Sam Rockwell rules. He's been a highly acclaimed actor and a major part of the industry for years and yet he comes across as completely down to Earth and humble in person, possibly more so than any actor I've ever interviewed with as extensive a resume. He's so laid-back that interviewing him becomes more like a conversation than most "well-rehearsed" interview subjects. Sam has worked with nearly every major name in Hollywood and, in 2008 alone, will be seen in David Gordon Green's Snow Angels, Clark Gregg's Choke, and Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon. Before this great run, Rockwell stole scenes in Matchstick Men, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Green Mile, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, among many, many others. Rockwell seems honestly surprised and complimented when you praise his work and actually interested in discussing it. It's easy to see why so many people have worked with him and why his star continues to rise - it's not only because he's talented but because he's the kind of guy you root for and want to see succeed. He does succeed in Choke, his new film based on the hit Chuck Palahniuk book that co-stars Anjelica Huston and Kelly MacDonald. He made it to Chicago recently to promote it and, while he walked around the room stretching to try and alleviate back pain, he spoke openly and candidly about his career.

THE DEADBOLT: I want to get to Choke, of course, but I also just caught up with Snow Angels.

SAM ROCKWELL: Man, I'm really proud of that movie.

THE DEADBOLT: You should be. [The character Sam plays goes through an emotional ringer in the film.] How do you leave something that brutal and emotional behind? Is that tough for you?

ROCKWELL: Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. When I was doing that part, I was actually feeling pretty good about myself at the time, so it was a little bit of work to get into that head-set. I did this play in New York called The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Philip Seymour Hoffman directed it. It was a similar part where I did a lot of drug scenes. I was playing Judas. He was very f**ked up, obviously. At the time, I was going through a hard time, a breakup and stuff, so that sort of came easier to me. But playing the character of Glenn in Snow Angels - I had to go back to that time a little bit. At the end of the day, actually, those parts are fun for me. It's funny. They're actually fun. I think the best way to put it is that they're cathartic. That's kind of why...I mean I got into acting to meet chicks. That's the first reason everyone gets into acting. But once you start to really love the art form and you learn about the craft of acting and you train as an actor, I think you really start to find that acting is a way to express yourself. I think that I was pretty well-prepped for that part. David and I had collaborated. I had read the book. I was ready to do that part. I had been thinking about it for a long time. Did a lot of research on born-again Christians and stuff. That stuff is really fascinating. And I've always been fascinated by alcoholism and addiction.

THE DEADBOLT: You've had a string of parts that I don't think anyone would call "easy". Do you ever long for a dumb summer comedy?

ROCKWELL: Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna do a basketball movie soon.

THE DEADBOLT: And that will be lighter?

[Laughs]. No, actually, he's an alcoholic. He's got some problems.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you ever want to do a Will Ferrell movie?

ROCKWELL: I do. I do, man. I just did Gentlemen Broncos, which is just a gas. But, of course, in that movie I have to be in three hours of makeup, which is a real pain in the ass. That took a lot of the fun out of what would have been a lark. And we had to drive an hour and a half to get to this location and there are gnats biting under my fingers. But it was the guy who did Napoleon Dynamite, Jared Hess, and I got to do, basically, SNL sketch comedy. Once I got in front of the camera, it was a f**king blast. So, that was very liberating for me. Of course, on that job I have to do three hours of makeup. So, the logistics are hard but the acting is fun as hell.

THE DEADBOLT: If there's a theme in your work it would have to be addiction - Snow Angels, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke, even the cons in Matchstick Men are addicted to the con. What fascinates you about addiction?

ROCKWELL: Yeah, there's a lot of that. I don't know. I never noticed a theme about that but I guess there is. Hmmmm.

THE DEADBOLT: You said it interests you. Why does it interest you?

ROCKWELL: Because people are impulsive. And, whether they know it or not...I think in any kind of addiction there's a yearning for something bigger - looking for love, looking for some kind of comfort. That's what all these characters have in common. They're all looking for love.

THE DEADBOLT: Victor [Sam's character in Choke] is looking for it?

ROCKWELL: I think so. Yeah. In his own way.

