“That Thing You Do” by Playtone is coming out on DVD.  You are in a separate part of the extras without anybody else.. with a mustache.

I’d do anything for those guys.  They are instrumental in me sitting right here.  But, I was doing “Comanche Moon” in New Mexico and they were like ‘we will fly you down.  We will give you one of these [points at somebody’s I-Pod].  I’m like ‘no, it’s not about giving me shit.  I have one day off.  We’re doing a six hour mini-series and we’re doing like six scenes a day and Gus McCrae talks through every scene, constantly.   I can’t do it’.  I couldn’t get out of there so they came up and we did it up there.

What’s your reaction to the success of the film after so long?

A lot of my films are like this.  I’ve never had something like, the next week it’s the biggest movie.  I’ve never had that.  I’ve always just had these creepers that just open modestly, open poorly, open pretty good but then have these lives.  Like ‘Reality Bites’ or ‘Happy, Texas’ or ‘Out of Sight’ that just kind of live for a while and people respond to them.  ‘That Thing You Do’ is one of those that a lot of musicians, a lot of bands, a lot of dudes like that.

Do you hear the song now and cringe?

I don’t mind it now but my kids actually dance to it.  I’m like ‘that’s me!’ but I love going to see music in bars and stuff and they’re like ‘come on up. We’re gonna play it’.  You understand, I can’t remember.  I couldn’t play one note from that.

What would your dream project be?

This was.  I’ve been so lucky, I swear, in the last year and a half, doing a Western.  Not only that, playing Gus McCrae, Duvall’s part from the original which was, I think, the best character in the Western genre.  Then playing in ‘Rescue Dawn’ with Werner Herzog and going possibly to play Lt. Colonel Chesty B. Puller one of the most decorated Marine officer in history.  Are you kidding me? I’m really happy with the way it’s gone.

Playing Robert Duvall younger, did you watch his performance over and over?

Oh sure.  I really respect it.  I’ve seen that so many times.  So it was hard for me.  I want to do it.  I have to because it’s such an honor but it scares the hell out of me. I don’t want to mimic him.  I don’t want to do a caricature of Robert Duvall but, at the same time, people are expecting certain things.  So, I did mimic him to a certain extent but it’s 20 years younger and it’s different and I’m really happy with it.  Karl Urban played Call and he’s wonderful.  He does the same thing.  We really dealt with it very delicately and I’m really proud of it.

So you’ve just finished a Western and Christian has done “3:10 to Yuma”. Did you talk about that?

Yeah.  I tried to get on that but…. I didn’t.  They didn’t want to hire me.

What do you have on your farm?  Cattle?

I just make hay and I have horses and goats and sheep and dogs.  I’d like cattle but I don’t have time.

Why live there and not here in Hollywood?

I like to fish.  I like it dark at night.  I don’t dislike it here.  I love comin’ here and doin’ this.  I really do but that’s my speed and I’ve always been happy.

Do you maintain a lot of friendships with people in Hollywood. 

Yeah but, obviously, if I lived here…. I’m not in a certain clique or group of people.  I might have a different career if I lived here but I keep workin’. It works.  I don’t know how but I don’t even like to think about it.

I was going to ask about  the Pacific and Band of Brothers and the success of that.  Have they talked to you about what they are planning on doing?

No, they just talked to me about just doing it and being a part of it.  They offered me the first one and I couldn’t do it which really bummed me out.  I couldn’t get myself to watch that thing for years but I really loved it when I saw it.  It was one of my biggest regrets, not doing that?

Do you have a big part in the new one?

Yeah.. I think.

Will that get you out of the house for like two months?

[smiling]  Yeah, man! Maybe they’ll all come with me.  “Get off the tank!  Get off the tank, dude’ a bunch of kids crawling all over the friggin’ place.

It took them a while to get that off the ground.  Did they say what the hold-up was?

No. HBO is dying to do it.  I think Playtone is very busy.  They’re doing a lot of stuff.  They’re doing a John Adams thing right now.  They’ve got a lot of stuff going on and those are huge projects.  And this is a logistical nightmare, shooting in northern Australia.  I can’t imagine trying to get it going, let alone a five million dollar movie.

I was noticing in the credits for ‘Rescue Dawn’, you’re the only one of the actors who had an assistant so I was wondering, when you’re out there in the jungle what does an assistant do for you out there?

You know what we do?  We go back to the hotel at night and get a couple of beers and just play 2001 NHL Hockey.  That’s why I have an assistant. ‘Hook it up to the TV.  Make it happen’.  Nate’s been my assistant for a long time and I love him to death and he’s wonderful.  It’s hard running the farm and the family and all that and so it’s helpful to me. Whether somebody else has one or not, I don’t care.  It really is helpful to me.  I don’t think of it as a luxury.  I think of it as a complete necessity and it helps me through.  I get so homesick so it’s nice to have this person that wasn’t my buddy but has become my buddy there to hang out with.  Otherwise, I’d go out of my mind.  So, I really try to get him worked in.  Other people have other things, they might get more money or get other things and all I care about is getting home and I want my assistant there.

When’s the big announcement for “Pacific”.

Oh, I don’t know. Soon.