From lead vocals to leading man, actor Jason Lee truly arrives in Cameron Crowe’s rock’n’roll odyssey.

by Nikki Toscano

So actor Jason Lee has one vice, and I’ve found it.

“I’ve cut way down,” Lee says. “Literally, over the last week, half a cigarette a day. And I’ll only do it if I feel like I really need nicotine.”Otherwise unscathed, Lee’s honest eagerness to act and learn sets him apart from his chain-smoking Hollywood peers. The professional skateboarder-turned-actor has officially superseded any and all public expectations, captivating audiences in films as varied as Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy, Mallrats, and Dogma, Lawrence Kasdan’s Mumford, and Tony Scott’s Enemy of the State. He chooses challenging roles regardless of pay, and, as a result, his performances consistently make an impact.

With his latest role in Cameron Crowe’s (Say Anything, Jerry Maguire) highly anticipated rock ‘n’ roll project, finally titled Almost Famous, Jason remains an anomaly. But now he’s just moments away from the A-list tag.

“I was going to do [another film] for a lot more money,” Lee reiterates matter-of-factly. “But I was like, ‘No way.’Cameron’s was going to be such an important movie. And so I did it, for much, mcuh less money, and that gave me the best feeling.”

Crowe’s film, which is set for release in September, chronicles the adventures of a young writer on the road with Stillwater, a ’70s rock band on the brink of stardom. Based loosely on elements of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and bands of that ilk, the film casts Lee as lead singer Jeff Bebe, alongside Billy Crudup on lead guitar and appearances by Frances McDormand, Fairuza Balk, Bijou Philips, Kate Hudson, and Philip SeymourHoffman as Lester Bangs.

For Lee, the role took an incredible amount of research and understanding. He soaked in documentaries, consulted with guitarist Peter Frampton, who makes a cameo on screen, and spoke at length with Crowe about the director’s own experience (Crowe modeled the journalist’s character, played by newcomer Patrick Fugit in the film, on himself and his own trip meeting with and writing about Led Zeppelin in 1973). Lee started working with Crowe before rehearsals even began in order to gain the perspective that would be most effective in playing the part–believable to the audience, to Crowe, and to Lee himself.

“I had a lot to work with, and I was forced–by playing that role–to know everything about the character,” he says. “Because if I didn’t know, it wouldn’t be real. And maybe the audience wouldn’t have known it, but I would have, and that probably would have affected my performance.”Obviously, Lee’s concern as an actor is not with celebrity.

More than having his face recognizable enough for easy entry into the Sky Bar, Lee wants to move poeple by playing parts they can identify with. “The good thing for me is that if somebody does recognize me, it’s because of something that they liked or something that they saw me in that they really liked. I’m kind of avoiding the overnight-sensation thing, which is awesome.”Lee’s other upcoming projects include two comedies that he hopes will maintain a balance in his roles. Breakers is first and stars Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sigourney Weaver. Due out early next year, the film deals with a mother-daughter team of expert con artists. Lee plays a bartender whom Hewitt’s character sets out to swindle but falls in love with instead.

After Breakers, Lee will star in Barry Sonnenfeld’s Big Trouble with Tim Allen, Rene Russo, and Tom Sizemore. The story revolves around a nuclear device inside a suitcase that is rigged to go off in a Miami airport. Lee plays a vagrant who accidentally discovers the suitcase. As he explains it, his attraction to both roles stems from the same pure desire to gain diverse experience in his career. “I like the idea that different directors have different takes on what’s funny,” he says. “I like the idea of being in a comedy and how different that feels compared to something else, and then being able to say that I’ve had that experience.”

Following these particular comedic forays, Lee may take on what will inevitably be another slapstick role in the next project from Kevin Smith, who has secured with Miramax the rights to all eleven of the books on which Chevy Chase’s Fletch films were made. Or Lee may concentrate on his real-life role as a father.

“Life seems a little bit more hectic now, but nothing that I can’t handle,” he says nonchalantly. “I’m still focused on the same things.”

People in high places are taking note of that focus. Lawrence Kasdan had Lee in mind for his role in Mumford. Barry Sonnenfeld met with him early for Big Trouble.

“Getting work from work was always what I set out to achieve,” he says. And he’s done just that with Crowe’s project. “It’s such an important movie. I remember everything about it.”

Lee finishes his half-cigarette and stamps it out, extinguishing his craving and any further talk about his impending auditions for celebrity. We’ll see if Hollywood possesses the same self-control when it comes to the talents of Jason Lee.