I was on Jay Leno promoting my movie The Greatest Game Ever Played in 2005, and one of the Nancy Drew producers saw me. The original character was a 14-year-old nerdy kid, but he said if I'd do it, he'd rewrite the whole part — and he did! Now Corky's this cool kid with aviator glasses and a big leather jacket.

In the schoolroom, we would all just talk and play around, throwing paper airplanes and stuff. Both Emma [Roberts] and Max [Thieriot] helped me with my homework, especially math. If I tried to help them with their homework, it wouldn't work out!