How many actors can say skateboarding sent them zooming on a track to stardom?

Jason Lee glided into acting a few years after winning a national skateboard championship in his teens. Since 1995, when writer-director Kevin Smith cast him in “Mallrats,” the Orange County native has turned up in some 15 movies. He’s now balancing two worlds, the indies and the majors, as easily as he used to do the 360 flip, a move he made famous back on the skateboarding scene.

“Jason’s played a lot of `dude’ roles, and he clearly is a bit of a dude,” says Smith, who’s cast him in four films. “But I’ve always seen him as a leading man. I’m glad the rest of the business is finally catching up.” Lee arrives at Canteen in SoHo fresh from the set of “Vanilla Sky,” his second movie for Cameron Crowe. (He played second fiddle to Billy Crudup in “Almost Famous.”) Snow is falling, and he’s wearing only a light parka. Though he’s in desperate need of a smoke and is pissed off at New York cabs, he’s still maintaining that positive L.A. frame of mind: “The snow is awesome, man.”

Despite the unself-conscious elan with which he fidgets with his hair and lights up a cigarette, he insists he has no interest in cultivating a cool-guy image. “That whole James Dean revival thing — looking mysterious, smoking a cigarette with your shirt a little open — that’s so outdated already,” he says. Still, Lee is about to have his debut as a romantic leading man, opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt in the neo-screwball comedy “Heartbreakers.”

“My movies are getting bigger and bigger,” he admits. “But I almost didn’t take `Heartbreakers.’ The guy seemed a little straight — a sweet, nice guy that girls would like. But you can’t just play the weirdo in every movie to avoid being the dork.”

In fact, although his “Heartbreakers” character, a bartender, falls hard for Hewitt’s tough con artist, he’s not a total sap, which is why writer-director David Mirkin chose Lee.

“I didn’t want an actor who would play him totally straight,” Mirkin says. “I wrote the part with someone off-kilter in mind. I like a nice edge, but with heart. Jason has that. He can be emotional, but he’s not mushy.”

A few months later, Lee is in Los Angeles wrapping “Vanilla Sky,” intermittently shooting “Smith’s Jay” and “Silent Bob Strike Back” (which brings back his character from “Chasing Amy” and “Mallrats,” along with Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Matt Damon and a cast of hundreds), prepping “Stealing Stanford” (the first movie from Bruce McCulloch of “The Kids in the Hall”) and doing promotion for a comedy called “Big Trouble” that comes out in the fall.

He’s also recording some of the experimental ambient music he’s been noodling around with for years, participating in and sponsoring vintage-car races and starting a professional-driving school, Road One Racing, with a friend.

In other words, he’s busy. Not to mention focused. One of the reasons for Lee’s eclectic success is that he doesn’t drink, doesn’t party and, at the ripe age of 30, has been married for five years, to his longtime sweetheart, L.A. photographer Carmen Llywellyn.

“The reason I gave up partying? Been there, done that,” Lee says. “I got it all out of my system. I don’t even drink coffee now.”

“You don’t see many young actors who are that settled down,” says 20-year-old Zooey Deschanel, who worked with Lee on “Mumford,” “Almost Famous” and “Big Trouble.” “It’s nice to be around Jason, because he’s so family-minded, and he’s so in love with his wife. And so funny.”

Of course, he’s not all funny in “Vanilla Sky,” the movie Crowe is directing on a secretive set with Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz.

“It’s dark,” Lee admits. “And when I signed on to do it, that’s all I knew about it. We’re not allowed to talk about it, but everyone knows it’s a remake of a Spanish film from 1997 called “Abre los Ojos” (“Open Your Eyes”).

“And you know what’s weird?” he asks. “Tom Cruise is the most normal guy of any guy actor I’ve met. He loves sports, and he’s a guy who can go to family reunions and get along with the uncles. ”

But is he … cool?

“Who cares?” Lee laughs. “I used to be cool. Cool was all I cared about. But cool is somewhat overrated. I think Tom Cruise would tell you that. And you know what?” He stubs out half of his third smoke. “We’re all just trying to pretend we’re cooler than we really are. Which makes me think I oughta quit smoking. If Sean Penn can do it, I can.”

(Merle Ginsberg is a writer for Fairchild Publications.)

“Making movies, writing comics, running a comic store, and eating as much as I do takes a ton of time (and adds a ton of weight). I can’t always keep up with what’s hot and not in the comic biz. So I log onto WizardWorld.com to get the latest news, buy and sell stuff, and track those creators I feel are my competitors. Seeing the stock rise on another writer only makes me work harder, because I’m a catty, catty little person.”

Rock’s Return, Banky’s Bye-Bye, and Stiffler

So Monday was Chris Rock day on the set. Yes – the busiest comedian/comic actor in town found some time to improve our flick, and was nothing short of brilliant. He turned in a very hysterical performance, and in his interview for the documentary, aptly described Silent Bob (or rather, how I “act” the part of Silent Bob) as “the white Buckwheat”. Too funny.

Also, as you’ve already read, Lee finished up his Banky work, and it was yet another wonderful piece of Jason Lee genius he was kind enough to lend us. Next up (in two weeks), the return of the once and future King, Brodie.

