SFBG: It’s completely dependent upon circumstance. Some publicists ask “you wanna,” some films say “you gotta,” but Lions for Lambs – is your presence here more about availability or activism?

Michael Peña: For me it’s neither. This is a film I believe in and I was eager to tell people about it. It’s something I want to make people aware of. Crash and World Trade Center [were both] films I [also believed] in.

Andrew Garfield: It’s easy to get behind this. I wouldn’t have taken the job if I didn’t believe in it [or] care about it deeply and if I wasn’t inspired by it. This is a joy to be a part [of], to be able to bring it to people and be generous with it, and try to excite people with it.

MP: But then again, if you said “Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, and Tom Cruise are in a commercial,” I’d be like “I’m down! I wanna do that! What’s it a commercial for? Genius!” [Laughs] Seriously though, those three are icons and legends in their own right. Tom’s got a lot of really good movies: Born on the 4th of July, Jerry Maguire; Meryl’s got like oodles, she’s a legend in another way. Then you have Bob – Robert Redford – it’s kinda funny to call him “Bob.” The whole Sundance thing! He was [in] Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and so many others.

Streep and Cruise in a commercial ... for capital-A Acting, baby.

SFBG: Do you characterize Lions for Lambs as a message film?

MP: Kind of. In a way. What’s common with all three [stories] is that they [the characters] are all taking a stand for what they believe in.

AG: I don’t think it has any specific political leaning. I think it’s more about trying to show people how dangerous it is to be apathetic and how important it is they be engaged – not encouraging more left or right wing thinking, just be more engaged and read a paper and have an opinion and get more educated.

SFBG: [Referencing the film] Maybe lick some envelopes?

AG: Yeah, exactly, lick some envelopes. I think it definitely is a message film.

MP: The message is about sticking to your message. My character, for instance, I don’t know if I would do that, to be honest, go enlist. I think I’d find a different tack because of what I believe in but that’s why I think you can care about those characters because they actually think that is the greater good and when I first read [the script] I thought, “I don’t know if this is possible.” You watch documentaries, I called back home, to the guys [from my high school] that came back from Iraq and they very much think that – and for them that very much is their greater good. Some people who enlisted when 9-11 came about and some of them aren’t with us and some are and they’re different for it but they wouldn’t take it back. A couple of them are policemen now. They said, “We have to do something about it.”

SFBG: What makes this film stand apart from the other war films that have come out recently?

MP: I don’t think it’s a war movie.

AG: I don’t think it’s a war movie either. It’s got the war in it. I think it’s less a war movie and more a movie of our times, of this moment and I don’t think there’s been a movie that’s been so direct and so attacking of all angles. It says, “Let’s open up this box and see how we got to this place, and why and who’s culpable.” And it says everyone’s culpable. That sets it apart. It doesn’t say congressmen are evil or the press is evil, I think it makes everyone look internally [and question] “What am I not doing?”

MP: What attracted me to the project initially were the very distinct and different viewpoints.

AG: It’s balanced.

MP: It isn’t leaning one way or another. It’s got a human story in the middle.

AG: It’s more of an investigation.

MP: The audience members, for instance, are gonna have one person they’ll relate to. This film has three storylines with six people total in it. One character you probably agree with a little bit more [than the others].

SFBG: Tell me about how you approached about your characters.

MP: Bob is a fantastic storyteller. It’s in his nature. He observes what he likes in a story and it’s very engaging. He’s that kind of guy. He just picks the right specifics. We usually talked about a scene and we’d slowly talk about it – not really rush it – and it’s interesting because just by talking with him you understood the tone instead of him being the director with the bullhorn.

Peña (playing a soldier, seated in profile at far left), doesn't consider Lions for Lambs a war movie.

AG: He’s an actor first and foremost and that’s one of the most vital things he brings into his direction. So few directors understand actors. I think, obviously he’s a legendary film and theater actor. I’ve only done plays before this film; it’s my first movie. It honestly felt like we were doing a play that was being film3ed and he enabled me to forget the camera and focus on the interaction that was happening. He was generous in that way and so relaxed and easy.

MP: He takes his time with it.

AG: It’s very organic and if something’s not working he says, “It’s all right, we’ll come back to that,” and it’s not a big deal.

MP: I think the best thing from my experience – Bob can make you feel like you can do no wrong.

AG: Exactly!

SFBG: What do you mean?

MP: It’s like there’s no mess ups. You know some directors, they want you to phrase things perfectly and he’s like “That’s life, I like it.”

AG: The way he phrases things - in retrospect, I [thought] I was being awful in certain takes, [and] he said, “That’s great, that’s great Andrew. Could we just do something different, just so I got something different in the edit room.” And I look back on that now and go, “That take was bad.” [Maybe that’s] paranoia or my insecurity, but he was just so playful, he wanted a lot of different options and wanted to just rock it up and - he was just wonderful. A wonderful, wonderful man.

SFBG: Actors bring so much to the table. [Referring to Peña's heroic scene atop a hill in Iran.] If I were wounded on a mountain in a foreign country, fearing for my life, my most complex reaction would be tears.

MP: You know, I did a little research into that and what happens, your body gets filled up with so much adrenaline it stops [the crying reflex]. There’s the shock pain reflex, it’s almost like you’re slightly unconscious. The pain brings you back to consciousness so the pain’s your friend. And it’s so much pain that usually the shock or the initial impact of it will make you cry but only after you’ve done it. Like when you’re a kid. Have you ever seen this? [Peña demonstrates a hand slap, his face instantly resembling a slackjawed kid. He hits his hand, stops a beat and wails.] While they get hit, they watch it and then they cry. Like [they’re thinking], “This is probably really bad” – [wail!]. Sleep is your enemy at that point. If you sleep you flat line and the pain is what brings you back. Then more adrenaline surges into your body. You know, I think that’s another [aspect] of the character. He doesn’t want to succumb. That’s his main purpose. He doesn’t want to succumb to anything. At the end me and Derek [Luke] were talking about it and we said, “You know, we should raise our guns.” That way we give [the enemy] no opportunity whatsoever [to take us], they don’t know we don’t have bullets. That way we go out in survival mode and we don’t succumb at all.

SFBG: That’s heavy.

[Peña gives a big satisfied grin.]

SFBG: What’s next on the roster for you two?

MP: I’m in The Lucky Ones with Tim Robbins and Rachel McAdams. And then from there, we’re in negotiation – it’s coming to a close, I think – for Pinkville. That’s with Bruce Willis, directed by Oliver Stone.

AG: My next up is a British film called Boy A. I don’t know when it’s coming out. It played the Toronto Film Fest and will play London Film Fest and it was bought by the Weinsteins but I don’t know if – or when – it’ll distribute. There’s another film, but I can’t talk about that. It’s still in negotiations.

SFBG: You can’t confirm or deny its existence?

AG: [Laughs] Right, but I can tell you it’s at the top of my cue in my IMDB profile.

Lions for Lambs is now playing in Bay Area theaters.