A big guy (6-foot-5, 315 pounds) with big talent, Duncan’s not an actor with a whole lot of big screen experience, but he’s sure got a savvy knack for dealing with the press. Notice how well he avoids answering any kind of controversial questions, yet still gives a pretty decent response. WRE got a half hour with Duncan when he visited Atlanta this month, and despite a problem with a plugged ear following a flight in from L.A., the actor was polite and decent company.

The Green Mile stays closer to the book than most movies.

Yes. A lot of people say, well, it’s three hours long. I think that if you did it in two-and-a-half or two-and-three-quarters hours long, you miss something. Here, it needs to be 3 hours 2 minutes or whatever it is. I think this movie stays closer to the book than most movies do.

Looking at your resume, reading your bio from the studio, it seems like this role is quite a leap for you in what you’re called to do on screen. How did you ever get word out that this was the right role for a guy like you?

Bruce Willis was the one. He was the one that told me about the role. When we were doing Armageddon in Fla., he told me "I’ve got the perfect role for you that will totally change your acting career." He told me to go buy "The Green Mile" right now, read it, and we’ll talk about it the next day. After I bought it and started reading it, he told me, "Michael, I’m gonna do you a favor. I’m gonna call Frank Darabont, the director, when we get back to L.A." He said, "I know Frank really well. I’m going to tell him to give you an audition, because I know you are Frank Coffey." We got back to L.A., he called Frank, Frank called me, called me back two more times, I had a screen audition, and then I got the role.

What’s your take on your character, John Coffey, in the movie? There’s not a lot of back story on the guy.

I came up with John Coffey is an angel. Which is kind of odd, because you don’t see a lot of 7 foot tall angels in 1935. But it’s like the Gary Sinise character says, it’s like he fell out of the sky. He’s very giving, and he doesn’t ask for anything in return. But you don’t know how old he is. He could have been around for a long time. With all those scars, he could have been one of the original slaves. We don’t really know. He’s got the same initials as Jesus Christ, and Steven King did that intentionally. He feels the pain of the world every day.

How familiar are with Steven King’s books?

I like most of his books. I love "The Langoliers." A lot of people didn’t, but that’s my favorite. I like "Pet Semetary." But this isn’t like a lot of his books. It’s not really gory or scary.

You ever meet Steven King?

He came down to the shoot once, on his birthday. We had a birthday cake made. I was waiting to talk to him, but before I could he turned to me and said "You are exactly the type of man I had in mind when I was writing about John Coffey." And that was it. I had no more questions. He was real cool. Really nice.

There’s a lot of Oscar buzz around the picture. You’re the new guy on the block. What do you do? Do you go lobby for a supporting Oscar nomination? How do you play it to get the Academy’s attention without making it look like you’re pushing?

The first thing I do is let people know I’m not Ving Rhames. Once I do that, everything else is cool. Every place I go, people think I’m Ving Rhames. They’re like, "I love Pulp Fiction, I love Rosewood, I love Mission: Impossible. " And I’m like, "Uh, that’s not me." So if I can get people past that, the Oscar doesn’t matter. If I can get them to know my name, Michael Clarke Duncan, and not Ving Rhames, man, that will be enough for me.

So can you even really appreciate what’s happening right now?

It’s just something that washes over you. It’s a day by day process. It hasn’t even really struck me yet. People talk about Michael Clarke Duncan and the Oscar. That’s just weird to me. To me, I just hope that I’m not is some hospital somewhere, in a coma, and somebody’s gonna say, man, you were in a coma for six months and I’ll be like "No! I was in the Green Mile!" The best way I can describe it is like you played the lottery and you got the winning ticket, and you’re looking at it. You haven’t cashed it in yet. You’re just looking at it. You’re savoring it. Maybe if they tell me I got nominated for the Oscar, I think that might be when I finally snap, like "Man this is crazy!"

They’ll have to make you a special tux.

Everybody says that. But I’m not even looking that far a lot. I’m taking it day by day. You start looking too far ahead, you start making plans that aren’t even there yet. It’s like you’ve been talking to this fine looking girl, and you’re making plans for when you go out, and then you find out she’s not interested.

So have you ever pretended to be Ving Rhames?

The only time I pretended to be Ving Rhames was when I was in Canada. Nobody had any idea who I was. Everybody’s calling me Ving Rhames. I’m getting a little pissed off, and I decide that the next person who calls me Ving Rhames, they’re just gonna get it. So up walks this gorgeous woman. She’s like golden, and she speaks with this French accent, and she’s like, "Oh, I love zee Pulp Fiction. I see all your movies…you are Ving Rhames, no?" And I’m like, "Yeah, I’m Ving Rhames."

