Who do you play? Prince Charming – Austin [also known as] Prince Charming.

Is there a fairy godmother? No, there’s no fairy godmother. Maybe – hold on, let me think about that. I'll have to get back to you on that one.

How about any talking mice? No talking mice [and] instead of a glass slipper we have a cell phone with text messaging.

What else is different? Basically the premise is that [Hilary Duff's] character is kind of a nerd. Her father died when she was young. She’s got an evil stepmother who took over, and two stepsisters. She kind of has to do all the chores and she never gets an opportunity to be free. She wants to go to Princeton. My character also wants to go to Princeton but his father has set up his life. My father and all of my friends want me to go play USC football and want me to run the car wash when I’m done. [My father's] got it set up for me, but that’s not really what I want. So, finally, I meet this person on the Internet in a chat room, called 'Princeton Girl,' which is Hilary Duff’s character. She’s the only person who really understands me. She’s the only person I can open up and say, “Look, I want to go to Princeton. I want to have my own life.” And so we decide that we’re going to meet one night at the Halloween Ball. I get dressed up as Prince Charming and she dresses up as Cinderella, which is kind of funny how that happens, too.

How does that happen? It’s weird how it happens. You have to see it because I can’t explain it. I wish I could. So we end up meeting at the Halloween Ball but she has a mask on. Before I get the opportunity to see who see really is, she has to go. She drops her cell phone and that’s the only way I know who she is. I have no idea who she is, so for the rest of the film I spend time trying to find out who Cinderella is.

And she doesn't want you to find out? Well, she’s insecure for me to find out who she is because she’s a nerd and I’m the cool guy – the stereotypical jock. So basically that’s the premise of the story.

How is Hilary Duff to work with? She’s great. She’s awesome. She’s a sweetheart, a nice girl, and a lot smarter than you think. Hell of a lot smarter than you think.

Have you heard her new album? Yeah, it’s a great album. I just heard the whole thing last week. She’s a smart cookie.

Is it true you two went to a party together before shooting? We didn’t have much time to hang out before the project. We’ve got these kissing scenes and a lot of romantic scenes, so we just kind of wanted to get to know each other a little bit better before we kind of jumped into it. We went and we hung out. She’s a lot of fun.

You're 22. Do you feel so much older when you hang out with Hilary Duff? What’s really interesting is that she doesn’t act like she’s 15. She can have an intelligent conversation. She’s a lot more mature, she’s got a lot of stuff going on. She’s kind of had to grow up in the business so I haven’t felt like a dirty old man yet - thank God (laughing).

In your opinion, why are parents so oblivious to their kids’ needs? Oh God, if I answer that question, I’m going to get shot. My dad rocks. My dad raised five kids on his own. You know, I don't know. I think when it comes to the facts, I came from a broken home and you never can explain it. People have issues. People have good days, bad days. Sometimes people can’t deal with what’s given to them, what’s in front of them, and they abandon what’s important. Maybe they had kids too young. Maybe they never did what they wanted to do with their life. I don't know. All I know is I’m going to try not to go down that path someday when I have kids.

What were you like in high school? Golly, I hated high school. I absolutely detested high school. But what can I say? I was more the Sam than the Austin. I don't know how to explain it. I think they did a good job of forming the cliques in the movie because it’s true. There [are] cliques. That’s just the way it is and unfortunately there’s a lot of peer pressure. It’s really sad. I can’t stand it, personally. I wish that kids weren’t so damn cruel, but what can you do?

Were you ever in detention? No, you know, I may have been a little outspoken but my teachers accepted me for who I am. That’s why I sit here right now. I can say thank you to a few of them that allowed me to be creative.

What do you want audiences to take away from this movie? Well, A) if you’re a parent, look a little deeper. Maybe your kid isn’t so happy. Maybe you should look a little bit deeper and find out who they really are. And I think if you’re a kid, man, enjoy the movie. Don’t stress yourself out with anything. It’s there to be fun and it’s there to tell a story. Go find your Prince Charming, but live your life, have fun. Don’t worry about everybody. High school is going to end. That’s all I gotta say. High school, you do 12 years, you’re done. You never have to see those damn people again if you don’t want to, so if you’re the Sam character, dude, everyone else can screw off. Don’t fall under peer pressure. Do what you want to do. Do what makes you happy. People are giving you pressure for being in theater, for being in band? Well, dude, they can kiss your ass because half those people that said sh*t to me in high school, they’re filling gas station pumps. What can you say?

