Croods star Emma Stone: It’s nice to actually meet Nicolas Cage!

It’s real no surprise that in the modern world of CG animation, “studio time” isn’t quite the bonding experience for stars that it would be on-set.

However ‘The Croods’ star Emma Stone has revealed that despite working on DreamWorks’ prehistoric adventure for several years, she only just met on-screen dad Nicolas Cage for the first time:

“I met him two days ago!” said Stone. “After two and a half years of hearing his voice in my ear and reacting to him... It was nice to actually meet someone that had played my father!”

Check out the interview with Emma, and Nicolas Cage too, above.

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In an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Movies, Emma also told how her character, Eep, was already drawn before she auditioned for the part: “The only thing that really changed I think, in her physicality, was her red hair and green eyes,” said Stone.

Co-star Nicolas Cage then told about meeting his own caveman character for the first time, liking it to when the actor was courting the part of endearing ogre ‘Shrek’:

“Is this really how Jeffery Katzenberg (DreamWorks CEO) sees me?” laughed the 49 year-old.

“At one time we were talking about doing ‘Shrek’ together - I didn’t want to be an ogre, I didn’t want to have those ears. And he was like ‘This is how I see you Nic!’.”

Being a film about living dealing with fear, we thought it only right to ask ‘The Croods’ stars about their own real life worries, getting some surprising answers all round:

“I’m really scared of not living an authentic life,” replied 24 year-old Stone. “I’m really scared of ever loosing semblance of what I want or what drives me - or my connection with people.”

Humble stuff – especially when compared with her infamously crazy co-star’s answer: “It was hard for me to say lines like ‘Never not be afraid’, you know, ‘Fear is good’,” said Cage. “It’s been part of my mantra over the years not to live in fear.”

“Fear is the enemy,” he added.

If you say so Nic, if you say so…

‘The Croods’, directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders, is out in the UK 22 March 2013.