TIME – In The Spectacular Now, opening August 2, Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller take on the roles of two high-school students finding their way in love, life and academia. Next spring, they’ll share the screen in Divergent, an adaptation of a very different YA novel, in which they play enemies rather than prom dates. They sat down with TIME to discuss making that switch (and the very different project they’d like to collaborate on in the future).

So you guys just got back from Comic-Con, where you were on behalf of Divergent. How did it compare to your expectations?
Miles Teller: The big hall was pretty impressive. There were like 6,000 people in there and there’s a giant screen behind you. I’ve never been a part of a really big movie, and when the sound effects come in it’s like BOOM. It’s a big, big movie. But I thought it would be weirder, personally.

Weirder?
MT: Like, I thought it would be weird. And it really wasn’t. I was on the convention floor and I saw a couple cool costumes, a lot of zombies. But I’ve been to music festivals that were weirder—and I really was looking for it.

Shailene Woodley: I was looking for weird too and I was really bummed out. I saw R2-D2, which was pretty fancy, but apart from that…

MT: I’m surprised you know who R2-D2 is.

SW: I’m a Star Wars freak. I thought I was Princess Leia in kindergarten and first grade.

MT: This is really funny to me because she doesn’t even own a TV.

How does doing a movie where you have you have this incredible group of built-in fans compare to doing something like The Spectacular Now?
MT: Where you have to win them over?

Yeah.
SW: Divergent does have a huge fan base, which is really fantastic for the film and the book. But I think the concept of having fans, for me personally or for Miles personally, or anyone, feels bizarre and somewhat intimidating and doesn’t feel like something that I choose. I don’t choose to necessarily engage with fans. I think that we’ve sort of crossed this rocky bridge — rocky waters?

MT: A bridge can be rocky. It can be made of stone.

SW: — a rocky bridge of allowing strangers to infiltrate our private lives, and that’s not something that I feel comfortable with. With Spectacular Now, it’s really exciting because we get to promote the movie as Shai and Miles. With something like Divergent, I feel like there’s a limited ability to promote it with your full self because you don’t want lines to get crossed. You don’t want complete strangers to feel like you’re more than just somebody in a movie.

But you’re both on Twitter, which is sort of about engaging with fans.
SW: I started tweeting because my best friends all have Twitter and they don’t live where I live. I don’t tweet anything about the industry, though. Mine are all “go vaginas!” and “love yourself!” I just learned what the “@” was.

And yours is about Swamp People, Miles.
MT: Yeah, I was just talking to my publicist about how I want to go along on a ride. I don’t know if they do guest stars. I don’t even think I’m there yet, to where I could guest star.

SW: You could guest star on Swamp Wars and I’ll guest star on Top Chef.
MT: Swamp People. You’re mixing Whale Wars with Swamp People. Although Swamp Wars sounds like a great show too. I’d watch that.

So what’s it like to go from playing a couple to playing enemies?
MT: What’s nice is that there was a scene Shailene and I were filming in Divergent and it just wasn’t working at first. We’re comfortable enough to talk about what’s going on. In the first book, our characters initially start to meet each other, but I think our characters will have a lot more to do with each other in these next few.

Did you have to do a lot of physical training for Divergent?
SW: In The Spectacular Now, our characters were so young. And working out at that age isn’t really a priority. At least it was never for me in high school. So we didn’t go out and try to achieve six-pack abs for when our shirts came off. We thought it would be cool if it was very naturalistic. But in Divergent I kept feeling Miles and I was like, “Buddy, you’ve got some muscle going on.”

MT: She’s, like, “You didn’t have this!”

How does The Spectacular Now’s picture of high school compare to your own experiences?
MT: I think it’s pretty right-on. I grew up in a pretty small town in Florida, an hour north of Tampa. Georgia and Florida are pretty similar.

SW: I grew up in a small town outside of L.A. and I thought it was pretty accurate, as well, that world.