Should movies for this audience have a message? Yeah, I mean, heck, yeah. I think that it’s like children’s books. I think every children’s book you ever read has some sort of moral. Don’t be afraid of spiders, or be afraid of the ones with fangs. The basement is not scary. Whatever the heck your story may be in a children’s book—I mean, sometimes you go to a movie to just be entertained for two hours, leave the movie, and not have to worry about anything. Get a good laugh. See a story, be intrigued, see romance and hope that you can have that someday. And sometimes you go to a movie to learn something. I think if you can include both but don’t push too harsh on the fact that you’re trying to set an image and send an idea, then you’re fine. I think it should be just in there, softly, you know?

Can you compare and contrast Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan? They’re just so different, it’s not even funny. Commonalities, one is 16, one’s 17. I honestly don’t know what to say. They’re completely two different humans. They have a different work ethic. Not work ethic, but different ways of working. They’re two totally different actresses. I think they have different goals and concepts in their life and they’re both sweethearts. That’s the one thing that you can say about them is that they were both really cool and I got along with both of them.

How do they approach work differently? Well, when I did “Freaky Friday,” Lindsay was playing two characters, so she had a lot of work to do. She had to study Jamie really hard and Jamie had to study her. On “Cinderella Story,” Hilary got to come in and she just had to study what it’s like to be a little insecure and she hasn’t had that opportunity, I don't think. So she got to see what it was like to be not the cool chick. So, I don't know. You have to see it to know what I mean. That’s the one perk that we get as actors is you get to really see how these people work, but you can’t really explain it.

Were you there for the fire on the “House of Wax” set? We were in the middle of a scene when it went down. I can’t really say much more than that.We’re doing some tricky stuff, some very, very difficult stuff that’s something you’ve never seen before. And what can I say? Accidents happen.

How bad is the damage? That, I don't know. That’s not really my business. All I know is the producers did a great job of calming everybody down.

Speaking of “House of Wax,” what do you think of remakes? What can I say? I’m like the remake king around here. I think if you’re going to do something differently, call it a remake as much as you want, but it’s the same concept and they try to do a different spin on it. “Cinderella Story” was a contemporary idea for [the] Cinderella story. Great, you know, “Freaky Friday” was a remake, great. “House of Wax” is a remake but “House of Wax” is very different. It’s like a background concept but it’s a completely different story.

Did you watch the old films? [For] “A Cinderella Story,” what are you going to do, go back and watch “Cinderella?” I mean, really, there’s no mice. What can I say? “House of Wax,” I went back and watched the 1953 version with Vincent Price. I just thought it was eerie. But that was in choosing if I wanted to do it or not. I wanted to see what kind of feeling I got and it was eerie. There’s just something really creepy about wax.

How do you make wax statues scary for modern audiences? You’ll see.

Who do you play in “House of Wax?” His name’s Nick. He’s got a twin sister, Carlie, and basically he’s one of those guys that gets in a lot of fights and he’s that rebellious type. I wanted to find out, you know what, instead of playing that one note rebellious type, why is he rebellious? What is it about him that makes him who he is? And so in backstory I just realized that it all stems from insecurity. I don't think it’s what he wants to do, what he wants to be. He’s a really insecure guy with some emotional issues. I want to create a guy who’s strong but yet has a vulnerable side to him. Those action heroes like Harrison Ford, you watch him and he’s great, he’s the man but at the same time, they’ve got those moments where he’s running from the Indians and he’s petrified. That’s what you love about him.

How did Paris Hilton do on the set? She’s cool. I think the stereotypes suck because she’s really a sweet person. She really is. I mean, she was one of the nicest people on the set. She never had a negative thing to say and she tried really hard. She tried really hard on the film. She impressed me.

What type of roles are you looking for? I feel like I took a lot of the things…I did what I had to do to get to where I want to be, and I’m going to continue to do what I do to get to where I want to be. I take an ideal like Sean Penn’s career. I think Sean Penn’s the epitome of what every actor could and should want to be. He just is. He’s incredible. And I feel like at this point, and this stage of the game, I’ve only been working in this business for five years. I’ve been very fortunate and I’ve worked very hard. And I guess I just want to keep doing that and try different roles and try different characters and create different things. “House of Wax” is completely different than anything you’ve seen. And I wanted to make the character interesting to the audience regardless of whether it was horror or not. I want people to be interested in what’s going to happen to this guy. And next, I really want to do something that’s just artistic, something that just has real life qualities, real life situations that I can really just turn my cell phone off, turn my life off, and just invest in this character solely, 100 %, that’s all I do.