This masked man is eyeing stardom

After the flop of "Speed Racer," there may be some built-in skepticism about a hyper-reality film with a campy cartoon heart, but Macht said the film and its director are pushing the envelope. "Frank Miller is more of a visionary than any director I've ever worked with, and he achieves that vision better than anyone I've ever worked with," he said. "He put us in this extreme and abstract universe, and my reaction afterward was that I want to be in every movie that he makes."

Macht, now a month shy of his 37th birthday, has been an actor since age 8 (he is also the son of television actor Stephen Macht) and is consolidating his career in Hollywood after his past stage work. He costarred with John Travolta and Johansson in the 2004 film "A Love Song for Bobby Long" and was cast by Robert De Niro in his film "The Good Shepherd." Macht also played the doomed cosmic-country singer Gram Parsons in "Grand Theft Parsons" and, keeping the music theme, one of his favorite stage roles was when he played Elvis Presley in the off-Broadway production of Steve Martin's "Picasso at the Lapin Agile."

He's now at work on the dark indie comedy "Middle Men," which is written and directed by George Gallo (the writer of "Midnight Run") and has Macht leading a cast that includes Giovanni Ribisi, James Caan and Luke Wilson. Macht's wife, Jacinda Barrett, also appears in the tale of Internet porn and Russian mobsters.

On a recent afternoon, Macht took a reporter along for an afternoon hike up his favorite trail in the Hollywood Hills. As he followed the path, he chewed on the idea that "The Spirit" is the movie that will define him and his career to this point.

"This is your 'breakthrough chance,' but I feel like every role gives you something different, lessons and opportunities," Macht said. "When I look back the ones I really remember were the times I got the role in the room. When I auditioned for Steve Martin and he said, 'I want you to play Elvis,' or when I read for De Niro and he gave me a hug and said, 'I want you to be my guy.' "

Miller says Macht (who dyed his blond hair dark and has blue eyes for the Spirit) had no problem holding his own on the screen with the irrepressible Jackson, the sea of green-screen special effects or the film's eye-candy brigade of actresses. "He has the looks and the talent, and most of all he has this ability to make a connection with the audience. There's a realness to him and his performance. I knew right away that I had found my Spirit."