HOLLYWOOD Nonleading men go their own way

Some actors prefer supporting roles and indie films.
By ROGER MOORE
ORLANDO SENTINEL
On any given Friday, their names turn up on the posters at the neighborhood cineplex -- at the bottom, billed well after the stars.
They're the cop mistakenly tracking down the hero, the good-looking eye candy in the middle of an ensemble, a victim or the heroine's love interest.
Unless, of course, they find a home in an indie drama or comedy. Then, they're the lead, the star. Maybe even a producer, because their name, such as it is, got the movie financed and released.
They are the nonleading leading men, movie stars with the talent and good looks to be top-billed, but who don't necessarily choose to go that route.
His way
"I don't want to be relegated to one screen persona, one style of role," says Mark Ruffalo, 36. "I don't want to be pigeonholed, don't want to be stifled as an artist."
He hasn't been.
Ruffalo has appeared on the screen almost constantly since breaking out in 2000's "You Can Count on Me." He's in "Collateral" as a cop in pursuit of hit man Tom Cruise. He was Meg Ryan's cop-love interest in "In the Cut," and Jennifer Garner's childhood sweetheart in "13 Going on 30."
But he's the star and producer of "We Don't Live Here Anymore," an ensemble drama about infidelity in a small college town.
"I go to the material," he says. "Is it something that I've never done? Is the idea of doing this challenging? Is it meaningful to me? Do I have something to say about this guy?"
"You're born with what you're born with," says Josh Lucas, 33, the handsome blond actor still modest enough to blush at the mention of how tough it must be to do character parts with those "Paul Newman-blue" eyes. "What you make of that is up to the individual actor. I find the challenging stuff in indie films."
Hollywood liked using Lucas as the beau Reese Witherspoon left behind in "Sweet Home Alabama." Occasionally, he's cast as a good-looking villain ("Hulk").
But in the indie world, he's a star, either in an attention-grabbing role in last fall's "Wonderland," or the lead -- opposite Christopher Walken and Michael Caine -- in this fall's "Around the Bend."
Breaking the pattern
Some actors are never in this boat. When you look like Liev Schreiber, John C. Reilly or Philip Seymour Hoffman, you're instantly a "character actor." Others pursue that "character" label -- think Jeremy Northam of "Mansfield Park" and "Enigma."
Some cross over into classic leading-man roles in mainstream films. Jake Gyllenhaal ("The Good Girl," "The Day After Tomorrow") seems to be doing that.
A few almost flee the stardom that leading-man status might give them. Benicio Del Toro, Campbell Scott and John Corbett ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding") fit that description.
Still others move into TV, such as Taye Diggs ("Kevin Hill").
Ruffalo loves the flexibility this new form of stardom gives him. He's not getting rich, even though he's working, right now, as a supporting player in a new Jennifer Aniston comedy.
"I live in New York, but I can't afford to buy an apartment there, and I work in L.A., where I can't afford to buy a house," he says, laughing.
But he has made his choice.
"It's taken me from leading roles to supporting roles, bouncing back and forth," he says. "I don't just do leads in indie films. Remember 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'? That world is my home, even if Hollywood comes calling."