By: Izumi Hasegawa February 11, 2014
In Cavemen, Skylar Astin plays Dean, who is looking for true love. Astin talks about how hard it is to find one and also chats about the experience of filming in Little Tokyo where he ran after his onscreen love.
Q: Do you think it’s really hard to find true love in LA?
I think it’s hard to find love anywhere, especially if you’re really putting too much focus on it. You need to relax and be yourself. I know that’s easier said than done. But what I will say about LA as opposed to somewhere like New York, for instance… I’m from New York. In New York, people are walking around, you see the dating scene if you go to a certain area. Here, it’s difficult. Everyone gets in their car and leaves. They don’t walk. It’s not as much in your face. It’s not as accessible. You don’t have these forced interactions when you’re on a subway and you need to get by someone and there could be that opportunity for some vulnerability. Here, it can be difficult, I can imagine.
Q: Was Dean really looking for love? It seems like people were more into hooking up and if they fell in love it was more an accident.
I think people look for love in all the wrong places sometimes. We let our ego get in the way and our desires get in the way. I think Dean falls into old habits constantly throughout the film. He keeps going back to Sarah who’s talking to her other boyfriend on the phone when they’re post-coital [laughs]. So I think that when Dean realizes that he doesn’t need to fall in love for his script or for the wrong reasons and he sees what’s in front of his face, it’s difficult for him to come to terms with it. And that’s why it takes him so long to finally go run after and get the girl.
Q: What do you think of downtown LA after you filmed?
I love downtown LA. I developed a real affection for it. When we were shooting, we shot in some suspect areas as well. So it’s got a lot of character. But I love the bar scene down there and we shot in some actual live bars which was really fun. So I enjoyed it.
Q: Are you familiar with Little Tokyo now?
I now have run up and down every street in Little Tokyo after this film. So I’m very familiar with it. We had some amazing food. There’s some great Ramen down there. It was awesome.