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Jason Lee brings his nice-guy petsona to the 'Chipmunks' moviO "" MT.HAEL e,urz
ctor Jason Lee is promoting his new fmily fllm
"Alvin and the Chipmunks" (opening Friday),
and that means being griled by the media For
the moment, the media is represented by three
middle-school girls from Long Island who've
won the opportunity to intereiew the acton
Armed with glasses of milk, they pepper Lee
with questions, and though they know him from his
voice work in the movies "Underdog" and "The ./
Incredibles," they're unaware that he appar-
ently is on some Tv show called "My Name
Is Earl-"
'You've never seen it?" asks I€e Politely.
"You should watch it sometime lt's a really
good show."
The entire scene is sweet, just like the
family fiIm he's promoting and indeed just
like the 37-year-old Califomia native's entire
careef, Since his wry but kind-eyed breakout in di
rector Kevin Smith's movies, he's always sought or rector Kevin Smith's movies, he's always sought out good
karma by seeking out good roles.
In "Alvin," t€e plays Dave Seville, the human straight
man to the titular rodents. In this CGI-sPiked update' a
struBgling musician whose lite gets turned upside dom
when three talking, singing chipmunks - Simon, The-
odore and Alvin - pop up in his life. They become pop
sensations when Dave writes them a holiday tune called"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) " There
is, of course, an evil record company executive (David
Cross) who must be thwarted before Dave md the gang
figure out how to live as a family, though not before Dave
hollers "Alvin. Alvin! ALVIN! !!!"
The goodwill l€e brings.to the frlm is also evident on
his hit NBC sitcom "My Name Is Earl." Though it revolvesmustache, which gets annofng, as petty as that seem:
don't necessarily tell my agent I only want to do sweet
funny or endearing things."
So it wasn't a plm to avoid bitter or cynical roles B
Lee - who has a 4-year-old son named Pilot Inspektor
with his longtime girlfriend, actress Beth Riesgraf - i
still reaping the karmic benefits ,.. he thinks
"Maybe it's a good thing that no matter how angry
I get, I'm still not the fierky guy]," he says. "Or maybe
itts a bad thing. Maybe it mems I would never be able
to play Bill the Butcher in 'Gangs of New York' or som
thing like that. Maybe the audiencejust wouldn't buy
Maybe people would just say, 'Oh, that's Earl.'"
For the moment, though, Lee is not Earl, since the
Miters strike has put TV shows on hiatus and given h
an unexpected vacation. A huge fan of road trips' he's
plaming to head out in pursuit of another of his pas'
iions: photography. And along the way, he'll probably
be listening to the band Midlake, a critically acclaime
grorip steeped in'70s music like Fleetwood Mac that
he's been championing for years. Talking about Mid-
lake's driving tbrce - singer md sonBMiter Tim Smi
- Lee reveals what's important to himself as well, an
what may be the fuel for his laidback nice-guyness.
"What Tim Smith is into, he is very passionately inl
You have a lot of things these days passed off as iron-
ic. That's sort of m excuse to like something that wot
othemise be considered ridiculous or cmpy," says L
who's knom to appreciate the work of Burt Reynoldr
and achieved fame as a skateboarder long before the
sport became an X Games fixture.
"Just to see someone so unapologetically passiona
about this music that really inspires him - it's not fot
cool points. You can sense md feel the sincerity." aaround a one-time criminal, his foul-tempered ex-
wife, an illegal alien and a guy in the witness pro-
\ tection program, it, too, is a chamrng, sweet-
natured affair,
Throw in his Zen-fllled rocker in 2000's
"Almost Famous," his skatebording mil-
lionaire in the 1999 comedy "Mumford" and
his loyal best-bud to Ben Affleck in 1997's
"Chasing Amy," and you see a pattem. Nice-
ness becomes him. Or would he jump at the
chance to play a serial killer?
killer," muses Lee, who nonetheless played a gleeful
demon in Smith's 1999 religious lark "Dogma." "I think
there ile other wajrc to challenge myself as m actor with-
out going to the extremes that other actors feel they have
to go to. You cm do it comedicallY.nThere are many challenges and in different forms
'Earl' is a challenge - the challenge of having to main-
tain that kind of schedule. To maintain patience with the"I wouldn't go out of my way to play a serial
killer," muses Lee, who nonetheless played a gleef
ctor Jason Lee is promoting his new fmily fllm
"Alvin and the Chipmunks" (opening Friday),
and that means being griled by the media For
the moment, the media is represented by three
middle-school girls from Long Island who've
won the opportunity to intereiew the acton
Armed with glasses of milk, they pepper Lee
with questions, and though they know him from his
voice work in the movies "Underdog" and "The ./
Incredibles," they're unaware that he appar-
ently is on some Tv show called "My Name
Is Earl-"
'You've never seen it?" asks I€e Politely.
