Montiel, the son of a Nicaraguan immigrant and an Irish mother, describes himself as a kid "from nowhere going nowhere" in his memoir A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. Growing up in Astoria, Queens in the seventies, he pulled pranks for Greek and Italian gangsters, took furtive hits of mescaline, snuck into Times Square brothels, and confessed at the Church of the Immaculate Conception for his indiscretions. As a young adult, he discovered the grit and grime of Lower Manhattan back when it still felt authentic, formed a punk band called Gutterboy (signed to Geffen for the then unheard of sum of one million dollars), and was himself discovered by the city's vibrant underground culture. He was embraced by an eighties fashion and art cognoscenti that included Andy Warhol and his Factory cohort Cherry Vanilla; photographer Bruce Weber (for whom he modeled Calvin Klein underwear); Liza Minnelli and Allen Ginsberg.

Montiel's memoir, A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, published in 2003, is a rollicking tour of the highs and lows of life both on the streets of Astoria and later in the electrifying milieu of pre-gentrified downtown Manhattan that takes an impressionistic approach, painting scenes with clips of memory and bits of pop music. For the film version of his book, the protagonist Dito (who despite sharing a name with its creator is a fictional character) is someone who has matured into a sensitive, literary type. His adult life has taken him worlds away from the old neighborhood to which he reluctantly returns after many years of self-imposed exile in Los Angeles. Embracing and confronting one's past is the essence of Dito's story in the film.

The real-life Dito is a talented screenwriter and director who in his debut film explores the lasting power of memory and the spirit of youth embodied in the events of one particular summer in 1986 when everything changed for one young man. Rather than recount bit-by-bit the events detailed in his memoir, Montiel has distilled and transformed his own source material into an evocative mood piece that ranks as one of the more indelible accounts of New York City street life in recent years.

The person who first thought Montiel's memoir might make a good movie was actor Robert Downey, Jr. who introduced him around and helped him develop the project. "A friend of ours, Jonathan Elias, brought Downey (into my life)," Montiel recalls today. "They came to a reading I was doing at Book Soup in Los Angeles and Downey was like, 'You wanna make a movie outta this?' And we did. Ridiculous, right?" he laughs. At first, Downey thought A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints might be a good project with which to make his debut as a director. "I think he liked the idea of working on something from scratch," Montiel recalls. But Downey became preoccupied with a flurry of other projects, including Good Night and Good Luck, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, "Fur, and A Scanner Darkly. In the interim, Downey introduced Montiel to his friend Trudie Styler, an experienced producer and wife of Sting, whose Xingu Films ultimately put together the financing for the movie. As Montiel puts it, "Robert was fearless enough to stand by a first-time director. He was there to start and he never left."

Robert Downey, Jr. has evolved into one of the most respected actors in Hollywood. With an amazing list of credits to his name, he has managed to stay new and fresh even after three decades in the business. In A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Downey plays the adult Dito, a successful writer living in Los Angeles, who is summoned home to Astoria after a 15-year absence by his mother when his father becomes seriously ill. As he revisits the old neighborhood, encountering the few childhood friends who aren't in prison or dead, Dito finds himself swept back into the childhood events that shaped him during a sweltering 1986 Queens summer.

Making a movie based on the life one actually has lived created both challenges and opportunities for the filmmaker and his actors. "In Dito's memoir, I saw the kind of material I tend to respond to, which is material that comes from a place of true passion," Styler says. "I began as a documentary filmmaker, so an autobiographical tale of a young man's real-life journey really made sense to me. The title itself resonated with me on a personal level. I certainly have my own 'saints' that have guided me through life. "I think Robert thought of me for Guide because he saw what we did with Guy Ritchie and his first film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Styler adds. "He knew I had an interest in first-time filmmakers and thought I was the woman for the job."

Downey concurs: "My first thought about making Saints into a movie was, "I don't want to walk into the office of a quintessential Hollywood producer with this," he recalls. "Dito and I are, first and foremost, friends. There are a lot of creeps in the netherworld between true indies and studio movies and a lot of producers who will give up on a project too easily. Not Trudie Styler. She's a really savvy business woman, but once she sets her mind on something she won't stop until she succeeds."

