the way. There are certain protocols they have in the Army and the rest of the military, but there's no easy way to do it. You just say, "The Secretary of the Army regrets to inform you..." And it's the hardest job in the Army. Even people I met at Walter Reed who had lost an arm or a leg would say, "Oh, no, I don't want to do that. I'd much rather go back into combat." Nobody wants that job, because you're walking in and breaking someone's heart. 

Q: How did you prepare for the role?

A: I was actually scared to death that I was going to botch this thing, so I asked [director] Oren [Moverman] to give me some background of Captain Tony Stone, and he sent me a couple of pages that were really helpful, stuff in his past. He sent me Tim O'Brien's book, The Things They Carried, and a couple of other books. He also had me walk around in my Class As and my fatigues. One thing I used to do was run around the park, plodding around in my own harmless way, and then I'd start thinking about how would Tony Stone run? And then I'd just pick up the pace and be more strong and confident.

Q: Your character has to put his own emotions and beliefs aside in order to do his job. Was there a parallel for you, as an actor?

A: As my character, I have to be stoic, but in reality, as soon as they say, "Cut," I'd start bawling. And it was fairly chaotic how we shot the notification scenes, because we didn't rehearse or meet the actors on the other side until we shot the scene. So it was really unpredictable. We didn't know who was going to open the door, if they would let us in, and if they did let us in, where would we stand? I thought it was a really smart way to shoot it. It gave it a sense of believability. I mean, there was a script, but there were still a still a lot of things we didn't know how it would turn out -- maybe you'd get slapped. There was a real spontaneity.

Q: Did you put aside your own beliefs, considering you're playing a soldier when you're anti-war/pro-peace?

A: For me, this whole thing has been a journey of the heart, and an opening to what's going on with those soldiers. I've always been concerned with the victims of war. But the big missing piece of my understanding was to find out what's going on with the soldiers. Having spent time with the soldiers and hearing their stories was a great thing for me, because I used to just lump the men into the war at large. And so now I do support the troops, and I think part of supporting them is not getting behind the concept of sending them into harm's way for resources.

Before this film, I could never imagine being a soldier. There are a lot of reasons I think I'd make a lousy soldier -- I don't do well with authority, for one -- and it was nice to try to fit your mindset into another framework. Like when I did Battle in Seattle, about the WTO protests, I didn't play a protester, which would have been the more obvious choice. I played a cop. And then there's my character in 2012. I don't think the end of the world is nigh, although ecologically speaking, we're pretty much right on target. But I still have hope that we're going to survive as a species.

Q: Is this a tougher sell than 2012?

A: I feel great about this film, and the response has been incredible -- especially the response by soldiers and Vietnam vets. Tim O'Brien loved it. I know it's going to be a hard movie to sell, because on the surface it seems depressing, but I think it's uplifting in many ways. But if you're not prepared to feel something, then this is definitely not the movie to go see.