Pena and his young co-star Andrew Garfield play students of Robert Redford's in the film. While Redford discusses his prize pupil with Garfield, we watch Pena and Derek Luke on a horrible day in Afghanistan. Both Garfield and Pena sat down with us in Chicago to discuss the movie and not just the legendary stars they worked with but the conversations that have sprung up around the film.

Michael on playing a role where he's largely immobile again (after World Trade Center)

To be honest with you, the thing of trying not to be interesting, of not saying, "Oh, I've got to spice it up or I'm not doing enough" is a little bit of a trap. But when you're immobile, there's not much you can do. It is kind of freeing in a way because you have to think of different things. In this case, I was thinking about my left arm and my left leg, and how am I going to do it. So my world becomes smaller but equally big. For me, the analogy is instead of a soccer game, it's more like fixing your VCR; it's very small. But the intention is still the same, to figure it out.

Andrew on his character's similar immobility, stuck in a chair for most of the film

Yeah, and I kept on saying to Bob every day we went into work, "Could we figure out a way for me to stand up and walk around? Maybe looking at the books or something?" And we'd try it and we'd both be like, "That was shit. That does not work at all." It's like Michael was saying, it's that need to be interesting as opposed to interested in what is going on, and that can be a cul-de-sac.

On going to visit Meryl and Tom's scene to watch them work

MICHAEL: Oh we both went separately. I went under my own motivation; I had a day off and I'm like "Oh, I forgot a pencil"...or something, I'm going to the set. "Hey, anyone got a pencil? Oh hey Meryl and Tom [Cruise] are doing a scene? Cool." [Laughs.] I just showed up one day; I just wanted to see two icons go at it, battle it out, and see if I could learn anything. It's amazing how different they are as actors because Tom brings size to it. He's very focused, and I think he plays it to a T, the senator. I believe that he believes it. He's very simple. And Meryl is a master of little idiosyncrasies and saying stuff under her breath.

ANDREW: But with her, when I went down to the set, I had hoped to gain some sort of secret key into the genius that is her acting. But after every single take, I came to and I was like, "Dammit, she made me watch and nothing else." You couldn't analyze it; it was unquantifiable. Every single time it was slightly different, and I finally snapped out of it and realized she can't be analyzed. It's totally in the moment, and you have to go with it. You have no choice but to do with her.

MICHAEL: I kind of felt that to. Maybe I stuck around longer, but you kind of see that she has a great ear. It's almost like she knows how it's going to sound and the rhythm and tempo of the other person. I don't know if she gets that from theater or what. It's kind of like the old school of method acting, where behavior is the most important thing with her, as opposed to just how you say it. That's probably why she'd say some things [under her breath] - that's not the conventional choice.

Michael on his character's development and how he worked with Redford to build it

The only thing we would do is read it slowly, and I pretty much planned it. Bob wouldn't really tell me too much. He just let me ride. And I like to have everything worked out completely before we do rehearsals, you know? I was acting some of that stuff out during the rehearsals, just to have it done. And I was trying not to be interesting or overdo it and try to be as simple as possible and share these ideas with him. I think that the arc is much of a character arc, but it is more of a human arc. He's a very opinionated guy and very much a leader in his own right, but he keeps his own integrity, and then life changes and life changes again. He's faced with that ultimate decision: should I let them capture me, or should I try to die with honor? Again, he goes with it because life changes, and I kind of like and respect about that person because there are people like that. From the Southside of Chicago, there are a lot of people who went to the war that didn't exactly come back. Some did and would do it again because they firmly believe in fighting for this country and protecting our way of life.

Andrew on his first day on-set and working with a legend like Redford

Oh, it was easy. [Laughs.] Piece of cake. No. Shit. It was, Jesus - he made it so comfortable. I was terrified of course, and I was surprised to be cast because of my heritage, because of my accent and my physicality. I'd hoped that I would be able to be a part of this story but I never thought that he would be brave enough to cast me, because I wouldn't cast me. As soon as I got there, he made me feel so at ease. He just cares about people and he's interested in people. And we were first rehearsing together, he said, "You got the part now, so you don't have to perform for me. I just want us to mess around and mix it up and get this relationship going." It was all about the story; it wasn't about him asserting any kind of authority over me. He actually told me to be a bastard to him and really stand up to him in those scenes, because if you can see in my eyes "I'm acting with Robert Redford," then those scenes are ruined. You guys needed to believe that this was a teacher that I thought had kind of lost it. It was intimidating when I was saying "What about you? What about you? Those who can't do, teach." That was difficult for me to say, calling all of his career into question. "It's just about how to win; political science is not how to govern, so why should I do this?" Calling his character's life into question, I kind of was able to substitute him, and go "What's your life actually been about? You made all the political movies, but look at our society. We're f**ked." So I could use that, and he encouraged me to challenge him to the hilt. It was thanks to him for making me feel comfortable, and all of the crew around. It was a dream come true in a lot of ways, as cliched as that sounds. I'm still appreciating it now.

Andrew on if Redford discussed the 'issues' and 'themes' of the whole project with them

We talked quite a lot about what one can do, and we came to no conclusions apart from pay attention and doing what we do and what he does with his activism. He considers himself an artist and an actor and a director and nothing else. And he said, "This is what I do, and all you can do is what you're good at." It's about finding that and making sure you using it as positively as it can be used. But I suppose the beauty of this film is that it doesn't offer up any kind of happy bow-tie, blue-ribbon kind of ending. It's like, no there are no answers here; it's all questions. The point of this is to ask more questions. And like I said, the only conclusions we came to were, for young people like me and like Michael and the students we've been bringing it to, is to pay attention and get as much information as possible, because we're not being given it as much. We've being given Paris Hilton; we're being given Britney Spears; we're not being given the gore and the horrible time that our soldiers are having, that the Iraqi people are having. We're given flashes, but we're not given the truth. It's so difficult to get to the root and the truth of something now because there are so many different cover ups or opinions going about or spin being put on it by our leaders.

Michael on if the movie might inspire more young people to vote

I don't know. I think that's a good thing if that's what you think about it. It's more about going for what you really want to go for and following your gut and going with what you think is right. Because it doesn't supply any answers. I went out to Los Angeles when I was 19 to become an actor, and I was scared out of my gourd; I really was. But I said, "Screw it; I'm going to do it anyway." If I would have stayed back, I don't know if I would have as much pleasure as I am right now having attempted it. It's always true, if I had attempted and failed, at least I attempted it. And I've done some things in the past where I didn't do that, and I was like, "You know what? I'm going to do it this time." So if it leads to people voting and really getting involved, all the better.

Michael on how Redford is different than the other directors he's worked with

He's different and similar at the same time. He's similar, like with Oliver Stone, we comb through the script; every line means something, and we might take out a word. "No, I don't need this." We really comb through it, and I'm going to do it again, which is a process that I love. I compare them in a way, I think of Oliver Stone as an opera, and Robert Redford is more like jazz, more like Miles Davis. He's the kind of guy who will let those things go and talk about it. We would just talk about it and not perform it, and just see what we were trying to do. But the one common thing that I think about all great directors is that they understand the material, and they want to make every moment count, because if every moment counts, then it's important to you and that relays to the audience.