LaPaglia's 'Winter Solstice'

(CBS)  Anthony LaPaglia's complex portrayal of agent Jack Malone has helped turn the CBS drama "Without A Trace" into a hit. Now LaPaglia can be seen on the big screen in a new film titled "Winter Solstice."

The film revolves around Jim Winter and his two sons, who five years ago lost their mother in a car accident.

"It's about how a single father struggles to bring up his two sons," LaPaglia tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "And it's that kind of time when the oldest son announces, kind of, out of the blue that not only is he leaving home, but he's leaving the state. And he doesn't really have a clear explanation why, other than he wants to live his own life. And the father cannot wrap his head around, like, 'What's wrong with here?' "

His other son is still in high school, doing poorly and also rebelling.

"You don't know what to do," LaPaglia says as the father in the film. "You don't know what approach to take that is the best for them, or what is the best for you. And you can't determine which is which sometimes.

"And it's what I loved about the movie when I read it. It wasn't so much what was on the page; it's all the stuff that was in between - all the stuff that's not spoken," LaPaglia says.

The script was developed at the Sundance Film festival's writers' lab.

Breaking away from his "Without A Trace" character was an opportunity for LaPaglia to show another side of his acting range, he says.

"It gives you a chance to kind of flush out a different side of you," he says. "A TV series is fantastic to have. The one thing I love about it is I never have to look for work, really. And plus, I have a little stability, and I have a great cast and crew and writers and all that kind of stuff.

"But this gives you a chance to go outside the box a little bit of what people start to perceive you as. Because when they see you every week as a certain person, and you are a grouchy old guy..."

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