When one of Ben McKenzie's co-stars in his debut movie described the character Ben plays as "an angry, brooding young man," "The O.C." star could only smile.

"It's very different," McKenzie jokingly insisted. "Now I'm in the South ... and I have a mustache."

So McKenzie's characters on "The O.C." and in "Junebug" have some similarities, but making the indie movie in North Carolina was hardly "The N.C."

While his "O.C." crony Adam Brody was spending his break from the show making the big-budget "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, McKenzie was living in a dorm room, shooting the independent "Junebug" for a measly $1 million (the movie's budget, not his take). Not that he was complaining.

"The great thing for me is I don't have to seek out anything big, I can choose [a project] based on the material itself because I have such a great thing going on 'The O.C.,' " McKenzie explained. "I don't need the money. I'm totally happy. I just want to work with good people and work on films that I'm passionate about."

"Junebug," which Sony Pictures Classics purchased at the Sundance Film Festival and will release in August, stars McKenzie and Amy Adams of "The Wedding Date" and "Catch Me If You Can" as a couple coming of age in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

"It's a sweet comedic drama set in the South, revolving around the eccentricities of one particular family and their relationship," McKenzie said. "Hopefully it's sweet and touching and funny."

"Junebug" was directed by Winston-Salem native Phil Morrison, a music-video and commercials veteran (credit him for those Priceline commercials with William Shatner) making his feature-film debut. Angus MacLachlan, a lifelong friend of Morrison's and local playwright, wrote the script.

"I knew from the moment I met Phil that he had a unique understanding of the material, growing up in North Carolina, knowing the writer, it just seemed like something he was incredibly passionate about," McKenzie said.

Morrison had never seen "The O.C.," but once he had McKenzie read for the role, the director knew he had his star.

"It's not a sympathetic character, which I thought was really cool of him, to want to do this character," Morrison said. "This script does not go to great lengths to prove that he's a good guy."

"His whole thing is he feels sort of kept down by his role in the family and persecuted by the limitations of his life, so he struggles with that and treats my character very poorly," added Adams.

The actress, who was shooting the "Dr. Vegas" pilot when she auditioned for "Junebug," describes her character as a private person who often talks to God, or, as McKenzie put it, "a little bit kooky, but she's got a pure, innocent sweet soul."

The movie also stars Embeth Davidtz of "The Emperor's Club" and "Bridget Jones's Diary" as an art collector who travels from Chicago to Winston-Salem to meet an outsider artist. Along the way she encounters McKenzie's character, who, among other things, grabs her butt.

"Phil kept saying, 'You're taking too long to react, you're enjoying it too much,' " Davidtz joked. In all seriousness, though, Davidtz, like the rest of the cast, was quite impressed with McKenzie.

"He's like a young Brando, brooding, with this sensitive explosiveness," she said.

"His character is so believable you don't think of it as a TV star making a small film," added MacLachlan. "He appears to be someone who would watch 'The O.C.,' not star in it."

McKenzie is still shooting "The O.C." and has yet to sign on for another movie, but it will likely be another indie.

"Honestly, I feel like I'm a little spoiled by this whole experience, because it couldn't have been a smoother, more enjoyable and artistically fulfilling one," he said. "I've never had a better experience — but I've only done two things, I guess."

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