VIDEO

Mitch Reinholt and Hannah Bailey are among the five Warsaw Community High School students who are the focus of the film "American Teen." The movie was show in 2005 and 2006 in the Northern Indiana town. Early in the movie, the students appear to be mere stereotypes, but their complexities are gradually revealed. (Photo provided by Paramount Vantage)

Hannah Bailey (from left), Mitch Reinholt and Megan Krizmanich appear backstage during MTV's "Total Request Live" show July 28 in New York. (Jeff Christensen / AP)

Don't call Mitch Reinholt a heartthrob. "I would actually call myself a geeky jock, if I had to give myself a label."

But Megan Krizmanich doesn't mind if you refer to her as a princess. That glib label pretty much describes who she was in high school -- at least superficially.

Reinholt and Krizmanich are two of the "stars" of "American Teen," the hottest documentary film of the year. The film, a huge hit at the Sundance Film Festival, comes to Indianapolis on Aug. 15.

Shot in 2005 and 2006, "American Teen" follows the senior year of five Warsaw Community High School students, in the small Northern Indiana town. Directed by Nanette Burstein, it shows Krizmanich, Reinholt, Hannah Bailey, Colin Clemens and Jake Tusing struggling with academic, athletic and social expectations while trying to figure out who they are and what their futures hold.

Burstein and her film crews actually followed many more teens, but in paring 1,200 hours of footage down to a feature-length film, Burstein concentrated on five individuals who, at least to begin with, fall into stereotypes.

Reinholt, handsome and popular, is dubbed the heartthrob. Krizmanich is the smart, super-involved overachiever. Tusing got labeled the geek who pines for romance. Clemens is the talented jock whose future depends on a basketball scholarship. Bailey is the rebellious girl who strains against her conservative hometown.

It's been noted that these descriptions closely mirror the cast of "The Breakfast Club," the seminal 1985 film about a diverse group of high schoolers. Except, this time, they're real people, and the stereotypes don't hold.

"The titles came along after Sundance. It was more of a marketing thing," Reinholt said in a recent phone interview from Toronto, where they were doing a whirlwind media tour. "We didn't try out for a role. We weren't trying to fill the jock or the rebel. Nanette actually followed around 15 of us and didn't know where the stories would go."

Krizmanich, who loves the movie and thinks it accurately portrays her, agrees.

"We start out in this arc where we fit into these stereotypes for the first 10 minutes, and you think you know us. By the end of it, you see that we're all similar, we all struggle during high school," she said. "That's one of the things I love, that nobody has that picture-perfect life we think exists."

The five cast members have spent their summer living in Los Angeles doing publicity for the film, but Krizmanich and Reinholt both plan to return to college in Indiana this fall. They're entering their junior years as premed students -- Reinholt at Indiana University, Krizmanich at the University of Notre Dame.

Both say it was strange at first having cameras around all the time, but they eventually got over it with Burstein's assurances. "She really integrated herself into our lives. She took the time to get to know each of us on a personal level, and was always a friend before a filmmaker," Reinholt said.

For Krizmanich, the central story arc of her senior year was gaining admission to Notre Dame, the university her father and several siblings attended. An outspoken, strong-willed young woman, she ends up making some enemies, who take pleasure when she gets a stinging and very public rebuke.

"It's a time of everybody's life that they go through and make mistakes, and it's a good time to make mistakes and learn lessons when the consequences are less serious. I don't regret anything I did during high school," she said.

And the school is whipped into a tornado of gossip when Reinholt begins dating Bailey. Reinholt, who says he let the opinions of others influence him too much, also ends up dealing with the consequences of his own poor behavior. He now calls his actions "cowardly," and says he and Bailey remain friends.

"I've actually been single since high school. I've always considered myself a relationship type of guy, but since I've been in college I haven't felt like I found a girl I could see it working with. So I'm trying hard not to force anything."

If the film is a huge success, the Warsaw Five could see showbiz job offers. Reinholt and Krizmanich say they all have discussed this among themselves, and they say they'll listen if any promising opportunities come along, but they're not planning on Hollywood lives.

"It's not like I'm going to back down from school. That's the No. 1 priority in my life," Krizmanich said.

As for the more distant future, Reinholt sees himself as an ophthalmologist who owns his own practice -- he's minoring in business -- and has a stable personal life. "I'd like to be married and have a family and be an eye doctor," he says simply.

Krizmanich aims to be an obstetrician-gynecologist. She loves the Midwest, but isn't sure where her journey will take her.

"I don't think I'll ever live in Warsaw again. I didn't really enjoy the small town. I enjoy big cities; I really like Chicago."