Did you bust out your Footloose dance moves at your actual prom, Miles?
MT: It was funny, in high school we did the play Footloose and I played the same character. So I guess, yes.

SW: I was in Oliver Twist as a kid. I was a Fagin’s boy.

MT: I was in Fagin’s gang too! If someone can write a musical that will film for three weeks in November, Shailene and I will do it.

SW: If it’s a good script.

MT: It doesn’t have to be that good.

VANITY FAIR – This summer’s most authentic coming-of-age drama arrives courtesy of Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) and Miles Teller (Rabbit Hole, Footloose), who radiate as unlikely teenage love interests in The Spectacular Now, out in theaters today. In the James Ponsoldt film—which was adapted from Tim Tharp’s bittersweet novel by (500) Days of Summer screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber—Teller stars as a charismatic high-school senior more concerned with the omnipresence of his flask than his academics or future. His trajectory is altered, ever so slightly, when he wakes up on the lawn of an unassuming classmate, Aimee (Woodley)—who is more sci-fi than socially oriented—and draws her into his orbit.

In advance of the film’s release, Woodley phoned VF.com last week to discuss how her high-school relationship informed her performance, why she loved her first sex scene so much, and why Miles Teller is stuck with her for the next four years.

You and Miles have great chemistry and are so convincing as a guy and girl who have a loving but complicated relationship. How did you first meet and build that rapport?
We met right before we began filming. We ate lunch together and then talked for about two or three hours and then went straight to Georgia. We just naturally became friends and he became my brother for life. I want to do a movie a year with him.

Aimee is a sweet, quiet girl in the movie—less of the traditional “nerdy” type of character that we see in the book. Did you have a lot of input with her evolution?
In the book, Aimee is a nerd, a geek, mousy, in a corner with her head down. That was one of the biggest things [I discussed] when I sat down with James [Ponsoldt]. I really wanted to do this movie but said, “If you want this girl to be written the way she is now, I’m not the choice. Because I don’t see her as a nerd. I see her as a really strong, independent, beautiful young woman who is wise beyond her years.” That’s not to mean that she is not naive or innocent. Luckily, James completely agreed with me.

Did you have any relationships similar to Aimee and Sutter’s when you were that age?
In high school, I was kind of that A.P. kid with a 4.0 and in choir. I was most popular. I was very social and a big extrovert in a way that Aimee was not. But my first boyfriend in high school was kind of the cool stoner kid. And I was the innocent girl. Our relationship was very sweet, because I remember being caught off guard with him calling me cute all of the time. So I was trying to channel that—when you’re so young and kind of don’t know how to react when a guy compliments you. His palms are sweaty. It’s that first real spark that you have with someone physically and how that affects you.

I give you a lot of credit for not wearing makeup. That seems like something many actresses might have a problem with. Were you hesitant about that at all?
It was my decision. For me, it was kind of like, if I have to wear makeup I don’t want to do it. I didn’t see Aimee as a girl who valued vanity. I saw her more as a girl who thought, Maybe when I go to college I’ll put some makeup on and care then, because now I don’t give a shit. Like, why would I get up an extra 20 or 30 minutes to put a face on that doesn’t represent who I am? That’s kind of how I was in the later years of high school. I wanted to channel that she represented how most girls go to school. In the prom scene, I did have some makeup on but that was it. And I cannot tell you how nice it was. I never want to wear makeup in any film. There was no hairspray. No gel. No foundation. It kind of took out the materialistic side of this industry that has infiltrated it.

Your love scene was so natural and sweet. Was that a difficult balance to strike, especially when filming in front of crew members?
Aww. It’s my favorite scene in the whole movie! [Laughs] I think we only did three or four takes. It was both of our first times having an onscreen [sex] scene. It was such a safe, comfortable environment and I am so grateful that it was with Miles, because he was such a gentleman and made me feel very comfortable and nurtured. And I think I made him feel very comfortable and nurtured. It was really sweet. We wanted it to just feel natural. Just the way that it was filmed, with just James and a camera, and the way it was lit, it was really easy to forget that anyone was in the room aside from Miles and I.