THE DEADBOLT: Like a lot of Chuck's books, Choke can be hard to sum up easily. What's it about for you? Pitch line me.

ROCKWELL: It's a psychological profile of a Casanova. I guess. But it's a funny, romp version of that. I guess. I don't know.

THE DEADBOLT: How's Clark different as a director?

ROCKWELL: He kind of reminds me of George Clooney. They're both athletic guys. They're both jocks. Yet they're also very sensitive and highly intelligent men. They're very intuitive and, because they're actors, they're very sensitive people. And yet, there is a sort of competitive athleticism to their directing, which I find refreshing and it helps them lead the troops, sort of. Helps "get 'em over the mountain."

THE DEADBOLT: Like they're a coach?

ROCKWELL: Yeah. A little bit. That's kind of not a bad thing for a director to be. A director is a General, really. He has to make decisions. That's pretty helpful. They both have social skills. I compare him to George a lot. They have a lot in common.

THE DEADBOLT: You know, I think you can see that in the final product.

ROCKWELL: Yeah, yeah.

THE DEADBOLT: Twenty-day shoot?

ROCKWELL: Twenty-five. Very crazy.

THE DEADBOLT: How do you do that?

ROCKWELL: That's one thing that Clark...we just did not have the budget. It was like a $3 million movie. It was a tough movie to shoot.

THE DEADBOLT: Does Clark allow a lot of character input or is he loyal to the script?

ROCKWELL: It was all very scripted. We had a couple of improv moments.

THE DEADBOLT: Was Chuck there?

ROCKWELL: A little bit. He was really hands-off, I got to say. He said a couple of things. I listened to his book on tape.

THE DEADBOLT: Were you a fan of his books?

ROCKWELL: No, not really. I was a fan of Fight Club the movie. I read Choke. I listened to it, obviously. I got a kick out of it.

THE DEADBOLT: What was the most challenging part of this production?

ROCKWELL: I think the budget. The constraints of the budget. You get three takes. It's a very important, emotional scene and you get two, three takes at the most. It's tough. It's tough.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you feel more pressure with a leading role like this one than with a supporting?

ROCKWELL: Yeah. It's more responsibility. It's a relief when you do a supporting role only in that you don't have as much responsibility. Then again, when you do a supporting role, like in Frost/Nixon or Jesse James, you wait around more. You don't get to do as much acting. And that's tough. I guess I'd rather do leads because you don't wait around as much. I think that's the bottom line. It's not about salary. It's more about the time you get to act. You come there to work. If you're not gonna act, you might as well take a vacation.

THE DEADBOLT: I gotta tell you, I loved Jesse James.

ROCKWELL: Right on. That's great.

THE DEADBOLT: Are you surprised it didn't have more universal acclaim?

ROCKWELL: No. Because of the length of the film. And I think because it's not 3:10 to Yuma. It's not a crowd-pleaser. I mean, I loved 3:10 to Yuma but this is a different kind of movie. It's an homage to Terence Malick films like Days of Heaven. It's an "easy-peasy" movie. That's a bad term. It works on you in a very slow, methodical way. It's not the kind of movie that people are accustomed to seeing. Some of these movies - you see the trailers. It's a different world now. Movies like that do not...

THE DEADBOLT: They usually find their audience over time. I think Jesse James will.

ROCKWELL: They do. I think so too. I think so too. We had Roger Deakins. It's an incredibly, beautifully shot film. I think people will look back on that film. I really do. I think you're right.

THE DEADBOLT: And they'll be stunned that it wasn't an eight-Oscar nominee.

ROCKWELL: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right.

THE DEADBOLT: You've worked with so many amazing people. Does intimidation ever still play a part? Do you walk into a room with Anjelica Huston [in Choke] and say, "I got to bring my A game"?

ROCKWELL: Yeah. Sure. Ron Howard [on Frost/Nixon]. I just worked with Robert DeNiro. Yeah, sure. But, at the end of the day, they're just actors doing the same thing that you are. It's the same process.

THE DEADBOLT: What's Anjelica like?

ROCKWELL: She's great. She's amazing. She's really something. I love her.

THE DEADBOLT: She's great in this.

ROCKWELL: Yeah, yeah.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you keep in touch with a lot of the people you've worked with?

