"Outside of Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, and Stephen King books, I'm not a huge sci-fi/horror fan," Hutchison says, though many of his roles have fallen into the genre. "I like sci-fi and horror, alá Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Night of the Living Dead, but I'm no Trekkie or X-Phile."

Perhaps it was Hutchison's love of Stephen King's work that led him to audition for his role in the upcoming feature The Green Mile; the Castle Rock film is directed by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), and stars Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise. It's due to be released in December of 1999. And aside from the obvious publicity and experience, Hutchison may be getting another perk: a published book.

"I wrote a journal about my exploits on the set of The Green Mile called 'Walking The Green Mile'. I obviously enjoy writing and since -- while shooting the film -- I didn't have time to send my usual convoy of letters to family and friends, I started a log with the intention of mailing it out as a sort of weekly form letter. Then, it was suggested I put the installments on my website for fans. One thing led to another and now there's talk about publishing the journal as a coffee-table-esque book with photos. If it's realized, I imagine 'Walking the Green Mile' hitting bookstores sometime in the beginning of next year, after the movie comes out and before the Oscars."

The Green Mile isn't Hutchison's only upcoming project, however; he's just picked up a role in Bait, another film from Castle Rock.

"I auditioned for Bait about a month ago. The director had seen the screening for The Green Mile and the Castle Rock folks and casting director Ronnie Yeskel were kind enough to set up the meeting. A few days later, I was told that it was between William H. Macy, Steve Zahn, and me. A week after that, Castle Rock canned the original director, and as they searched for another, apparently Macy and Zahn fell out of the race, probably for other projects. Antoine Fuqua (The Replacement Killers) became the director. Offers went out to Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, and Jeff Bridges. All three fell through, and, thus, it fell to me. It was the first time in my career to date that I've been offered a role based on one audition for a defunct director! I haven't even met Antoine, yet."

The movie also stars Jamie Foxx and Kris Kristofferson, with a "colorful supporting cast" which includes David Paymer. Though unsure of the studio's plans, Hutchison suspects a summer 2000 release, and offers a run-down of the plot:

"Bait begins with Bristol pulling a heist worth $40 mil in gold bars and executing a couple cops in the process. Head of the FBI crime unit [Kris Kristofferson] uses an unsuspecting petty hood [Jamie Foxx] as 'bait' to catch the thief."

As for Hutchison's role... well, you can probably guess.

"I'm playing the role of Bristol, the -- guess what? -- bad guy! Okay, okay, stop giving me shit... he's a different bad guy than I've ever played before... I promise. Bristol is a calculated, mathematically-minded, intellectual genius thief who loves money, computers, and fucking with the FBI almost as much as math."

And who knows, maybe with all these villainous roles, there'll be an action figure in Hutchison's future. His preference? "Tooms, of course. He'd streeeeeeeeeetch!"

We welcome your comments on our magazine and this article: letters@the11thhour.com