INT: What drew you to this project?

JP: Well, I spent a long time looking for it. I read a hundred scripts trying to look for the one that would really connect, and in that time I read two I really liked. One was “Juno,” ironically, which a few people have seen now. What “Charlie” had that got me excited was that I laughed and I was moved. It had a lot of humor and a lot of heart. It had a lot on its mind. I liked the challenge of making a film with a lot of mixed tones that had serious issues. The thing that really got me was that it was optimistic.

INT: “Charlie” does have a lot on its mind. How did you strike the balance between comedy and the very serious themes?

JP: I went with my gut. When we were in prep I told the cast and crew that we weren’t really making a comedy and we went with that — it surprised people. Really it’s a character piece, and if we went with drama, the comedy would come from that. In terms of performances, we were never reaching for jokes — except in some of the physical comedy with Anton [Yelchin]. I encouraged him to act like a 17 year old, which really he was. But he usually plays older in movies and he’s kind of the father in his own family. Both Anton and Charlie have a wisdom beyond their years and that’s a lot of what helped make the movie work.

How did I balance it? I cast Anton and Robert [Downey, Jr.] and Kat Dennings. They were all really good, especially Anton and Robert, at mixing the tones in scenes. They had the ability to play a serious scene with comedic elements

INT: I’ve got to ask. Robert Downey, Jr.: greatest actor of our time. What was it like working with him?

JP: That’s an understatement. It was amazing. I got everyone in the movie I wanted in every part. To have Robert Downey, Jr., in your first movie? I think it’s all downhill from here. Actors respond to material and this was a strong script. I know he had read the script and he liked it. I was scouting locations in Toronto and the crew were watching me, thinking: “Is he going to be able to talk Robert Downey, Jr., into being in the movie?” The first thing I said to him was: “Twenty years ago, you would have been the star of this movie,” and he was not unaware and he didn’t disagree.

I asked if he’d play an authority figure, which he’s never done before. He was aware of all the ironies of it. He does some stuff in this movie that deals with his own troubled past, and he didn’t shy away from that. He went for it. Robert used to say: “As long as I get to play, I’m happy,” and that’s really what he wanted. He just wanted the room to try things and I’d be an idiot not to let Robert Downey, Jr., try anything he wanted.

INT: What was your inspiration for the movie?

JP: Can I talk about Gustin [Nash, the screen-writer and co-producer]? I’m not 26 and he’s not even 26 anymore, I’m 49 and he was 26 four years ago. He went to USC film school like I had and was trying to figure out what he was doing with his life. He was at the mall working with teenagers, and when he talked to them, they would say that they saw every teen movie and they were always disappointed. They felt spoken down to, like there weren’t people they knew on the screen. Part of his inspiration for making the film was to make a movie that those people would feel was authentic, and I think that’s an inspiration everyone involved in the film felt in line with. I hope we’re putting something out there that does have an authentic teen voice even though we’re not a terribly realistic movie — we do play fast and loose for the sake of humor — I think it’s grounded.

INT: I’ve heard a lot of buzz that Charlie Bartlett is the new Ferris Bueller. How much inspiration did you draw from classic teen comedies?

JP: I’m not a huge teen movie fan and it’s a huge compliment to even be mentioned in the same sentence as John Hughes, who is so beloved and has created a series of films that a whole generation responded to. There’s a lot of discussion on the internet of films “Charlie Bartlett” supposedly references, most of which I’ve never seen. One that was a real inspiration and I used in my pitch as an example of how I wanted it to play was the Hal Ashby film “Harold and Maude.” It was the mix of tones and having scenes that had darkness and light mixed together and tones that shift radically. I think in some cases we did very well with it, and in some we did not so well. But we always kept trying to have some humor in the midst of darkness and vice versa.

There’s all this stuff on the internet about how Charlie has sunglasses on and his arms behind his neck and that’s a direct steal from “Ferris.” And Ferris and Charlie do both become the oddball messiah leaders in their school, but the only thing I can say is that Ferris pulls it off and Charlie fails miserably. The thing I like about Charlie is he starts off looking for popularity and that’s what leads him down the paths to these unusual ways to be popular. What he finds is he has a gift of empathy and he listens to people, and really that’s what the movie’s about. Wouldn’t it be nice if everybody had somebody to listen to them? Gustin and I always believed Charlie would go on with this gift, and I hope if we check in with Charlie Bartlett 20 years from now, he wouldn’t be dealing drugs. He would be helping people.