Shaye: It's about technology being a curse as well as a blessing and that our world, in the throes of technology or, more specifically, communication and transportation—that has completely stirred up everything that's going on in the family world, and everybody's pulling out their BlackBerries and many platforms and all this stuff, and people [are not] stopping to think about—not to be corny, but yes, it is corny—the birds and the flowers. [That] is, to me, it's really an interesting idea. We have to be cautious about how we let technology take over our lives, because maybe it will, and maybe that's a very, very dangerous thing. ... The point is if we don't control this stuff, it's going to end up taking us over, not necessarily emotionally, in the sense that machines will run people, but just de facto of their incredible power and seductiveness, that they will take us over, but they don't have any soul and they don't have any head and they don't have any heart. But they will manage to seduce mankind. And that's what really excited me about this story.New Line has put out hundreds of movies, but probably 80 to 90 percent of the films with your name on them as a producer or executive producer are horror, SF or fantasy films. Why?

Shaye: I haven't been overly aggressive, as opposed to some of our putative competition, about putting my name on films. The films I put my name [on] are basically the films that I've really contributed what I consider to be a real executive producer's or producer's input. A lot of the films have just gone on because they've had enough input in terms of producers or executive producers, and they didn't need me. There's a whole bunch of movies that I've contributed very modestly towards, that I chose not to put my name on just because it wasn't an ego thing for me. It was about trying to be honest. I think it's also to the profession. You see these movies that have 16 producers and executive producers. It's so stupid, in my opinion, because most of these guys are just agents, managers, assistants and non-entities that are getting paid off by having their name on the screen, and they can tell their mother and father about it. So I've had an association with a lot more films than I have chosen to put my name on, but I have not imposed myself in a way that I think would be untoward. And the films that my name is on are films that I think everybody associated with that film will acknowledge that I did have a contribution to give.Not to play Freud, but most of the ones with your name on them are horror, SF and fantasy films: the Freddy films, the Rings adventures, Alone in the Dark, Xtro, The Hidden, the first two Critters movies. Are those the ones you take the most interest in personally?

Shaye: Yes, because I'm a fantasy-ful guy. I was born to science fiction, and I was born to fantasy. I grew up with Captain Video and His Video Rangers and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, and Robert Heinlein and A.E. van Vogt and Ray Bradbury. I still have a book that ... I had lunch with Ray Bradbury, and he wrote me a little dedication in a book he gave me that I really cherish. I can quote, chapter and verse, so many science-fiction stories. But love stories, and things like that don't resonate this well with me. So I can still add my input as a story consultant, but the things that I really have a passion for are not so much horror anymore, but fantasy and science fiction. That's my deal.Any chance there will be another Freddy movie?

Shaye: No, but there's going to [be] another Friday the 13th movie.Where will it go this time?

Shaye: I don't know yet. But check in with our people and we'll try to give you a heads up.Which of the other genre films on the horizon at New Line are you most excited about?

Shaye: The Golden Compass is going to be a terrific movie. I really think it's exciting. I think Chris Weitz is an enormously talented guy. He's written a great script. He's a wonderful collaborator, and he's a guy I have a lot of respect for intellectually and creatively. I think Nicole Kidman has done a wonderful job. Daniel Craig has done an extraordinary job. The little girl, Dakota Blue ... everybody has just been fantastic. And I have hopes that it will resonate to some to some degree ... I think Lord of the Rings is very sui generis, but I have hopes that it's going to be a movie that the world will embrace. Inkheart, as well, is a really, really good script. It's somewhat more simplistic, but I have high hopes for that. What are the odds you'll let another 16 years slip by without directing?

Shaye: One of the problems was that the last film I made, which I loved and which I still like seeing, but as I have expressed to other people it's a little bit like looking at pictures of your children in the bathtub. I'm just about the only one who gets a kick out of it. It wasn't that successful, and even though it's broken even over time and it's a movie I'm proud of, I don't want to do a disservice to my company. And I hope The Last Mimzy, even though I brought it in under budget and under schedule, will justify the economic investment of our company. If it doesn't, I'm not going to be arrogant. I probably will continue directing movies, but I'll be more careful and more contemplative about what I do. But the answer, directly, is yes, I do intend to direct again, and I hope the public embraces, to some extent, the work I've done so far.

Rainn Wilson, what appealed to you about The Last Mimzy?

