Betty: In "Artificial Intelligence" you play quite a complex character. How did you prepare for this role of a robotic child yearning to be a real boy?
Haley: Most of it was from drawing on my own imagination. And some things, like nuances and development, I got from the script to create the character. But before we shot, I had to develop the physicality, the mentality and his reactions to things; how he perceived the world around him. I also had a lot of meetings with Steven [Spielberg].

Betty: Whoa. You're a seriously seasoned actor for just being 13 years old. Was that at all difficult for you?
Haley: The development was pretty hard because he has to become more and more human...and he never makes it completely. But he gets pretty close. And that [type of] development was hard to do.

Betty: Now, I noticed in all of your scenes that you managed to not blink at all. How on Earth did you pull that off?
Haley: I really didn't think about it. After the first week of forcing my eyes not to blink -- well, it was hard that first week. But it got to be an involuntary reaction.

Betty: Did you find yourself blinking like a mad man when Steven yelled, "Cut!"?
Haley: Not really. It wasn't that hard. After a while I was able to keep them open for long periods of time.

Betty: I don't know how much of Stanley Kubrick's work you're familiar with, but were you aware of his vision for the film? Did Steven refer to him on set?
Haley: There was always a little bit of Stanley on the set. And his style was always there. I just recently saw the film and noticed that a lot of things were Stanley's. You could see him there in the story and in the shots. Sometimes Steven would say, "Oh this is a shot Stanley would've done."

Betty: I'm curious. Kubrick had some intense films under his belt. Which ones have you been allowed to watch?
Haley: Well, I'm waiting to see "Space Odyssey 2001" on a big screen revival because my dad says the small screen doesn't do it justice.

Betty: Your dad's right. With long hours on set and all of this Hollywood craziness around you, how do manage to still stay a kid?
Haley: It's easier than you think. Just going home and going to school...everything there is really normal. I'm just a regular kid. I get grades at school and do my chores at home. So it's almost like two different worlds. But I get the best of both worlds. I like working, but I also really like school.

Betty: You've been described by some of your co-stars as being very adult. How do you react to this perception?
Haley: I'm happy people think that of me. I just try to do my best as an actor and as a person.

Betty: If and when you have some free time, what do you do? Got a favorite book to read?
Haley: Hmm, "Lord of The Rings" is probably my favorite series of books and also "Killer Angels" - which is a great war book.

Betty: Are you excited about the film version of "Lords" that's coming out soon?
Haley: I'm excited to see that...and I think it could make a really good movie. With the right work... it could be great.

Haley and his co-star, Jude Law on the run and on the set of A.I.

Betty: I hear you're a wicked video game player.
Haley: Oh yeah! One of the craft service trailers on set had a game machine and at lunch we'd play football and basketball. I got pretty good, but those grips are really good! It was fun.

Betty: I guess they have a lot of time on their hands! Hey, I heard that the whole process to make this movie was pretty top secret. Can you tell me now what you had to do to keep it so hush-hush?
Haley: It was kept pretty secret. You'd have your name printed on the bottom of each page [of the script] so if it was copied, everybody would know who it came from. But everyone on set was very security conscious.