Styler explains: "It's a 5-year project for me. Robert Downey brought me the project in book form. I saw an aspect of the book that I thought was compelling and when I met Dito and said, 'What do you want from this book?,' his ideas and mine coincided so I thought, 'Good. OK. We're a good fit. This unlikely person from Queens and this person who speaks Queen's English.'"

In a development process that took over four years, Montiel, Styler and Downey worked diligently developing the parallel stories of Dito's youth and his return home. "Robert and I talked a lot and ultimately decided that the heart and soul of the movie should be young Dito's coming of age and his return home," Montiel says. He laughs about his wild days in Manhattan: "Who'd want to see that?"

Here's what Montiel and Downey had to say about their unique collaboration. Needless to say, it was an unusual process:

Q: Could you talk to us about the idea of directing your own life story? It could be a dangerous proposition.

Montiel: Yeah. I mean it was very weird as you can imagine. The book I wrote was about other people, not me. My impressions of them. Certainly not who they are. Making the film, we went back and forth 50 different ways thinking how to make this film and we just took one really major moment out of the book and started building around it and combined different stories into... We gave the story of probably twelve kids to four. So it was always a bit… You're always close to something you write. I'm a little closer probably to this than normal, but at the same time it always felt like slightly someone else's story in a way. It was weird.

Q: What was that one moment that started it off?

Montiel: I had a friend, Antonio, who killed a kid with a bat. So we sort of just took that moment and started deciding to tell the stories around that.

Q: I have to ask because I don't know and it's not in any of the notes. Did your father pass away?

Montiel: No.

Q: No? OK.

Montiel: He's actually at the end of the film talking, way at the end.

Q: Oh, that's your father?

Montiel: Yeah.

Q: So what's the relationship now that you have with him?

Montiel: There's three characters in the film that are pretty close to the people I knew. And it's Chazz playing my father, Antonio, and probably Diane Wiest. That's close. It was like that, you know. I got him a VCR once. We tried to do a scene like that in the movie. We did. I put "The Untouchables" on it because he loved "The Untouchables." But he would never watch machines so he's watching it, and he liked it, Kevin Costner, I remember he's like, 'Hey, he's good.' And then after like 20 minutes, he goes, 'Where's the commercial?' I say, 'See, it's that machine.' And he goes, 'It's that machine?' And I go, 'Yeah.' And he goes, 'Aahh' and walks away. (laughter) He wouldn't watch it so that was kind of him, you know.

Q: The dialogue in this film is so natural and overlapping. Both of you, how is that written? How do you memorize it and rehearse to perform it?

Downey: The scenes are written like an improvisation that was taped but really it's just the way we did [inaudible]. It's like when you go back and you regret improvising in a movie because a plane went over and now you have to try to match that thing. Sometimes it was like trying to catch up to a vehicle that was already in motion. But then that's just another way to be uptight. You set the conceit of the scene, what's happening, and you follow it.

Q: You really made this story come about and then Trudy was saying that she kind of asked you to come on board to act. Were you ever wanting to be the actor or just kind of bring the story to life?

Downey: Bring the story. And you know it's like anything. It's just such a funny point of reference. You want to establish some ground rule but what I am is just part of sitting here today and I've put in some and I've taken some out. And there's a new American writer/director who actually has something to say and someone who's exciting to me. You know, personally I vacillate between wanting to call him every night and check in or just get back to the silly old days where we were fucking around and neither one of us was doing anything important. Or perhaps strangle him and tell him, 'Why, you know, me and my fucking experience. You should have listened to what I had to say.' I became like some shaming fucking grandfather a couple weeks ago or months ago on something, and it was like 'Oh, my god. It's so ridiculous.' So in a way there's just been almost this re-creation of a familial feeling, but it just means there's no disconnect. I'm sure that this experience has brought me to another level and brought you the recognition that you didn't seek but deserved.

