Opening tomorrow is director Neil Burger’s new movie “The Lucky Ones.” If Neil’s name sounds familiar, that’s because he last made “The Illusionist.”<spanface="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Anyhow, Neil’s new movie is far from the world of magic and illusion, as “The Lucky Ones” is about three U.S. soldiers that have just arrived back in the States for a thirty day leave after serving in Iraq. But when they get back to the states, circumstances conspire against them and they’re forced to road trip together to reach their destinations. Along the way, we learn who they are and how they all got into the military.<spanface="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><spanface="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Here’s the official synopsis:T.K. Poole (Michael Peña), Colee Dunn (Rachel McAdams) and Fred Cheever (Tim Robbins) arrive in New York from Germany only to find their connecting flights canceled due to a power outage. Anxious to get to their respective destinations, they agree to share a rented minivan to suburban St. Louis where Cheever is to reunite with his wife and teenage son. From there, the other two plan to fly to Las Vegas where the macho T.K. wants to make an important stop before seeing his fiancée and the tough yet naïve Colee plans to pay a visit to a fallen fellow-soldier’s family.But when Cheever’s homecoming turns out to be a far cry from what he anticipated, the trio’s one-day drive expands into an impromptu cross-country marathon. Along the way, they experience a string of surprising adventures ranging from the hilarious to the heartbreaking. As their interstate journey takes them from a barroom brawl to a high society dance to a bizarre Sunday morning church service, T.K., Colee and Cheever discover that home is not quite what they remembered and the unlikely companionship they’ve found in one another might be what matters most of all.So to help promote the movie, I recently got to sit down with the three stars of the film to talk about their reasons for wanting to make the movie. While TV interviews are notoriously short, these were even shorter than usual due to time constraints. But…I did work in a few good questions, so I hope you like the interviews.Again, “The Lucky Ones” opens tomorrow. And if you’d like to watch some clips from the movie, click here.Rachel McAdams

  • Excuse me for my indulgence…but Rachel was the first interview I ever did back for the movie Red Eye and I ask her about Tim Horton’s….
  • How important was it for her that the script didn’t take a side…that it was morally ambiguous
  • In the production notes it said that she went to a real boot camp and that for the first week no one knew who she was. I ask if that was true. I also ask how did that experience help her play the part.
  • Did she bring anything of herself to the character or was Neil very attached to the script
  • I ask her to update us on The Time Travelers Wife. She said she just did some reshoots in Toronto.

Michael Pena

  • Is it in his contract that he’ll only do military roles
  • How important was it for him to be in the film as it didn’t take a side on the war but sort of just laid it out as it actually is
  • How possessive was Neil with the script as he co-wrote it
  • How was it filming on the road
  • What can he tell people about his look in Observe and Report

Tim Robbins

  • How important was it that the script didn’t take one side of the war…that it was up to the viewer to decide
  • How possessive was Neil to the script and did he add anything to it
  • What research did he do to play the part