Sure Aaron Eckhart was brilliant as a tobacco lobbyist in Thank You for Smoking and he provided Batman with his most formidable foe in The Dark Knight. But if anyone’s interested—and I think you should be—Eckhart is born to play the role of Prince Charming.

He is full of charm and ease. Before he even speaks, I want to crawl into his dimples and take a nap. Or tousle his dark blond, freeform hair. But in the name of professionalism I instead welcome him to Savannah and get down to business. Showbiz, that is.

AE: I’m doing a movie here next year so I’ll get to know Savannah better. It’s called The Drummer. It’s a story about Dennis Wilson [of the Beach Boys].

What drew you to Dennis Wilson’s story?

AE: It’s an amazing script. A script that’s full of life—ups and downs—so much emotion. Passion. You know, it’s rock and roll and everyone wants to play a hard drinking, hard partying, rock and roller. And that was Dennis Wilson. He lived life one hundred percent at all times and that ended up killing him. And he produced his own great music in the interim, so it’ll be an interesting movie.

How do you go about choosing your roles?

AE: I have no concept of what I should do. I guess you can boil it all down to when you’re reading a script. Some scripts you read and there’s no feeling—you’re reading words. Some you read and you’re already just seeing yourself in them. Your five senses are just firing. You’re in the role. You see yourself in the role. You hear yourself saying those words. Those are the scripts you’ve got to take. Other scripts you go to because of the quality people you’re working with. You know, if Nicole Kidman calls you up, you probably should do it.

And other [roles] you take for complete selfish reasons, which is: ‘I want to be an action hero. I want to be the drummer. I want to play rock ‘n’ roll and I want to be a cowboy.’ Or let’s say a girl you like is doing [a movie]—a girl you admire. She’s a good actor. You might say, ‘Let’s find something together.’ So there’s no really rhyme or reason.

Read the complete interview in an upcoming issue of South magazine!