Montiel: Well, I'll say one thing about it because nothing's more horrifying than listening to directors say how much they love their producers or actors because that's when I frickin' go crazy and I want to vomit because it's horrible but I had a really lucky experience, you know. I mean you hear stories like this a lot and then there's always that reason that you didn't know why they actually, 'Ah, that's what it is. Spelling.' You know, he's always looking for some hidden reason for it. I mean like I don't even know if I've said this to Robert but wherever I go, if I bring up your name, Robert's name, the first thing people say is, 'He's a great actor. Wow, he's a great actor.' Then, of course, they want to ask me crazy stories. There's good actors out there that get one DUI and forever they're the DUI guy. There's a reason, I believe, and it's not to kiss Robert's ass. God knows we were ready to kill each other half the time. The reason he's an artist, I think Trudy as well, Sting as well. I didn't particularly know these people all that well. I knew Robert definitely better than I knew any of the other people… Besides the obvious, there's a privilege that comes with being Sting, with being a great actor. There's a privilege that comes with that but there's also a choice to make as an artist. You know there's 50 different people you can bet your race on. They picked me for a reason and it wasn't just a shot in the dark. We had this crazy thing…and I believe… I don't know why Robert did it, but my impression of why we all ended up doing this together with our friend, Jonathan Elias, was everybody said, 'We're going to get on a weird trip. I don't know if it's going to be great. I don't know if this movie's even going to get finished.' I don't think any of us knew. In hindsight, yeah, of course we deserve to be here. But reality, there was 50 million reasons why I should have been sold out. If I had a million dollars, the last person I'd bet on is me. I mean in a million years I'd say, 'Dito, are you fucking crazy?' But they decided to bet on me so there was this long, crazy process, but in the end I believe it was because we all were going to make something. It's going to be interesting and it's going to be art. There's a reason people still call people artists in the long run and that's my impression of it. It's not to kiss anyone's ass. It's because it was the fun, you know, so I felt a certain duty not to totally fuck up.

Q: So did you relate to either Dito or the Dito in the film?

Downey: Yeah, sure I did. Not only around the same time, more so than you in the story, I did come out west and I stayed here for a while and by the time I came back I was on Saturday Night Live. People were like, 'Dude, that's so weird. You were the one and all this crappy stuff happened and then you're working at the same shoe store and now like what happened?' I'm like, 'Fuck you!' You know, we're supposed to like go clubbing and like beat up some delivery guy for Chinese food and go eat it too fast in Riverside Park. We're like street kids. We're latch key kids. We're a mess. We don't get out of here. We're going to go back up to Socrates (sculpture park in Queens) and hustle foosball. That's what we do. We're destroyed from this kind of weirdo generation we grew up in. And that wasn't the case for me and it was a big source of kind of survivor's guilt. A weird embarrassment mixed with narcissism but at the end of the day in about the same time line, you got to come back and deal with it. Now these are huge, broad strokes and half of it is a made up version of a larger truth. And that's what Saints is. Saints is not a specific film. It's a very symbolic film. It could've happened on the streets of Belfast. It can be about going back to anywhere that is ridden with strife and unresolved stuff and the whole deal so … Then again, like anything. The fourth time I saw Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, I understood Act 3. (laughter) And now we're sitting her and I knew when I woke up this morning that this was going to be a really healing day because there's a resolution. It's too late. The pictures are locked. There's no more kevetching. There's this and that we just get to say. I get to give my friend a hug and say, 'Wow, man, I'm really pleased that you're going out there and that you're one voice in that ridiculous choir because I think you're special.

Q: What would you like people to take from this film?

