Both you and your All the Pretty Horses co-star Penélope Cruz have emphasized that you're just friends and are not dating. Why the hell not?

Unfortunately, I never see her. She's busy. It's like I see her once every six months, very briefly. She's a great, great friend and a special person, and I came away from this movie with really close ties with a lot of the people in it, and a lot of the crew that worked on it. With everything else, I have these abiding friendships, and it feels great.

What's your reaction to the here-today-gone-tomorrow fate of November's The Legend of Bagger Vance, a conundrum compounded by hostile reviews?

I guess, in retrospect, people were waiting with loaded rifles for [director Robert] Redford's next movie. [Laughs] I had no idea. The vitriol! Really, for a guy who's just done amazing things, good things with his name and his career — it seemed too hostile to be just about our movie. I was surprised. Were you?

Well, yes, actually. Maybe people were offended by the harmonious black-white relationships depicted in what was the Deep South in a segregated era. It was like a fairy tale …

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