Meet Michael Cera, Superbad's secret weapon

AGE OF INNOCENCE Don't let the baby face fool you. Kid can bring the funny

The raunchy new comedy Superbad has all the trappings of a classic teen movie: In one cah-razy night, kids get loaded and try to lose their virginity before going off to college. But its star, 19-year-old Michael Cera, is no Tiger Beat heartthrob. As George Michael on Arrested Development, he brought a new level of awkward to network TV with his twitchy timing and dreamy obsession with his first cousin. On the eve of his performance in Superbad, the junior member of Judd Apatow's comedic A-team speaks to Radar about women, David Blaine, and the gay bomb.

RADAR: You tend to play very nervous characters. Are you self-conscious and tongue-tied in real life?
MICHAEL CERA: Um, to some extent. I mean ... I think it's somewhat exaggerated. But, uh ... oh man, there's a perfect word I could be using here. I don't know. I don't think ... uh, I mean, in Superbad, my character's not even that awkward, I don't think. So, yeah.

You chat up a lot of girls in Superbad, and even make out with one. Had much experience with the ladies?
Totally ... you mean in movies, right? Actually, I have a real girlfriend, so that wasn't the first time I ever kissed a girl. I had that part down cold.

So you've got game?
I'm pretty sure I can talk to girls. I even have a standard opener. It's, "Hey, I like your pants." Especially if she happens to have nice pants on. It's risky though; if she's wearing a skirt, the whole thing can seem a little preplanned.

DICK TRACE-Y Cera and costar Jonah Hill discuss a sensitive issue in Superbad

Speaking of pants, you rocked a lot of high-waisted khakis and Hawaiian shirts on Arrested Development. What's your personal style?
Well, the pants I'm wearing now are currently hanging at my waist—actually 4.5 inches below my navel. And they are corduroys, but the thin kind. The kind that allow for more freedom of movement, in case I have to run, say, or dance.

Well, you dance pretty well in Superbad. You break out some serious moves in the credit sequence.
I'm a natural on a stripper pole. I was at the Spike TV awards, and these girls came out and started dancing when ZZ Top played. Jonah Hill and some other guys from Superbad dared me to go up onstage and attack the pole with them. The scene of me disco-dancing in the opening credits was originally supposed to be for the DVD menu. Evan Goldberg, one of the writers, came up with this crazy idea that I would dance and viewers would expect the scene to loop and repeat, but it never would. So I danced nonstop for an hour.

That's commitment. Maybe they should have filmed it as a David Blaine-esque ultimate dance challenge.
Ah ... David Blaine. I really trust that guy, you know? Because he fails. Unlike Criss Angel, who legitimately terrifies me. I feel like that guy could stab you in the lung.

ON LIVING WITH HIS PARENTS, AND THE JOYS OF HOMESCHOOL>>

Photograph by Emily Shur