Montiel: Well, the most important thing is…well, you know, I hope they like it. You know, I do. The most important thing about making the film and I don't mean why we made the film. I mean in the directing and making the story work. Making a villain is very easy. Making a human being is tough. This is a movie filled with love, so much love I'm going to break your neck with it. It's obsessive love. It's crazy. It's 'I don't know how to tell you,' you know. There's a scene at the end where Robert and Chazz are together and Chazz says, 'You know, I told you I loved you the last time I saw you.' He means it. He really means it. He did. He said it 50 ways, didn't you fucking hear it? 'Are you crazy? You know, you didn't hear me. I said it over and over again, but you weren't listening.' So it was important you pick a perspective when you make a film. The perspective of this film is slightly my answer to your question as far as what I cared about making the film. To make the film successfully for me was you pick a perspective. The perspective was Monty and Antonio telling the story. It's a beautiful place. Why would you leave? It doesn't make sense. It really doesn't, you know. Rosario Dawson, she looks beautiful. She's doing fine. She didn't need you. We're not losers here. We just didn't need you. They're making it a nice little world for you. It really would be nice to be a postman. That'd be great. And stay here, that'd be beautiful. To make this film successful for me, it had to be no violence, no bad guys, no losers. I don't know what anyone will take, but I hope they like it. I hope they like the action. That's what I like.

Q: Are you a "Journey" fan?

Montiel: Journey? Well, I hate half the music in the film, let me tell you. I frickin' hate Baker Street. You don't even know. I hate it so much that in the script it says, 'And then the putrid horn solo is playing.' And they have to show that that's Jerry Rafferty when they're trying to buy it and he was like, he said to Trudy, 'Why does it say "putrid horn solo"?' But he still sold the thing so…But Journey, yeah, how could you not like Journey. I know that because you knew the singer and it was like … But Journey, yeah, that's a different level. You've got to like Journey.

Q: So do Puerto Ricans not like the "Police"?

Montiel: Well, they like Journey because it's got a good beat to it and they got some ballads. Come on! (laughter) The Police is a little too technical.

Q: Did you hear [someone] say, 'Let's put a "Police" song in there?

Montiel: No, I mean…

Downey: Oh please, Sting pay himself a million dollar investment? (laughter)

Montiel: That was the budget.

Downey: He literally couldn't afford his own catalog. (laughter)

Montiel: Exactly.

Q: So who shot first, Shia or Robert?

Downey: Shia primarily. I was basically kind of like the tail gate party for the meat in the movie already being done.

Q: Did you take anything from Shia's work since you were dealing with the older version?

Downey: When I went in to check in the first day and do some like… My preliminary prep for the movie was like, 'I'm here. Try this on. Here's the sides.' Go back home, pick out napkins for your wedding which is in fucking 48 hours and then we'll just shoot 1100 scenes and some other stuff. And just make sure you really demonstrate what a miserable guy you can be on this labor of love.

Montiel: Because there was a truth to both of them. Because I remember thinking Shia and Robert doesn't [inaudible]. Are you kidding me? They don't even look anything like … Melonie and Rosario aren't even the same race. But as long as there was a truth to them…I remember there's a scene, the first scene that Robert does when he's leaving Chazz and he smiles before he closes the door. And I'm thinking, 'How could you smile?' In my mind I was like, 'That's so rude.' And I remember I think I asked this of Robert, 'Can you please do it without smiling.' Of course, in the editing room, the smile is there because it's true. It was honest. Whenever there was truth, you have to … Look, it's a movie, man. It's on a frickin' screen. Nobody's really dying here. You're going to eat popcorn and then you're going to go home. But as long as they both brought truth, which they did, then I was like, 'I believe it.' It's crazy. It doesn't make sense.

Downey: Shia being supposedly the center of the back story. That's our lead. That's our guy. It even broke that convention. He was very observant. He was very eager. He's a very complex guy. We're not entirely dissimilar. And if our moms got together, they'd be Chatty Cassies for like thirty days. It's like this sweet thing and thank god for our moms. My mom is a huge saint to me.

Q: What does the name of the title mean? What do you take away from that title?

Montiel: I had a book when I was a kid that's called, The Picture Book of Saints. There's a picture of a saint and a story so I xxx that was the reason because I like the name.

Downey: He's got to come back and do the Beatles thing. 'That didn't mean nothing.' (laughter) Cause fuck, it really kind of means something to me.

Q: Thank you very much for your time this afternoon.