That pie again.

“I think one thing that’s similar is that the raunchy stuff in their film usually comes out of character situations,” says Paul. “People are not particularly intrigued by raunchy stuff for its own sake, but if it’s honestly about somebody’s misfiring attempts to get knowledge about the opposite sex, then that’s different.”

Although this is their debut movie, neither of the brothers can imagine working without the other in the future. “It’s nice to have a partner in crime in the kind of environment that Hollywood is,” says Chris. “There’s so much crazy stuff going on all the time that I would feel sorry for a lone director. We’re just used to doing things this way: it seems strange to us that one guy would direct a film.” “I think the reason that there are siblings directing is the shorthand in communication that brothers get from growing up together,” adds Paul. “On a movie set, there’s no time to argue and so a certain amount of ESP helps. We call ‘cut’ at the same time and people know that they can’t play one of us against the other. American teen-orientated movies haven’t always translated internationally, but Chris Weitz isn’t worried. “We used to joke on the set about the film going to Cannes and winning the Palme d’Or, but the irony of the situation is that the film did go to Cannes and, although it didn’t win the Palme d’Or, it actually sold very well to foreign exhibitors. I think the physical humour plays very well and I think it’s sort of a universal situation.”

He is, however, more concerned by the ‘R’ (over 17) rating the film received in the US. “It feels lousy to have the same rating as Natural Born Killers or some movie with a high body-count. It’s an absurd situation where there’s this moral equation between sex and violence in the rating system.”

In the end, though, American Pie is funny enough to find its audience, even if they have to sneak in. “It’s a sweet movie: I think people will realise that,” points out Seann W Scott. “It’s not going to change the way movies are made, it’s not going to change the history of film, but just go and have a good time and it’s one of those movies where you can go back again and get the jokes you didn’t get first time.”