- Hi, I'm Timothy Simons.
- I'm Denny Love.
- I'm Jay.
- I'm Charlie.
- My name is Kristine Froseth and we're on the set
of 'Looking for Alaska.'
- [Miles Halter] I go to seek a great perhaps.
That's why I'm going.
To start seeking a great perhaps.
What is this story about?
This story is about a kid from Orlando, Florida
who comes to this boarding school in Alabama.
- It's about him falling in love and some shenanigans
that he gets into with some other people from the crew.
Including me!
- To me, it's one of the more realistic portrayals
of what it's like to be young, to have friends,
to go to parties, to pull pranks.
- All of the emotions they go through and being that age
and not really understanding all that.
It's all of your firsts, like your first love,
and your first friendships,
and struggling with your own identity, and with depression,
and loss, and how you deal with that.
- For us, we wanted to make sure that these characters
stood on their own outside of Miles' point of view.
And that Alaska exists as a fully realized,
three dimensional character and that you will understand
Alaska more than Miles does
and more than you get the opportunity to in the book.
- Alaska Young she's also quite difficult to summarize.
She's an enigma.
Nice meeting you, Pudge.
Next time laugh at my story.
I'd say she's quite different
from a lot of people her own age.
She's an old soul, and was pretty lost,
and pretty hurt, but trying to find her way.
- My character is Miles Halter who is the kid
from Orlando, Florida who comes to the school
and he's pretty sheltered when we meet him.
- The character I play on 'Looking for Alaska,'
his name is Chip Martin, a.k.a. "The Colonel."
- I play Takumi Hikohito.
He is kind of like the know all of the crew.
So he bounces between the different social groups
at the high school, but he is devoted to Alaska
and the crew.
- It's been really fun to just be super honest.
She's very direct.
She doesn't (laughs) she just says it like it is
and I really like that about her.
I'm trying to get better at just being,
you know, straight up.
- The Colonel, to me, is like the engine.
He's like a force of nature.
Most of the people who'll be seeing this have read the book.
So he just reads as just hilarious, he's crazy,
he has temper problems,
but I believe that he has like a heart of gold.
- I relate to the character so much so.
I really feel like, I really was this guy when I was 16
and, you know, I was very shy and to myself,
but at the same time really did want to live a pretty
extraordinary life if I got the chance to.
- I think Takumi's journey goes from one of
being kind of reserved because he holds so many secrets
to eventually revealing how devoted he is
and how committed he is to everybody
as the story progresses.
- I relate to The Colonel in multiple ways.
I think when I was in school
I considered myself to be a little bit of a class clown.
I was kind of the kid that a lot of my teachers
kind of loved to hate, you know?
I would create a lot of mischief,
but I made the environment in class very light and fun
which at times can be great
and at times can be very disruptive.
- I think I relate to his way of thinking,
but I think he and I navigated high school very differently.
- I definitely see myself in lots of the characters,
but probably the most in my own.
- I play Lee "The Eagle" Starnes,
who is the Dean of Students at Culver Creek.
He doesn't fit in with the group of friends at all.
Outside of the fact that I think he's a little bit
of an outcast himself,
but he is the main antagonist to these kids throughout.
- The chemistry of the cast on these shows
is always critical.
Whether it's your 'O.C.' group
or, you know, the 'Gossip Girl,'
whether it's Serena and Blair
or the full group together.
"The Runaways," the first time we had all "The Runaways"
together in a scene bouncing off of each other
like that is really what sells it.
That's what makes it feel like
these relationships are lived in.
That these kids are real.
That these friendships are real.
It helps you get invested
and immediately the chemistry of the group
they're doing secret handshakes, they had codewords,
they're dancing together.
Just all of it, they gelled so quickly
and fell into their characters so quickly
that I think that it's gonna really be fun
for audiences to see.
- The campus.
They will love seeing a visualization of that.
It will be taken out of their heads
and actually put in front of them.
I think they will love that.
And I think they'll probably love seeing the gang
do pranks and stuff like that.
They'll love seeing that.
- I hope that everyone is able to pick up on the friendship
that we have and I think they will just because,
you know, you can't really hide that.
- If you've read the book
you will have an experience that hopefully honors
the one that you had when you read the book,
but also gives you something different.
And if you've never read the book,
hopefully it will be as emotionally satisfying,
and funny, and rich as the book is.