The Christmas season is approaching. What are you getting K.G.?

What am I getting K.G.? I haven’t thought about it yet, but you’re right I should start thinking about that and probably re-gift him one of my iPod’s that I keep getting.  That’s a horrible, that’s not right, re-gift... we’re good friends.

Is Miles a fool for love?

Miles is a fool for love, just like that old Sam Shepherd play.

Does this resonate with your own life?

I’m a romantic in that way. Truth be told, I had my share of heavy medal debauchery in my days, but there was always a loneliness at the core and I was always searching from my true baby blue.

So, you are you a flowers and chocolates guy or how are you a romantic?

I do bring the occasional flowers but I’m not like a flower every week guy. More like bi-monthly, and when I bring home treats I get surprises.

Back to The Holiday, my editors have asked me to ask everybody what’s the best present you’ve ever gotten?

Well, my wife gave me for my last birthday, or birthday before last, a party that only cards were allowed -- no gifts, because I’ve got everything I could ever want. And she made me an animated flip book and it was really thick and an alien craft came down and then aliens came out of the ship with the birthday cake and I thought that was pretty damn cool. No one had ever put that much work into a present for me before.

Did she draw all of the pictures?

Yeah, she’s a great animator/artist.

What’s the toughest audience you ever had to face?

Probably in Las Vegas, like 6 years ago. We did one of those beer contests where if you win you get flown to a concert and you don’t know whose playing/ It was called Blind Date. So they’re all really drunk in the audience, contest winners from radio, and the curtain opens and they were all hoping it was going to be Led Zeppelin or something, but it was random and it really was a horrible idea. Everybody was hoping it was somebody else and probably zero percent were hoping it was Tenacious D, and immediately we were being pelted and booed and I was covered in a liquid, but we didn’t stop, we couldn’t stop playing, because we knew that if we didn’t finish the contractually agree upon 30 minutes set that we would not get paid the full amount, so we just withstood the onslaught of hatred for a full half-hour. It was unbelievable.  It might have been our best show in that one way because the comedy it got so bad it was a great fiasco.

Did that inspire some of the training scenes in the movie?

You know, I would say that it did. You have to be prepared to sometimes have thick skin.

I heard you this week on the Howard Stern show with Kyle Gass, and Jeremy Piven’s name came up. Was there anything to that or --

No. There was something to it just because it got blown up a little bit.  But really it was just a little nothing misunderstanding that happened at a premier a long time ago, and I’ve spoken to him on the phone since then and we got together we smoked the piece pipe. The mutual admiration is back in full effect.  You can print that: Me and Jerry Piven, it’s all good.

So you’ll be on Entourage next season?

A maybe on that. You never know.

After these commitments slow down, have you started looking at scripts for the future or are you attached to something?

I’ve been developing things, trying to be the new... what’s his name? George Clooney? Developing something.  I really like this writer Daniel Clowes who writes a great comic book called EightBall. He did Ghost World and Art School Confidential. He has a great idea for a script he’s writing.  And there’s a couple other ones in the cooker that I shouldn’t mention yet because they’re not as official. But I had a conversation... I don’t know if I should tell you about the things that aren’t totally official.  I’ve got of things floating around in the Ether. Oh yeah, there’s a cartoon, Kung Fu Panda. And I’ve heard that Sacha Baron Cohen is also working on a new DreamWorks animation.  So hopefully mine won’t be put on the backburner now that Borat has taken hold of the industry.

What’s your take on Borat?

Well, I love Borat and I love Sacha Cohen. He’s probably my favorite comedian right now.

Because he manages to take reality and put it into his comedy?

I never know why I think someone is funny. He’s just got big cojones and he’s really smart and love his stuff.

Is there a movie genre that you haven’t done that you’d still like to explore now that you’ve done rom-com?

Is there anything I want to explore now? I’d love to make a really scary movie.

I Know What You Did Last Summer..?

Oh, man... see... as soon as I said that, I knew I shouldn’t have said that because...

You were funny in that.

Well, I wouldn’t want to make I Really Still Do Know What You Did Last Summer... 

You mean like An American Werewolf in London type of movie?

Yeah. Something like that would be fun to do. I mean, my favorite movies are Rosemary’s Baby and The Shining, and since I’m drawn to those movie it would be fun to be in a really good one.

What are you doing in the Noah Baumbach movie?

Baumbach, speaking of uncharted territory... did you see The Squid and The Whale? It’s a kind of sequel to that. It’s like a dysfunctional kind of family gathering movie.

And what do you play in it?

I play Jennifer Jason Leigh’s fiancée.

The director’s wife’s fiancée?

Exactly. Everyone in the family is coming together for our wedding that we’re having over the weekend and you get to see some dark and twisted family drama.  It was really a pretty great experience.

But it’s not a role that you played for laughs.

No, but I mean, there’s always some humor creeps in from me, just naturally where I go to, but it was not here.  And also I don’t know if you remember The Squid and the Whale. It was actually filled with hilarious moments in the midst of it.

You were sort of laughing at how much of an asshole some of those characters were.

Yeah.

I mean the fight with Jeff Daniels.

Jeff Daniels is so good, man.

Nancy Meyers was saying earlier that you topped Jane magazine’s list of top celebrity crushes. 

Really?

Explain your appeal to female moviegoers.

Well, I think it might be because I am perceived as gettable, where as like Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt there’s no prayer. They have no chance with those guys, but me... maybe it’s because they think I would be a fun date. It wouldn’t just be dinner and a movie. Take them for a little adventure. Little humor goes a long way. Johnny Carson said it’s the number one aphrodisiac, so I must be very sexy.

But you’re not available.

It doesn’t matter. The available thing doesn’t affect your appeal in the movies. But you’re right, I’m not available. So just forget about it Brittany!