In The Love Guru, which hits theaters June 20, Mike Myers plays Pitka, a relationship guru who returns to the States in pursuit of a career. The owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, played by Jessica Alba, asks for Pitka’s help to mend the heart of Darren Roanoke, a star hockey player whose wife has left him for a rival athlete. Repairing Roanoke’s spirit may be the only way the Leafs can win the Stanley Cup. Alba and Myers chatted with Jayplay during a roundtable interview with other student news publications.

Jessica Alba

You’ve been in a lot of action-based movies, but lately you’ve been doing comedies. Is that the direction you see your career going?

Yes. I started acting because I wanted to make people laugh. I used to make up characters and do voices and basically anything to make my family and friends laugh.

Were you a hockey fan before making this film?

I didn’t know much. I had to take a crash course in hockey. I’m a sports fan, and I can wrap my head around it once I’ve watched a few games. I didn’t know how smelly those guys are—they’re so stinky.

Working with Mike Myers, how did you keep your composure while filming?

I didn’t. None of us on set really did. I would lose it and laugh my ass off.

Who would be a better love guru in real life: You or Mike Myers?

Mike does a pretty good job at it. He’s hilarious, sweet and kind. Not that I’m not, but it’s hard to put yourself in that position.

After starring in this movie, what advice do you have on matters of love?

You definitely need to be on the path of loving yourself before you are capable of sharing your life or your heart with anyone else. I think a lot of people look for love to validate themselves, but you have to love yourself first before you’re even ready for that kind of thing.

Mike Myers

You co-wrote The Love Guru. Was it your childhood dream to watch the Leafs at least compete for the cup?

Sure. I love hockey like religion. I love the Toronto Maple Leafs. I bleed blue. When it looks like we have a chance to win, part of me doesn’t even want to get involved anymore because the heartbreak is too much. I thought, if I don’t see it in my lifetime, I could at least write it in that way of Field of Dreams: If you write it, they will come.

What is your writing process like?

I always have about eight ideas circling the airport and every three and a half years one of those ideas land. With Austin Powers, I was driving home from hockey practice and I heard the song “The Look of Love” by Burt Bacharach. I wondered whatever happened to swingers. My films are handmade, and whatever is on my mind becomes the next thing I work on.

What gave you the idea for the character of Pitka?

After my father died, I went on a spiritual quest and started to become interested in Eastern philosophy. There are some tremendous people out there like, Deepak Chopra and Gary Zukav. It’s a very interesting world, because these people have no sense of humor. What I love about Deepak and Gary is that they understood that to be enlightened is to, in fact, lighten up.

What advice can you give students on love and relationships?

Be happy. That’s it. We’re only on this earth for seconds and we might as well spend the time being happy. I heard an interesting story about George Harrison. After the freaky dude who broke into his house and stabbed him in the head, he was on death’s door. And he had not one regret. He was completely prepared for death, because he had spent 15 years of his life in touch with love.