One thing?s certain about the Cloverfield cast members?they?re not hard on the eyes, as we discovered up close and in 3D when we chatted with them this weekend. Here?s our conversation with three of the most fetching: Odette Yustman (from Transformers and TV?s October Road, and a dead ringer for a young Jennifer Connelly), who plays Beth, the rescue of whom sets the film?s plot in motion; Jessica Lucas (from CSI and the upcoming horror flick Amusement), Beth?s friend Lily; and--for the ladies in the audience--Michael Stahl-David (formerly of TV's The Black Donnellys), who plays Rob, Cloverfield?s central character, whose going-away party provides the setting for the film?s first extended opening scene. [Warning: The following interview contains many spoilers, so stop reading now if you haven't yet seen Cloverfield!]

[Note: If, after reading this, you need another Clover-fix, be sure to check out all of our exclusive video coverage of the Cloverfield premiere!]

There?s a lot of running in this movie. Was it hard to do that for so long?

Yustman: I don?t think I even realized that I would have to do so many action sequences, running all the time, just being exhausted. You have to have that terrified look the whole time, so yeah it did take a lot out of us, especially since we were shooting mostly at night. So you can just imagine when it hit two or three in the morning and you?re running. It was unreal.

Lucas: Yeah, it was definitely a lot more physical than anything I?d ever done before. I think, reading it, it sounds really cool. Then when you start doing it you realize how hard it is. Kudos to action stars. This movie was enough for me for a while.

What was the hardest scene for you?

Lucas: Any scene with emotion was hard. Like when we first lost Marlena, or when Jason dies. Because the style of filming, we?d have to do upwards of fifty or sixty takes. Keeping that level of emotion for that many takes was hard.

Stahl-David: The sequence after Marlena explodes, and when we?re being escorted out. That sequence was really tough. We did twenty takes of it?one with eight soldiers escorting us and then stopping in this room and then hearing the screaming stop; that was the way that we found out she had died. We couldn?t find a way to do it that made it believable, without making it too cheesy. Yet it had to be addressed. So that was something we did twenty takes of and walked away from and said, ?We didn?t get it. We have to come back a different day and try it another way.? Doing a lot of takes was okay when you felt like you were on the path to doing the right thing.

Yustman: For me the hardest scene was the end sequence where Rob and I are running through the tunnel. I mean, that moment, for me to be that emotional. Because for me, for my character, I know that it would be the hardest thing that I would ever have to go through. There?s a monster attacking the city; basically all of my best friends have just died?I don?t know if Lily?s okay. I?m finally with the person I love, but I don?t know if we?re both going to die together. So it?s just that feeling. I don?t know what to say. When he turns that camera on me, it?s just like?I?m devastated. I?m so emotional. So to get there and to portray something so real, and to act like you?re not acting. The whole thing was just?

Was it hard to turn off after being so intense?

Yustman: It was definitely difficult, because finally when you get to that place you just have to keep going. And afterwards you just kind of find yourself in that emotional state, and you?re not acting anymore, and you still feel so emotional. You just have to overcome it and realize you?re acting. This is your job.

Lucas: The days were so grueling and long we would pretty much just go home and pass out. We were so tired that we?d just go home and fall asleep, get about five hours of sleep, and then do it all over again.

What was your reaction after getting cast and realizing you were in a monster movie?

Lucas: Are you kidding me? I think we were all pretty surprised...

Stahl-David: Yeah. ?How are we gonna make this work? Where?s the dialogue? There?s not a lot of dialogue here.? Once we started working on that, and, really, when I saw the trailer, I saw this handycam, and how it was working, I got really excited. I thought, ?Well, this is different?? It felt like that on set. We were all figuring out, as we went along, how to tell the story in this way.

Yustman: I wanted to mention one thing that I?d forgotten about? A lot of the time the camera is following us, they have our backs, and you see just our backs. So having to show your face, that you?re seeing the monster?you?re scared, but you can?t really see that from the back of your head. So you have to figure out a way to show that you?re so terrified, and your movements?

Lucas: You had to figure out a way to tell the story with your body, which is typically not what you do as an actor?it?s usually all about your face.

Were you guys surprised at the life the movie took on, the online buzz?

Yustman: Yeah, it was unbelievable. They had this marketing plan?J.J. told us what we were going to do, and he had this plan. I didn?t really believe it. I was like, ?Okay, really? People are going to catch the Slusho shirt??, and these little things that were going on. And they did! It just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and people kept hearing more and more about it. It was unbelievable. I just can?t believe it. It?s beyond me.

In real life, what are your biggest fears?

Lucas: I am terrified of flying, terrified. Actually, in the scene with the helicopter, when I have to fly away, that was so hard for me to do. Because we had to get a very specific time frame, because you had to get it right when the sun was shining. So you had forty-five minutes or so to shoot it, so you didn?t have a lot of time to discuss and talk about the safety things. Actually, the very first take that I did was the one that I think they used, because I was so terrified. They threw me on this helicopter, and I was like, ?I?m gonna die!? That was really scary.

Yustman: Definitely for me it?s death. Not necessarily of dying myself, but of other people around me, just losing somebody that?s so important to me. That terrifies me. You can see that in everybody obviously, but it?s just horrifying to me. I cannot handle that feeling.

Stahl-David: Yeah, I would go with that. But also for me just wasting my time; like, having lived, thinking, ?What did I do? I didn?t really do anything...?

Note: Be sure to check our interview with the rest of the Cloverfield cast!