Sam Rockwell on Cowboys and Aliens and Partying with Costars

It's safe to say that Sam Rockwell and Jon Favreau enjoy a very good working relationship. Favreau gave the actor an uncredited role in his directorial debut Made, considered him to play Tony Stark in the original Iron Man, then let Rockwell do the bulk of Iron Man 2's scene stealing as Stark's rival Justin Hammer. At Comic-Con, Movieline spoke to Rockwell for a little while about their newest collaboration: Favreau's sci-fi western Cowboys and Aliens.

How did you come to work with Jon again so soon?

It was a few months ago. I was doing a play in New York and he called me and said, "There's this thing," so we got together and talked about it. Now it's on.

Did Jon offer you this to make up for putting everyone on the Iron Man 2 poster but you?

[Laughs] I don't know about that, but it is another chance to do something with Fav. It's a different kind of character for me, too.

How so?

Well, he's kind of an everyman. He's much more of a Jimmy Stewart kind of guy than I've probably played before. He's a very earnest ex-doctor and saloon owner, and his wife gets kidnapped by aliens and he has to go and cowboy up with the rest of the team and go after them. He has to get his wife back.

What is the look of the character?

The look is kind of like John Lennon, but nerdy.

Like a cowboy-era John Lennon?

Yeah, like little glasses, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club John Lennon. But he's a good person and a good man.

So no tan palms this time?

No, no tan palms. [Laughs] None of that stuff.

Most of your scenes in Iron Man 2 were with Mickey Rourke, who's definitely a wild card. Is there anybody like that on the Cowboys and Aliens set?

Nobody except for Adam Beach. [Beach briefly passes behind Rockwell] Oh hi, Adam. Nice to see you. Oh gee, I was just thinking about you. [Beach walks away] That guy? Is an animal. Yeah, I've partied with that guy. No, but it's a really good group of people. No bad apples.

Is there room for you to improv on this film?

There is, but it's a little tougher because it's a period film, so we have to figure out all that stuff ahead of time. You can't say, "Awww, man," you can't do contemporary ad-libs.

I know that the script is very mutable for most of Jon's films, and he'll change whole scenes and character arcs on the fly while shooting.

Yeah, oh yeah.

Is it like that for this one?

Oh yes, very much so. Although we do have a solid script from Bob [Orci] and Alex Kurtzman. We're already in pretty good shape.

What do the aliens look like in this film?

You know, I haven't actually seen them yet. I've seen their teeth, and it's not pretty. They are not E.T.

[Photo Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images]