OTHER TECH

Athens, Georgia has spawned great musical talent: R.E.M., the B-52's, and now you. Tell me about Jeff Daniels the musician. It's something I've doing for 30 years - but privately, just to relax. I've always been fascinated with writing. When I went to New York, I met Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson, and when I was doing Purple Rose I would watch Woody rewrite scenes - same with Jim Brooks on Terms of Endearment. And when I got into music, I got interested in the songwriters like John Prine, Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, Steve Goodman, Christine Lavin - people who can pick up a guitar and hold an audience's interest for two hours. There's an art to that. Initially, I did concerts to raise some money for the theater company.

But you've got quite a few tour dates. I'm getting around - Joe's Pub and Birdland.

Barry Sonnenfeld is a good friend of the magazine, and I understand you called him up on stage during a performance of "Detroit Train" to blow a train whistle. Yeah [laughs]. He almost stroked out. During that song, I need a conductor, so I haul a member of the audience up to blow this wooden train whistle, which then becomes a solo in lieu of the saxophone.

You just finished working with Barry and Robin Williams on the movie R.V. It was the most fun I ever had on a set, plain and simple - and a lot of that was Robin. There's only one Robin Williams, and to hear him go off and riff on anything is hysterical. And Barry made it so much fun to go to work. But his set is the last place a method actor would ever want to be. Here's Barry: "Cut! Jeff, um, act ... better!" And you just start cracking up. I've seen the movie, and it's a great family comedy. Barry did a great job with it.

What are some of your favorite movies? I like watching movies where I don't know what's going to happen. I like to be surprised. The Usual Suspects had a great script. I liked Woody's Crimes and Misdemeanors. I loved Bullets Over Broadway, just the whole theater story. Jeremiah Johnson - I've always loved it. Redford got to make his movie up in his mountains by Sundance and you can tell that he loved it. I love all the Preston Sturges movies of the '40s - the pace and the writing.

Do you have a local place in Michigan you like to see films or do you watch at home? There are a couple of theaters in Ann Arbor - the Michigan Theater and the State Theater - that are real nice places to see a film. They're old movie theaters and they bring in the kind of films you won't find at the mall.

Make 'em laugh or make 'em cry? Ideally both - and that's what I liked about The Squid and the Whale, because we achieved both in that film. The last time I looked, the Greeks were holding up two masks. But making them laugh is harder because you're aiming for a smaller target. There's an art to comedy that isn't always acknowledged or appreciated, so I like being one of the people who can do it. To make the comedy believable and truthful - and still funny - is the trick. The best comedy is the comedy where you're funny without being caught.