Today, however, was the delightful surprise of Sean William Scott (he of ‘American Pie’ and ‘Dude, Where’s My Car’ fame). Good Lord, I can’t relate just how funny this gent was. Like Will and Rock, he had me in tears at one point (very tough to accomplish without physically hurting me). He took what was a simple part on the page and crafted a very memorable character that blows Jay and I off the screen in his scene. Sean came to play, folks, and walked away owning ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’ during his cameo.

Tomorrow marks Ali’s last day (and Heavens, she’ll be missed). And Friday we shoot perhaps the coolest cameo of all: a fictional vigilante that’s very close to my heart.

Not much longer to go before we reach New Jersey and the end of this very long sojourn through the View Askewniverse.

I’d like to take a moment to thank all involved, cast and crew alike, for making this closing chapter as pleasant and painless as possible.

Especially the Transpo guys. Derek and Brian and their team of drivers are just about the sweetest people alive. Every time I leave the set at night, I’ve got a full tank of gas – just one of the unnecessary but incredibly thoughtful gestures the Transpo folks have stolen my heart with. They’re the un-sung heroes of every movie: the cats without whom nothing happens. I salute them all – especially the aforementioned pair of gentlemen who were also goodly enough to turn in two fine performances in the film along with their daily driving duties.

Shit like that just made the making of this movie such a heartwarming family affair.

By the by: we’re hearing that the ‘Entertainment Tonight’ piece should be running this week. Keep an eye out for it.

Man, I can’t wait to share this flick with you guys.

No more Banky, ladies and gentleman. Well, that is unless Kevin decides to use him again in the future, perhaps somewhere in Fletch….NOOTCH! It was a treat playing him again after all these years. Kevin is the man, isn’t he? It was amazing to see Kevin give C. Rock plenty of room for playing in the scene we shot today. I’ve never really seen that before. I’m so used to Kevin not allowing it. C. Rock definitely came through. Funny as hell. Just thought I’d share my day, my last day, as Banky Edwards…..one of my favorite characters!

NOW, time for some Brodie Bruce action!!!! Two days as Mr. Bruce, and then bye bye Banky and Brodie. Sad, huh? Oh well, there will be plenty more where that came from, right Kevin?

Almost Famous, which was woefully underappreciated, had three actors who deserved supporting nods. Billy Crudup, who played Russell, the lead guitarist in the film’s fictional band, Stillwater, was remarkably intense as the musician who considered going out on his own. Consider his reaction to the conversation Russell had with William (the lead character)’s mom. Jason Lee, who played the band’s lead singer, Jeff Bebe, was the perfect foil to Crudup. He seethed through the film and you believed his anger. When I mentioned to Lee in October that I thought that he deserved a nomination, he laughed. But after a few minutes, I think that I had him convinced. Consider that two actresses received supporting nods for this film and maybe this argument won’t seem that outlandish. And who can forget Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance as rock writer Lester Bangs?

DF: So if Cameron Crowe makes films for the next 50 years, would you want to be in every one of his films?

JL: Yeah, and Kevin Smith, too. And I’d love to work with Lawrence Kasdan again. And I’d like to start this kind of relationship with the Coen Brothers and possibly Paul Thomas Anderson.

DF: Going back to Kevin Smith, what can you say about your work on Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back?

JL: I play Banky from Chasing Amy and Brodie from Mallrats. All the characters come back, or at least a lot of them do, cause it’s the last of the New Jersey movies as everybody calls them. The Jersey Trilogy, whatever you want to call it. So I come back for a couple scenes as Brodie and a couple scenes as Banky. It was a trip playing Banky at first cause I had to find my groove again, but I’m wearing almost the exact same clothes as I wore in Chasing Amy. Exact hat, which I own, which I’m not selling on Ebay even though I’ve had millions of people ask me if I wanted to sell it.

Yeah, it was a trip going from Vanilla Sky to Banky. Bam, I put the hat on and suddenly it’s Banky, but it’s weird. I don’t know any of the crew and I’m trying to find this groove again and I finally found it and it was awesome. It was just like shooting with Kevin again 5 or 6 years ago on the set of Chasing Amy. I haven’t done my Brodie work yet, that’s going to be at the end of March in New Jersey, but that’s going to be cool. Will Ferrell is in it. He plays this character that is looking for Jay and Silent Bob and he’s just fucking amazing. He’s like a dumb, comic genius. In the movie he’s just this dumb guy but what he does as a person to make that happen is just genius. He’s just awesome.

DF: There were a lot of rumors circulating a while back when Miramax bought the rights to Fletch for Kevin Smith. There was a lot of talk that you were perhaps the first choice to play Fletch. Any truth to that? What’s going on with that?

JL: If Miramax allows me to play Fletch then Kevin will do it. But if not, then we’re going to wait.

DF: So, not only are you the first choice, it sounds like you’re the only choice.

JL: That came from Kevin.

DF: I think you’d be perfect for it.

JL: I’d love to do it. It’s the younger Fletch from Fletch Won. It’d be so much fun, my little tribute to Chevy Chase and redoing the sort of 80s Fletch thing.

DF: I really hope you get to do it, because I would love to see it.

JL: Yeah, me too!