Gavin Rossdale plays the sinister Balthazar in 'Constantine.' Oh, yeah, he's married to Gwen Stefani, too.
Director Francis Lawrence was on the phone, and Gavin Rossdale was convinced that it was bad news.
The former lead singer of the British rock group Bush figured that the director was calling to inform Rossdale that his small but important role as a nasty demon in the supernatural thriller "Constantine" had been cut. This already had happened to him on another movie, and Rossdale expected the worst.

As it turned out, he need not have worried.
Lawrence wasn't even calling for Rossdale. The director asked to speak to the singer's wife, pop star Gwen Stefani, whom Lawrence had just directed in a music video for her hit single "What You Waiting For?"

"It was a little embarrassing," the 37-year-old Rossdale said of the phone call. "I immediately said, 'You didn't cut me out of the movie, did you?'

"Francis laughed and told me that he actually had added a couple of scenes. Then he asked to talk to Gwen."
The handsome Londoner said he had good reason to be paranoid. His first film experience, "Little Black Book," was a disaster.

"They showed it to a couple of test audiences and the ending depressed them. That was my only scene in the movie and it ended up on the editing room floor."

Rossdale, who left Bush after six albums and will release a solo effort in July with his new band, Institute, has another film scheduled for a May release. In "The Game of Our Lives," he plays a soccer player on the 1950s-era English national team that lost to the Americans.

In his Los Angeles hotel suite, Rossdale discussed his first movie junket, his marriage to the hottest thing in pop music and his budding film career, including his role in "Constantine," which opens Friday and stars Keanu Reeves as a human who battles Satan and an army of demons to earn his way into heaven.

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: What's a stranger experience - stage-diving into a crowd of 15,000 fans or these press interviews?

GAVIN ROSSDALE: Well, I'm more at home diving from the stage into a crowd of kids, but what I really enjoy about this press junket is being surrounded by people who want to ask me questions about the movie. It's a relief to finally be able to discuss the film with people who have seen it. Until now, I've been walking around at home raving about the movie but nobody knows what I'm talking about.

OCR: So, you're actually enjoying these days of answering endless questions?
ROSSDALE: I really am.
OCR: Has there been a highlight?
ROSSDALE: I really liked sitting in a room discussing the movie with eight priests.
OCR: Were they journalists?
ROSSDALE: I suppose they write for church publications.
OCR: And what was their reaction to the movie?
ROSSDALE: They were very receptive. They seemed intrigued as to how much of the devil I see in myself.
OCR: How serious are you about this acting career?
ROSSDALE: Really serious. That's why I've waited so patiently to find the right film to work on.
OCR: What was it about the role of Balthazar that appealed to you?
ROSSDALE: I just loved the words. They were so delicious.
OCR: You have a new album coming out soon. Where does acting fit in with the music career?
ROSSDALE: A great role model for me has always been Tom Waits. He has had a great career of making wonderful records and then popping up in a film somewhere. The hardest thing to do in a show business career is to surprise people, and he always surprises people.

OCR: But Tom Waits always did these small, quirky roles in films. Isn't your goal to be the guy who stars in the movie?
ROSSDALE: If you're asking me if I'd like for them to hold the camera on me a while longer, I suppose the answer is yes. But sharing the screen with people like Keanu Reeves is a great learning experience for me right now, and I don't know what the future holds.

OCR: So, at the unemployment office, you still write "musician" on the line that says: "Occupation?"
ROSSDALE: Musician/struggling actor.
OCR: You are aware that your wife is from Orange County?
ROSSDALE: Oh, yes. She is the Queen of Orange County. And deservedly so.
OCR: She seems quite nice.
ROSSDALE: Everybody loves her, and the people who don't love her have issues with themselves.
OCR: You seem like an odd couple in that you strike me as a low-key kind of guy, and Gwen is like a human strobe light.
ROSSDALE: I suppose that's why we're together. We have so many things in common, and so many things that are at the extreme ends.

OCR: How does that work, particularly when you go out in public together and she attracts so much attention?
ROSSDALE: I always tell her that a hat would help. She's so amazing and magnetic that people are drawn to her. I am no different, so I completely understand it. It is strange, though. People wonder how we survive in this world that puts crazy demands on us. The bottom line is that we enjoy each other's company.

OCR: Do you ever get upset when photographers focus so much attention on her and perhaps ignore you sometimes?
ROSSDALE: I completely understand it.
OCR: But it's not like you're an accountant married to a rock star. You're also a rock star.
ROSSDALE: It is an interesting dynamic. It's humbling in a way. But things go in waves, and it's her time. I want to be there for her. I want to support her.

OCR: And it doesn't bother you that she is more famous and probably makes more money than you?
ROSSDALE: Not at all. I'm pretty proud of the fact that I make the least demands on Gwen. I consider myself a modern man, and I believe in equality, and it would be contradictory for me to try to pull her back into some sort of traditional role. I don't want her to ever look back and say, "I wanted to do those two projects but you didn't want me to work." I actually hold the door open for her because I want her to feel fulfilled. I've learned that a happy wife is a happy life for me. At the same time, I would expect her to do the same for me.

OCR: I've been reading a lot of interviews with her and, while her career has never been busier, it seems as if she's ready to settle down and raise a family. Are you feeling the baby pressure?

ROSSDALE: I'm good either way. The important thing is not to obsess about plans. It would be so exciting to have a family, but not until we're ready.

OCR: Emotionally, what is a bigger high - acting or music?
ROSSDALE: Emotionally, there is something about writing music so music will always be my first love. And there is great satisfaction in making something work on screen. I hope I will be able to combine the two.

OCR: Where do you think you are in your acting career?
ROSSDALE: I am probably the least experienced person on any movie set.
OCR: How do you deal with that?
ROSSDALE: I try to bethe first person in the pool at the start of the day, and the last person out of the pool at the end of the day. I want to learn everything I can.

OCR: And how is that working for you?
ROSSDALE: The only indication that it might be working came from the director one day on the set. Keanu and I are supposed to hate each other in this movie because I'm his nemesis, and that chemistry is important for the scenes to work. After one particular scene, Francis came over to me and said: "I think Keanu really hates you." I'm pretty sure that was a compliment.