Actor braces for fame after his killer role in 'Mile'
by K.C. Baker

"I don't think I could handle overnight success," says the 13-year indie veteran. "Look at Leonardo DiCaprio. He's just trying to do what any other 24-year-old does: have fun, chase women and be like a normal person. But [the media] are just on top of him. I can't imagine what his reality is."

Like it or not, Rockwell's reality is about to change. Thanks to his electrifying performance as a sadistic killer in the "The Green Mile," the Oscar-worthy hit film based on Stephen King's serialized novel about a Depression-era prison, and his upcoming turn as Drew Barrymore's boyfriend in "Charlie's Angels," Rockwell is poised to become a name, or at least a face, that everyone recognizes.

Sam Rockwell in 'The Green Mile'

The Greenwich Village-based actor got a taste of things to come at a recent star-studded premiere for "The Green Mile," when paparazzi yelled for him to look their way as he posed with the film's star, Tom Hanks.

He didn't exactly mind the attention.

"I've been to premieres where they usually go, 'What's your name again?'" says Rockwell, who also stars in the upcoming "Galaxy Quest" with Sigourney Weaver. "But last night was different. They knew who I was. It was wild."

Rockwell is relaxing in a chair in a midtown hotel room, worn down from the previous night's premiere and a day's worth of talking about his colorful character, William "Wild Bill" Wharton. His mother, who gave Rockwell his first acting job at 10 in her Manhattan-based improvisational drama group, listens intently from nearby.

With his easygoing charm and perpetually tousled blond hair, Rockwell is instantly likable. He's also a bit of a rascal. While walking through the hotel, he nonchalantly swipes two pens from a maid's cart.

"Might need these for something," he says, flashing a mischievous grin as he stuffed the pens into his jacket pocket.

Asked why he accepted the role in "Charlie's Angels," he replies, deadpan: "I want to play somebody who wears nice clothes. Kisses girls."

While Rockwell has had small parts in Woody Allen's "Celebrity" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Green Mile" is his first meaty studio picture role.

But in the indie world, he's a star. Known as the male Parker Posey, Rockwell got his acting chops at San Francisco's High School of the Performing Arts before capturing critics' attention as the charming but eccentric outdoorsman in Tom DiCillo's "Box of Moonlight." More recently, his turn as a sexy loner in John Duigan's "Lawn Dogs," earned him Best Actor awards at the Montreal and Barcelona film festivals.

Whether big-time fame comes or not, Rockwell is focusing on perfecting his craft. "When it comes down to it, all the smart guys want to be Robert Duvall," he says. "He has versatility and longevity and if you've got those, you will always work."

For now, he's working on keeping his private life private, which isn't always easy. Especially when he's the one doing the blabbing.

"The easiest way to make sure you never meet Ashley Judd is to say in an article that you want to meet Ashley Judd," says Rockwell, who told Esquire in 1998 that he wouldn't mind dating the curvy actress. "That was pretty stupid. And I said it!"