I recently had the opportunity to hear two young actors express their reactions about working on Emilio Estevez's new film Bobby, which deals with people who were present at San Francisco's Ambassador Hotel on the night of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination. Brian Geraghty and Shia LaBeouf weren't born yet in 1968, and even though their roles were fairly insignificant in this film, they have an idea of what Kennedy represented to his constituents.

"We learned through watching tapes how the American people, and especially the young people felt about Bobby," said LaBeouf. "He was all about civil rights, but as big as the Beatles."

"It was a joyful film," Geraghty added. "There wasn't much to study. We worked on our chemistry together and having a good time. And working with Emilio was great; he was very much like an older brother."

"He's an incredible director, who didn't have a big budget and only 36 days to shoot," said LaBeouf. "I feel lucky if I only make one film like this in a lifetime. It's about ordinary people, hope and inspiring people to be American again."

Both actors had a reaction to filming in the real Ambassador Hotel. "When we walked in our whole posture changed. The way you'd speak, sit at a table, eat, whatever, there was a vibe there," explained LaBeouf, who said figuring out the peaks and lows of their drugged-out beats was often a challenge.

Bobby isn’t the only film Geraghty and LaBeouf have been cast in recently. "I have a movie coming out called We Are Marshall,” Geraghty pointed out. “It's not a spectacle but a bigger film and something I'm proud to be a part of. It's about a plane crash in 1970 at Marshall University where the football team is coming back from an away game many people die including most of the football team. I play one of the players who over slept and has survivors guilt. I think it's the best think Matthew McConaughey has done."

La Beouf chimed in with, “"I've got A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, opening soon and Transformers next July. It's a different kind of movie. You win some you lose some. When you come off of Bobby and walk into a cookie-cutter money maker they're just different. Transformers is a spectacle, insane visuals and substance, but not the kind that you walk out of the theater -- like Bobby  -- with this vigor and excitement about life. You walk out and go, ‘Man that car crash was crazy.’ And there's an audience for that kind of movie too."

While I found Bobby shallow and tedious, LaBeouf feels it’s relevant to today's issues. "Our country hasn't changed a lot in 30 years," he said. "We're still in the same rut, fighting a war we shouldn't be fighting and waiting for a champion. The difference between now and then -- is people had Bobby."

(Bobby is released by The Weinstein Company and opens wide on November 23.)