Jason Patric Plays The Bad Guy

Actor Jason Patric played the good-guy cop in last summer's Speed 2. But, in his latest work, his character couldn't be more unlikable. Patric plays a nasty, woman-hating single guy in the black comedy Your Friends and Neighbors, a movie about a bunch of people who would have Mister Rogers singing a new tune about the neighborhood, reports CBS 'This Morning' Contributor Eleanor Mondale.

Patric, who also produced the film, plays a character who is immoral, cruel, and vicious. And playing that role meant getting in touch with a part of his personality he prefers to keep under wraps.

"But I found all those places within me, that live and exist in order to play him," says Patric, "because you can only play yourself, parts of yourself, and I [have] felt those things. And I haven't acted on them. I think we all have [felt those things]."

The character he plays does act on them. "It's shocking," says the actor. "And I think it's shocking because it's familiar."

Unlike plenty of other "image conscious" movie stars who insist on playing the hero, Patric says he has never been afraid to take on unlikable characters.

"People always want to keep in good graces, and I think that goes into their work, unfortunately," he says. "And that wasn't the case in the better films of a better time, like the '70s. You know, people weren't as afraid. Actually, they were applauded for playing characters that actually had complexity, and depth, and some frayed edges that they weren't afraid to show."

He says his girlfriend, model Christy Turlington, wasn't fazed by seeing him playing such an unsavory character on the big screen.

"She loved the movie," says Patric. "She loved the script initially. And she was more taken by the final product."