16 year old Portland native and first-time actor Gabe Nevins went from skate park to Paranoid Park in Gus Van Sant's latest teen-tale. BBC Movies asked him how it felt to juggle impending movie stardom with school.

How did you land the starring role in Paranoid Park, I hear MySpace was involved?

Yeah well actually MySpace is involved because Paranoid Park has a MySpace page, and it has the dates and times where the casting calls were held, but they never actually cast people off MySpace. I didn't get the role from MySpace, I heard about from a local skate shop that Paranoid Park needed skateboarding extras, so I went to downtown Portland and tried out for the extra role.

I got my picture taken and filled out all the information, and when I walked in the room Gus pulled me aside and he asked me a few questions like how old I was and where I was from. And then like a week later I got a call back, and two or three times a week I read lines and hung out with Gus. And it took maybe a period of six months until they told me that I was going to get a role in Paranoid Park. And by then I still didn't know what I was doing because I didn't even think that I was going to be anything in the movie. When he told me about it I was thinking about not wanting it, because I didn't know how it would be with school. But after hanging out with Gus so much, and after hanging out with the producers, the part grew on me and I accepted it.

Did he tell you what it was about you that made you stand out?

He said the main thing was that I wasn't a professional actor and that I had a sense of innocence which played perfectly for the character.

Had you acted much before?

I was completely new to it.

Most people start out with a bit part and work their way up, but you hit the big time straight away. Was that really nerve wracking?

Yeah, well after seeing the film done it's really nerve wracking just seeing how people have accepted it, and how I really did get a big role. I still can't really believe that I'm the main character in the new Gus Van Sant movie.

You're from Portland where the film is based, and where Gus Van Sant used to live; did that help you win the part do you think?

He still does live there actually, and yeah I think it did in a way because all the people in Paranoid Park were local, there's maybe two people that weren't. And he also chose the park because it was local, so being that I was local made it easier, and it made me go to the casting call.

Was it tough fitting in filming a movie and going to school?

Oh yeah, it was actually really tough because I had an on-set tutor and they gave us like 15 hours a week of school, and we were filming all the time. So every time we had like a five-minute break to change the camera, they'd try to squeeze in some school, so I really never learnt anything because I just got little doses. So we made it that every Tuesday, which was my day off; me, the tutor and Jake Miller who was my best friend in the movie, would go to this school and do like 6 hours straight.

The film is based on a novel by Blake Nelson, had you read it when you went for the part?

I didn't actually read it when I went for the part and I didn't read it when we were filming. And I actually never even read the script, but I've read the book now. I actually just finished it a couple of weeks ago.

And do you think you did it justice?

I actually really like the book, and even if I hadn't made the movie I still would have loved the book, it actually makes me really glad to be a part of it now I've read the book - being that it's so good.

The timeline of the story shifts constantly, did that make it a hard script to read and shoot?

Well not really because for the first week we just filmed at Gus' beach house, and it's pretty much me writing in my journal. And after the first week I just really warmed up to the whole filming process, and all the other people in the film are non-professional actors and I think that made it great. We weren't in competition, and we always had a lot of fun with it.

The dialogue and action seem very fresh and natural, did you improvise a lot?

Yeah we did have a script for what to say and stuff but most of the people and I just bounced ideas off each other and Gus used to experiment. And personally if I didn't like what the dialogue was saying, if it didn't sound realistic or something I'd just tell Gus "would it sound cooler..." and he'd just be like, "yeah go with it".

It must be amazing to have a director in the league of Gus Van Sant to say "yeah, just go with your ideas, no problem"?

[Laughs] Yeah pretty much. He was just really laid back about it. And most of the time he liked what we were saying.

You seemed to have great chemistry with the other actors, did you get to spend much time together before you started shooting?

I didn't actually get to spend much time with any of them besides my best friend while we were filming. We'd hang out after filming every day and we'd go to the skatepark and skate, or I'd go stay at his house and so we became close and comfortable with each other.

There are some pretty amazing skateboarding sequences in the film, are you a good boarder yourself?

Um, I'd say I'm OK.

So that was all you then, no stunt men involved?

Oh yeah!

The scene in which the security guard dies is really shocking to watch on screen, what was it like to film?

Well the night that we were filming at the train yard it was really really cold and it was four in the morning. It was below zero degrees I think. And that was the night we filmed the security guard death. And it was actually really fun to film because I got to see how green screen worked, and we also used fake guts and stuff, and so that was really fun to watch.

So was it weird seeing how it came out on screen, if it was partly filmed with green screen?

Yeah, because I remember filming that part and it didn't look like the same at all. So when I actually saw how it turned out I was like 'woah', I was blown away by how they even did that.

Taylor Momsen is great as your girlfriend Jennifer, what was it like filming scenes with her?

I'd say shooting scenes with her, because she's a professional actor, was more fun because she kind of helped us in a way. And me and my friend Jake would always make fun of her because she was a professional, we'd always give her a really hard time about it, so we really messed with her a lot. I actually got really close to her as well as Jake, we'd all hang out every day. So the whole thing felt really comfortable and natural and was really fun to do.

And have you been touring round with the film?

Yeah I've been to a few places like premieres and a few film festivals.

And what's the reaction been like?

I'm still really blown away that people like the film so much because after we got finished filming I didn't know what to expect, because I didn't know Gus' style. And even while we were filming Jake and I would go home and watch Elephant and stuff - and it was really weird but at the same time really good. So I just didn't know what to expect. I just thought it would be another weird movie. But after seeing how it turned out I was just blown away.

What's coming up for you now Paranoid Park is done and dusted?

Well, I don't know if there're other offers yet because it's only just been released, but I'm just going to finish school and lay low, and I'm not necessarily going to try and get out there fast.

Paranoid Park opens in UK cinemas on Wednesday 26th December 2007.