A lead on the hit TV show ‘The O.C.,’ actor Ben McKenzie has also dipped his toes into the world of independent film.

Ben McKenzie was an unknown when he was cast in “The O.C.” But after the show became an overnight hit, so did the actor–especially with the program’s female viewers. The 27-year-old McKenzie recently made his film debut in the independent film “Junebug.” McKenzie plays Johnny, a struggling young man who lives in North Carolina with his parents and pregnant wife (Amy Adams), and receives a visit from his Chicago brother (Alessandro Nivola) and wife (Embeth Davidtz). With the “Junebug” DVD coming out this week, McKenzie spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Ramin Setoodeh. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: As an actor, what’s it like to transition from a television show to a movie?

Ben McKenzie: It can be difficult if you want to satisfy all sorts of aims–the studio’s demands, the director, the screenwriter and yourself. But because this was an independent film, the process was different. It was made easier by the fact that the core group of people involved was motivated by the same things. The script was so good, we just wanted to help the story. The downside was that we weren’t sure it was going to go anywhere.
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“Junebug” is a movie that understands, profoundly and with love and sadness, the world of small towns; it captures ways of talking and living I remember from my childhood, with the complexity and precision of great fiction. It observes small details that are important because they are details. It has sympathy for every character in the story and avoids two temptations: It doesn’t portray the small-town characters as provincial hicks, and it doesn’t portray the city slickers as shallow materialists. Phil Morrison, who directed this movie, and Angus MacLachlan, who wrote it, understand how people everywhere have good intentions, and how life can assign them roles where they can’t realize them.
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