Wilson: Like great science fiction, it just shows us what's possible. I was really profoundly moved when I first read the script. I actually teared up, and that doesn't really happen, because I'm such a manly man. But I was really moved by this allegory at the center, that these toys that are sent from the future are sent to, in a way, save mankind from itself. And the innocence of children saves us. Having just had a kid—he's two and a half right now, my son, Walter—it just really resonated with me. Give us a sense of your character, Larry.

Wilson: Larry is the science teacher of the children that are going on this incredible journey, and he's kind of their advisor. Another thing I like about The Last Mimzy is that spirituality and science fiction are woven throughout it, which is a rare thing, but I think that great science fiction has kind of a mystical element to it. When you look at Blade Runner, it's kind of like the nature of the soul and of being, and who's alive and why? What is it to be human? The Last Mimzy has that as well. I think that Larry is the connection between the kids and that science-fiction world. As a science teacher himself, he has an understanding of science, but he also has these spiritual, mystical visions.How comfortable were you dealing the effects?

Wilson: I always read about people acting with special effects, and I have never dealt with them that much before. We had to do a lot of oohing and aahing at things that weren't there. So we'd have, like, a stick on the ground and a piece of string, and we'd have to look at it as if the world were changing shape before our eyes. It was a pretty crazy experience.Did Shaye give everyone Mimzies as cast and crew gifts at the end of the shoot?

Wilson: We got given our own movie studios by Bob. Just a little indie studio. We get to green-light, like, four films a year, below $10 million budgets. No, Bob has been very generous. I got a shaving kit. I just got a giant coffee-table art book and Mimzy T-shirts and sweatshirts and jackets, all kind of Mimzy paraphernalia.You're not exactly a SF newcomer. We'll throw you a title. Please throw back a sentence or two of memories about the project. You were Lahnk in Galaxy Quest [pictured, far right].

Wilson: That was my first movie, and it was a great experience. It was amazing. I had a scene that's on the DVD that got cut, and then I have some other little scenes that I did. I remember that I had to memorize, like, a paragraph of scientific gobblygook. Of course, we were there to shoot and I was nervous—it's my first movie—and I forgot my entire paragraph of lines. And there's Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Tim Allen and all of these great actors, and there's me trying to remember how to say this scientific mumbo-jumbo. It was really humiliating.My Super Ex-Girlfriend.

Wilson: I think Super Ex-Girlfriend is a much-maligned movie. I think it really succeeded in what it tried to do, although I pretty much agree about the R-rating thing. I think it succeeded in what it tried to do, which was be a light, fun, summer entertainment. It has some good laughs in it and a funny premise. People really crapped on it, I think, I guess because Ivan is such a great director and his history is so great that they were much harder on him. I had a blast doing it, and I had a blast working with Ivan, too.The Office is most definitely not SF, but it's a huge hit for you. Be honest: Did you think it would last more than six episodes?

Wilson: I thought more than six. I thought maybe like 13 or 15, that it would be like a Freaks and Geeks, and then it would live on DVD. But I really never thought we'd be heading to the end of our third year and that it would be this big hit show. Fortunately, NBC was really hurting, and they really needed material, and they didn't have much. Kevin Reilly stuck with it, paired us up with My Name Is Earl, which got a big audience right away. It was just on long enough for people to catch on. NBC knew the quality was really good and that it was actually funny. My theory is that there are two kinds of comedies: The funny ones and the not-funny ones, and so if you have something that's actually funny and makes you laugh, then we just need to keep you laughing and eventually more and more people will actually laugh, and when they actually laugh, they'll tune back in to watch the show again.The Brits only produce a few episodes of any show in a season and only a few seasons, lest they ruin a good thing. The strategy worked for the British version of The Office. Do you worry—with American shows running 20-something episodes a season for season after season—about the current version of The Office running too long?

Wilson: Steve [Carell] is bigger than George Clooney, so he's only going to do the show as long as he has to, I imagine, and then he's going to go out and do his movies. So I don't think we're in that kind of danger. Greg Daniels has too much taste and good sense—and he already made his fortune on King of the Hill—so I think we'll get out of there at the right time. Or it could end up being like Archie Bunker's Place. Remember, the follow-up to All in the Family. It'll be Dwight Schrute Incorporated or something like that. That'll be the spinoff. Dwight's Place.