So you didn’t have a problem watching it on the big screen?
I don’t even see that as me. That is like the 16- or 17-year-old version of me that I never really was. I never had that sweet, tender moment with a guy when I was that young, so it makes me smile because I only wish that a lot more women could have first experiences like that.

I appreciate how the movie deals with drinking. The teenagers drink—Miles Teller’s character almost constantly—but the director never tries to make a lesson out of it.
He didn’t want to make alcohol a character, like other directors might. He wanted it to be something that was under the covers. When I was in high school, I drank and everyone around me drank. It was kind of the natural culture of being that age. He wanted to show that without exploiting it.

You already re-teamed with Miles on your next film, Divergent, and will again for any sequels. How was it reuniting so soon?
It was so nice. Miles is my bro for life. When I found out that he was up for Divergent, I told him, “Bitch, if you don’t do this movie I will fuck you up.” So unfortunately for him, he is stuck with me for the next four years.

USA TODAY – Shailene Woodley did everything to avoid awkwardness when meeting Miles Teller in advance of shooting The Spectacular Now last year.

She had seen 2010’s Rabbit Hole and assumed her future co-star would be like his introverted character in the somber tale. So she sent a long pre-lunch e-mail as a conversation starter.

“But he showed up and was not introverted and was just this amazing life force,” says Woodley. “It’s not what I expected and it blew me away.”

The chemistry between the rising Hollywood stars will be on full display with Friday’s opening (in Los Angeles and New York; wider on Aug. 9) of The Spectacular Now. They play a high school couple working through young love — performances that already earned a Special Jury award for Woodley, 21, and Teller, 26, at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

“There’s certain things you cannot fabricate,” says director James Ponsoldt. “They have a real beautiful energy between them. I tried to put as much of them into their roles since they are both so honest.”

That honesty should strike a chord with teen fans as Teller’s seemingly free-wheeling character deals with commitment and abandonment issues and a growing alcohol problem.

“This isn’t high school, where people are singing all the time. You see life as it really is,” says Teller, who has partied in comedies such Project X and 21 & Over. “Here you see the flaws.”

The imperfections are readily apparent, from pimples on faces to the odd sweaty armpit (“I love that,” says Woodley). Teller shopped at a thrift shop for his screen outfits, while Woodley wore simple blue jeans, and sports bras under her T-shirts.

“My big problem with coming-of-age movies is everyone looks so beautiful and fake. I literally wore no makeup,” says Woodley, shooting a look at Teller. “I think you wore more makeup than I did.”

Even a poignant-yet-awkward love scene, the first for both actors, reflects the realism.

“We almost want the audience to be uncomfortable watching it. Like they are invading our privacy,” says Woodley, who teases Teller about the flesh-colored thong he had to wear during the shoot. “But it’s my favorite scene in the whole movie, and Miles was a true gentleman.”

The easy banter the two display, both onscreen and off, is set to continue as both stars have just completed Divergent (March 21), the first in a potential franchise based on Veronica Roth’s best-selling novels. Woodley is the central character, Tris, while Teller plays Peter. They’re members of the same social faction, sometime rivals and possibly more.

“There is obviously some attraction there,” says Woodley. “Even in the fact that Peter puts Tris down all the time.”

“I think Tris is in love with me,” boasts Teller. “But I think every girl is in love with me.”

“That’s his fatal flaw,” says Woodley.

“But there’s definitely a strong relationship,” he responds. “And the fact that Peter hangs around for all the books (in the series), that says something.”

Peter appears in the second book, Insurgent, and reportedly the third, Allegiant, due out Oct. 22. That likely means the two will be showing off their screen chemistry for years to come.

“Miles and I are going to be doing a movie a year,” says Woodley.

“You mean like Insurgent and Allegiant, right?” asks Teller.

“No, I want to be your sister and your cousin and then another lover. I want to be your forgotten twin,” says Woodley. “I want to be your everything.”