Workaholic actor Josh Lucas is in his hotel room trying to figure out his new camera; it's a silver and black compact camera. He makes sure the sliding lens cap is open. "I just saw Sweet Home the other night. Amazing night," he tells me and three other journalists. "Shot a whole roll of film, with another roll of film today." He shows me the camera, pointing to the sliding lens cap, "And it just turned out this little f***ing thing was in front of the lens. I just lost two days."

Looking at the camera I offer, "The lens and the viewfinder are separate. You didn't notice?"

"I had no idea. It's a brand new camera. It's totally designed to just fit in your hand. I mean, who reads the instructions? I was like I know how to use a camera."

This is the first day of his press tour, "The very beginning" he says, and he wants to mark the occasion with a photo. His plan is to create a photo collage, and he asks us if we wouldn't mind having our picture taken.

We glance around the room for an acceptable spot to take a group picture, and agree upon gathering around the end of a table, across from

window overlooking the Boston skyline. "Be sure to check that it's set for wide angle," I remind him.

"Yup," he lines up the shot, "Little closer... alright, it's good."

Snapping a couple photos (we think someone's eyes were closed), he takes a roll of film from the inside pocket of his dark blue sport coat and sits, as do all of us, at the table. He places the camera on the table, then the film on top of the camera. Balanced.

"What did you think of the film? Did it meet your expectations?" asks a journalist, placing her notepad on the table.

Lucas leans back in his chair, relaxed (if there was more room between the table and the window he would put his feet up). "Honestly, I loved this movie. It's a deep, gentle story. It's kind of what I hoped. The acting is, across the board, fantastic. I'm happy for the actors, really proud of them. I was really, genuinely, not surprised. It's so introspective, and I haven't had that experience. I usually just demolish myself in my films and just think... they're stupid." With that, he laughs. "But this one I really love. I'm really proud of it. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing. I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it. I love this movie. I think it's honest. I think it respects the South, so much."


It is Sweet Home Alabama's portrayal of the South that connects with Lucas. "I'm from the South. I'm from Arkansas, and I was raised mainly in a little town in South Carolina, south of Charleston. I'm so proud of the movie because I think it presents the South so honestly. It's a portrait I think most of the South will feel respected by. That's important to me. I think that the cliches that are inside of [Sweet Home Alabama] are pictures of the South. They're real cliches, but life does have real cliches. Rather than being like Aw, shucks, how you doin'? It could have been that, and in a sense, it could have been honest that way, too, but it's not right." He explains, "Most people would say it's a very fair portrayal – granted there's no harsh social realism inside of it. The South is poor, and I like that there're elements of that here. The South is poor, it's racist, it's a tough

ally proud of it. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing. I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it. I love this movie. I think it's honest. I think it respects the South, so much."


It is Sweet Home Alabama's portrayal of the South that connects with Lucas. "I'm from the South. I'm from Arkansas, and I was raised mainly in a little town in South Carolina, south of Charleston. I'm so proud of the movie because I think it presents the South so honestly. It's a portrait I think most of the South will feel respected by. That's important to me. I think that the cliches that are inside of [Sweet Home Alabama] are pictures of the South. They're real cliches, but life does have real cliches. Rather than being like Aw, shucks, how you doin'? It could have been that, and in a sense, it could have been honest that way, too, but it's not right." He explains, "Most people would say it's a very fair portrayal – granted there's no harsh social realism inside of it. The South is poor, and I like that there're elements of that here. The South is poor, it's racist, it's a tough place; particularly Alabama is very poor. But that's a different movie."

"Mary Kay Place and Fred Ward, [the actors who play Melanie's] parents, they're fantastic," says Lucas. "Their relationship is so deep and honest. It's kind of got some quirkiness and some funkiness. And some tonal eccentricities, I guess. And I really like that about it. I think it makes it more endearing in a way."

With Lucas being from Arkansas, Reese Witherspoon from Tennessee and most of the other cast members from the South and having moved away, they worked on bringing their accents back. "I really broke my accent years ago. So, it's hard for me to get it back. For Reese, her accent came very quickly. We all talked about accents and stuff in terms of toning it – having a gentle, subtle, quiet element to it. Because you can leer, you know, and because people definitely have the full thing, and with that you can over do it. I think we all got to be precise with each other. It's evenly balanced. Everyone was pretty much in the same zone."

From the outset on Sweet Home Alabama, Lucas put into action some of the methods he learned from fellow actors Russell Crowe and Sean Penn. "What those guys do is they take everyone in. They bring them in. You drink with them and you hang out with them. You talk with them and you get to know them. On Sweet Home, I was like, we are going to know each other and have a great time. Drink together. Be idiots together. So when we go to the set and look at each other in a different way. I think you see that energy." He adds, "I'm challenged by people like Russell Crowe and Sean Penn who come in with such incredible discipline and power. To see the way that they work; makes you understand the level of discipline and focus that they have. The creativity that they have, and how different it is every single time. And working with someone like Russell is unbelievable in terms of his preparation." Lucas explains, "His trailer is like his zone for creative energy. On A Beautiful Mind, there was a wall of math," he says as he streaches his arms out and pantomimes the existence of a wall, "there was a wall of accent work, there was a wall of photographs of John Nash, there was a wall about schizophrenia. His trailer traveled every single place he went. He