So how long before people are walking up to Ving Rhames and saying "Hey, aren’t you Michael Clarke Duncan?"

I would love to see his face. I don’t really see the resemblance, but he’s a really good actor. I mean, he’s only six feet, maybe, but if I could get up to his level as an actor, it might happen.

So how do you intend to keep getting good roles? Let’s face it, there aren’t a lot of good, serious acting roles for huge, imposing African-American men coming out of Hollywood these days. Or any day.

Hopefully after this movie comes out, people will see another dimension for me than the "Big Man" roles. Maybe Hollywood will have to start to create things for me. You know, like Whoopi Goldberg. Whoopi Goldberg is one of those people, you know, she’s not the finest women on earth, but she can handle a lot of different things, and they create roles for her. I want people to know I’m more diverse than playing the bouncer or the bodyguard or the enforcer. . You know, call me Whoopi Clarke Duncan.

Talk about diverse roles! You went from working with Michael Bay on Armageddon, which is like hanging out with camera operators on crack, to Frank Darabont, who is much more subdued.

Yeah, when I first started preparing for the screen test, with my acting coach, he stopped me and said "You’re not going to get this role." I was surprised, but he said "You’re still in that Armageddon role. If you don’t change, you are not going to get this role." I had to go from "Aaarrrggghhhhh!" to this nice, quiet transition.

How long did that take?

Well, actually, with my acting coach, we got it down in a couple days, because he had me acting that way in my private life. Not raising my voice, not being forceful, if somebody would say something to me, I’d be "Okay. That’s okay."

You’re first movie was Friday?

Yeah, but if you blink, you’ll miss me. I’m the guy who, when the guy comes to get his bike, I hold the money. That’s my big scene. But it was the very first movie I’d done.

How did that every come about?

I was in a play called "Beauty Shop, Part II." We toured for about a year, and ended up in L.A. The producer told us the play was going to shut down, and he’d buy us a ticket to get home if we wanted. But I figured, I was out in Hollywood and what was I going to do? Go back to Chicago and then move back out to Hollywood anyway? So I stayed out there. And it was rough. It was rough for a while. I persevered. I hustled. I did security, I did some bodyguard work. Now here I am, talking to you guys.

That’s the past. What’s the future?

The Whole Nine Yards. It’s gangster comedy with Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Natasha Hestridge, Harlan Williams. Directed by Jonathan Lynn. Once again, Bruce Willis got me the job. He said, I want this guy to be my right hand man. The guy who takes out the trash, so nobody gets up in his face. But you gotta watch Matthew Perry, the guy from "Friends," he is hilarious.

He needs a good movie.

He’s got a hit TV show.

I like him in the TV show. He’s a funny guy. But his movies have been pretty bad.

It’s not like he needs the money.

You got anything else lined up?

I’m waiting to see what the take is on The Green Mile. I’m anxious to see what people say once it opens up. See what kind of roles are offered to me.

You’re aware the first Michael Clarke Duncan Web site is up.

I didn’t know that until last week. People were on it that I hadn’t heard from in years. Especially old girl friends. Here they come, like "I know we didn’t make it years ago, but I remember that smile of yours…" Yeah, I had that same smile when I was broke, too.

Who else has called you? We heard the WWF wanted you to do a promo.

Yeah, and two of my best friends are The Rock and Sexual Chocolate Mark Henry. We talk every other day. I’m a huge WWF fan. It’s difficult. I wanted to do something for it this movie, but my movie isn’t really that kind of movie. Now Arnold did it for End of Days, but he’s beatin’ up the devil and all that in his movie. But we were talking about it, and "It’s not that kind of movie, Michael."

Did being in this movie change your opinion about capital punishment at all?

I believe there are some people in jail that deserve to be executed for what they’ve done, but I also believe there are people in jail and are going to be wrongly executed. But that had nothing to do with my taking a role in the movie. I was just happy to have a job.

Here’s where you get to say great things about working with Tom Hanks.

Tom’s the type of guy who helps you out a lot. A lot of my crying scenes were with Tom. He would give you so much off camera and involve my emotions and energy very easily. It was real cool to work with Tom. He was very easy to work with.

He probably helps your shot at getting an Oscar nomination, too.

Yeah, I’m riding with Tom Hanks. That’s all I’m doing. It’s like riding with Michael Jordan. If he gets the Oscar, we all get one. Everybody wants to know who the actor is and who the director is. And Tom Hanks, everybody knows he doesn’t make any bad movies…

Well, maybe Joe and the Volcano…

MaybeTurner & Hooch. And I used to tease him about "Bosom Buddies." But I’m still riding with Tom Hanks. That’s a good guy to be riding with.