ROCKWELL: I do. Well, not a lot of them. There are a few. Jesse James - I made some good friends. I talk to Anjelica here and there. We're actually talking about doing another movie. She might direct. I made good friends with Jeremy Renner on Jesse James. He's doing a show in New York. A cop show. So, I get to see him a bit. Paul Schneider. He's great. David Gordon Green and I stayed in contact. We talk a lot. He's phenomenal. He's something else. He's an amazingly creative guy.

THE DEADBOLT: So, we've talked about a number of movies in the last fifteen minutes that all came out recently. Do you ever worry about getting exhausted?

ROCKWELL: I guess there is such a thing as overexposure. I'm more inclined to go to work now than I have been. I have been going pretty hard though. I've been doing a lot of work lately.

THE DEADBOLT: I don't just mean on a career level. I mean do you ever just want to go sit on a beach for three months? Maybe your back hurts because you've been working too hard.

ROCKWELL: [Laughs.] I think you're right. I think you're right. I do worry about that. But I went through a period after Confessions where I was very picky and I didn't work a lot. There were a couple of things, mostly some theater, that I turned down that I kind of regret. There's not a lot of films that I turned down that I regret. I could have done The Incredibles and I wish I had done that.

THE DEADBOLT: Really? Which part?

ROCKWELL: One of the voices. I don't want to say. You can probably guess. I shouldn't even be saying that probably. Mostly, I just went through a period where I didn't work as much. I was a little precious about making decisions and pulling the trigger on things. I got to a point where I just started saying yes more. Obviously, that's a high class problem - having the option to say yes or no. But I got to a point where I wanted to start working. I found that I was a better person when I was working. The time you have off is much more fun. But I probably have been overdoing it a little lately. I should chill out.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you miss doing theater?

ROCKWELL: I do. I'm actually thinking about trying to do some theater soon. Yeah. Looking forward to it.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you, way back in your mind, have one of those breakthrough, "I want to be an actor" moments?

ROCKWELL: Not then, so much. I started when I was ten. I didn't take it seriously until I started studying in New York with Wayne Messmer as a teacher when I was about 24, 23. I studied for two years. That's when I started to form more concrete opinions about acting and kind of take it seriously. It's not just about picking up chicks. It's an art form. There's a craft to it.

THE DEADBOLT: If you hadn't studied with him, do you think you'd still be an actor?

ROCKWELL: I don't think I'd be as good an actor. I don't think I'd know what the hell I'm doing. I think every really good actor has had some kind of training, whether it's stage or...You get some talented people out-of-the-box sometimes. I like this Shia LaBeouf guy. I think he's talented. But I don't know. I think you'll find that a lot of actors do have some kind of training, whether it's on the job or...DiCaprio kind of worked with all of these great people early on. That was his training.

THE DEADBOLT: There's something to be said for screen presence but then you got to do something with it.

ROCKWELL: That's right. Yeah. I don't know. There's no formula. But I think training is important. Jeff Bridges - his father taught him.

THE DEADBOLT: And you come from an acting family too.

ROCKWELL: Yeah and that was part of my training.

THE DEADBOLT: Tell us a little bit about Moon, which I heard you compare to Silent Running.

ROCKWELL: I think that's a cool movie. Silent Running is a great movie and I hope that in Moon we don't get sick of my mug. It's just me, pretty much. Kevin Spacey is going to play the voice of the robot. There are a few transmissions from Earth. It's about cloning. I play three characters. It's...you know what it is? It's like a really good Twilight Zone episode that lasts for an hour and a half. If you don't expect more than that, I think you'll be okay. That's what I think. That's what I compare it to.

THE DEADBOLT: What do we compare Everybody's Fine too?

ROCKWELL: Everybody's Fine is really all about Robert DeNiro's character. You could say that it's kind of like About Schmidt. It's a similar role for him. DeNiro's really good in it. People are going to really dig him in this.

THE DEADBOLT: And people are going to dig you in Choke.

ROCKWELL: Hey, man!

THE DEADBOLT: And dig you in Snow Angels.

ROCKWELL: Yeah, baby.

Dig Sam Rockwell in Choke, opening in theaters on September 26th.