writing it yet. [It?s a] reality show about kids and jobs called "Dream Jobs," and they get adult-type jobs and go try it out.

RYAN KELLEY: I'm just going with the flow, finishing the rest of the summer, and relaxing and finishing my senior year. I have no clue. There's so much I want to do, college is definitely something I want to do. There's plenty I want to do. I've had siblings in college and they love it, and I want to grow in knowledge. I want to take a year off.

Rory, you've been in big box office movies like "Signs," is a movie like this more or less satisfying?
RORY CULKIN: It's not as luxurious.

CARLY SCHROEDER: One trailer, one van.

RORY CULKIN: But yeah, I don't know. I judge it by the script, not by the finances. I don't have a preference, really. I guess I root for the little ones because they're the coolest. They're the most realistic.