Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the filmmakers behind four-time Oscar nominee (and two-time winner) Little Miss Sunshine, reunite with actor Paul Dano and Fox Searchlight for Ruby Sparks, a romantic comedy that refuses to play by the rules. Written by Zoe Kazan who also stars in what Faris labels a romantic tragic comedy, Ruby Sparks is the story of a frustrated writer (Dano) whose therapist helps him overcome his writer's block only to discover his new main character (Kazan) has come to life and thinks she's his girlfriend.

Traveling around the U.S. on a publicity tour for the independent film, Dayton and Faris discussed their working relationship with writer/actress Kazan, what Dano brings to the part, and how they weren't afraid to let the film turn a little dark in order to stay true to their shared vision.

Exclusive Interview with Ruby Sparks Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Everybody talks about the six year period between your films, however there are a lot of directors who have lengthy breaks in between projects.

Valerie Faris: "Thank you!"

Jonathan Dayton: "We were working the whole time. You know, Alexander Payne went through the same thing...Bennett Miller...Mark Romanek...all those guys. We're all trying to do films that aren't necessarily immediately slam dunks. And we really work hard to protect the conditions under which we make films. We don't have to do it for our living; we have a second career in commercials, so this was the right situation, thankfully, that everything came together."

But there were, in between the two projects, films that did not come together. Is it tough to say good-bye when they don't come together?

Jonathan Dayton: "It's heartbreaking. "

Valerie Faris: "When we were talking to Zoe earlier, she was saying how the characters become part of your life. It's really like that for us, too. When we're working on a film, the characters in the film we talk about as if they're people we know. You sort of imagine certain scenes in the movie, you imagine making them - it's really hard to let go. It is heartbreaking."

Jonathan Dayton: "Yeah. You picture the film in your head and you get very excited to share that film that you keep seeing. Hopefully, some of them will have a life later."

Is it more difficult now to get independent productions out there?

Jonathan Dayton: "I think so. I think when DVD sales tanked it made studios think twice before doing certain kind of movies. Little Miss Sunshine did well at the box office, but it did really well on home video. But it was one of the last to kind of make it through the gate. So, it's hard, and we really want people to see our movie in theaters."

Valerie Faris: "That is why we don't mind going out [on the road]. It's actually really fun as a filmmaker to go to screenings and watch the end of the movie. We usually only get there at the end, but to watch an audience see your movie and then get to interact with the audience, that's a really special part of this process. You're making it for an audience, even though it may end up being someone watching it on their computer, you think about the audience response."

Jonathan Dayton: "The shared response."

Valerie Faris: "Especially with comedy. If there are laughs in the film, it's really nice to be in an audience when people are laughing at different things."

Jonathan Dayton: "Particularly on this film, I feel like it's a film to see with an audience or someone you care about because there are laughs but it does go on this journey that I think is best shared. It's great to be able to talk about it afterwards. More than Little Miss Sunshine, which certainly had its share of ups and downs in the story, this one is more challenging."

Audience members need to be able to talk about it and bounce their ideas of what it means off of someone who shared the experience.

Valerie Faris: "Exactly. [Laughing] That's what we did for two years. We discussed it and worked through it. You could get a small group and watch it at your house - that's good too."

Watching Calvin (played by Paul Dano), there were times I was uncomfortable watching him and times I was uncomfortable for him. How did you achieve that blend?

Jonathan Dayton: "That's interesting."

Valerie Faris: "I think we always try to put ourselves in the character's position. 'What does that feel like to be in that situation and be part of that scene?' So I think that for us it's a matter of trying to identify with the character at each point. There are times where maybe it's hard for an audience to identify with him - or they don't want to identify with him. What's interesting is that we had some test screenings and men over 35 really responded positively to the movie."

Jonathan Dayton: "It's bizarre, but I get it. I think that the movie goes to places that every man is familiar with but don't get to talk about."

So, it's an outlet?

Jonathan Dayton: "It is. I feel like it voices things that remain unsaid usually."

Valerie Faris: "And I think Paul is really good about not being afraid to go to those places. I find him to be a really appealing actor. Even though there are times where he's unsympathetic, I still can forgive him for who he is."

There are a lot of actors who would have put us off, and he doesn't.

Valerie Faris: "Right. And that was really important to go through the harder parts of the story and come out the other side of it and feel like you've actually, hopefully, grown from that experience. I think we always said if we didn't take it to the more challenging place, the story would really be skirting around things and avoiding issues."

By going darker with the story, you're not copping out. But it also makes the film a tougher sell to audiences, doesn't it?

Jonathan Dayton: "Yes, it does. I mean, it's asking audiences to go to places they don't normally go in movies. And for some people I'm sure that will be too much. But I think a lot of people have really appreciated the journey."

Valerie Faris: "I thought maybe we could call it a romantic tragic comedy. I mean, there's tragedy in there somewhere, but I think it's interesting in terms of selling the movie because it's tricky. I think right now it's sort of being depicted as a comedy to get people into theaters, but I think because of that they might come out a little surprised. It's okay, but you don't want to feel like you've done a bait-and-switch. It's tricky."

Jonathan Dayton: "I like to think of it as a roller-coaster ride. In a roller-coaster ride, you're exhilarated, you have fun, and then you're scared."

Valerie Faris: "It feels to us like what relationships are, particularly at the beginning of a relationship where you're getting to know really the difference between your image of that person and the real person. What do you do about that as you learn more about them? And then, of course, we also added this element of, 'If you could change that person, would you? What would that feel like? What would the logical extension of that be?' I think once he does the slightest tweak, there's no return. You can't turn back.'"

Zoe Kazan came up with the story, wrote the script, and she's your leading lady. How did that relationship work during the writing/rewriting process and then on the set?

Jonathan Dayton: "Well, it's a treacherous thing to work with an actor who's also the writer, and we were very concerned about that prior to working with Zoe. But when we first read the script, there were certain things that we thought would be fun to explore. We came to Zoe, we loved her voice so we didn't want to have anyone else do the work. We told her what we were thinking and she really responded, and then we worked for nine months."

Valerie Faris: "What's great about Zoe is she can compartmentalize. She can just be the writer, and I wasn't thinking of her as the actress when we were writing. That period of time was really focused on the story and the characters and the writing, and not how it was going to be acted. We didn't really talk about that until very close to shooting it. So, it was very pure. She was such a good collaborator and so open to exploring where we could take it."

"The thing I think we felt the most strong about was that it had a bottom. That it kind of went somewhere so that it could go where it eventually needed to go."

Jonathan Dayton: "And that it had a satisfying ending. When you get a script, it's really the starting part and you have to think, 'What is the film that will emerge from this?'"

Valerie Faris: "The writing for us was a lot about protecting the voice in the script, but trying to sort of deepen it and make sure you're taking advantage of everything the story has to offer, in terms of thematically."

When you first read the script, did you know at that point that Zoe and Paul would be the leads?

Jonathan Dayton: "Oh yeah, that was a package and we were really excited about it. We were happy to be working with Paul again. We knew Zoe, but we didn't really know her as an actor."