"You should watch it sometime lt's a really
good show."
The entire scene is sweet, just like the
family fiIm he's promoting and indeed just
like the 37-year-old Califomia native's entire
careef, Since his wry but kind-eyed breakout in di
rector Kevin Smith's movies, he's always sought or rector Kevin Smith's movies, he's always sought out good
karma by seeking out good roles.
In "Alvin," t€e plays Dave Seville, the human straight
man to the titular rodents. In this CGI-sPiked update' a
struBgling musician whose lite gets turned upside dom
when three talking, singing chipmunks - Simon, The-
odore and Alvin - pop up in his life. They become pop
sensations when Dave writes them a holiday tune called"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) " There
is, of course, an evil record company executive (David
Cross) who must be thwarted before Dave md the gang
figure out how to live as a family, though not before Dave
hollers "Alvin. Alvin! ALVIN! !!!"
The goodwill l€e brings.to the frlm is also evident on
his hit NBC sitcom "My Name Is Earl." Though it revolvesmustache, which gets annofng, as petty as that seem:
don't necessarily tell my agent I only want to do sweet
funny or endearing things."
So it wasn't a plm to avoid bitter or cynical roles B
Lee - who has a 4-year-old son named Pilot Inspektor
with his longtime girlfriend, actress Beth Riesgraf - i
still reaping the karmic benefits ,.. he thinks
"Maybe it's a good thing that no matter how angry
I get, I'm still not the fierky guy]," he says. "Or maybe
itts a bad thing. Maybe it mems I would never be able
to play Bill the Butcher in 'Gangs of New York' or som
thing like that. Maybe the audiencejust wouldn't buy
Maybe people would just say, 'Oh, that's Earl.'"
For the moment, though, Lee is not Earl, since the
Miters strike has put TV shows on hiatus and given h
an unexpected vacation. A huge fan of road trips' he's
plaming to head out in pursuit of another of his pas'
iions: photography. And along the way, he'll probably
be listening to the band Midlake, a critically acclaime
grorip steeped in'70s music like Fleetwood Mac that
he's been championing for years. Talking about Mid-
lake's driving tbrce - singer md sonBMiter Tim Smi
- Lee reveals what's important to himself as well, an
what may be the fuel for his laidback nice-guyness.
"What Tim Smith is into, he is very passionately inl
You have a lot of things these days passed off as iron-
ic. That's sort of m excuse to like something that wot
othemise be considered ridiculous or cmpy," says L
who's knom to appreciate the work of Burt Reynoldr
and achieved fame as a skateboarder long before the
sport became an X Games fixture.
"Just to see someone so unapologetically passiona
about this music that really inspires him - it's not fot
cool points. You can sense md feel the sincerity." aaround a one-time criminal, his foul-tempered ex-
wife, an illegal alien and a guy in the witness pro-
\ tection program, it, too, is a chamrng, sweet-
natured affair,
Throw in his Zen-fllled rocker in 2000's
"Almost Famous," his skatebording mil-
lionaire in the 1999 comedy "Mumford" and
his loyal best-bud to Ben Affleck in 1997's
"Chasing Amy," and you see a pattem. Nice-
ness becomes him. Or would he jump at the
chance to play a serial killer?
killer," muses Lee, who nonetheless played a gleeful
demon in Smith's 1999 religious lark "Dogma." "I think
there ile other wajrc to challenge myself as m actor with-
out going to the extremes that other actors feel they have
to go to. You cm do it comedicallY.nThere are many challenges and in different forms
'Earl' is a challenge - the challenge of having to main-
tain that kind of schedule. To maintain patience with the"I wouldn't go out of my way to play a serial
killer," muses Lee, who nonetheless played a gleef