Oliver Platt On <i>Lake Placid</i>

There's something nasty in the water of Lake Placid (a 30-foot crocodile with an appetite for humans), and actor Oliver Platt plays a character bent on discovering what's lurking below the surface, no matter what the cost, reports CBS This Morning Co-Anchor Mark McEwen.

The character he plays is Hector Cyr, a wealthy and eccentric mythology professor who is also a risk-taking crocodile watcher. But, says Platt, "He believes, I think, on some level of his being, that God exists as a crocodile."

Platt himself is the polar opposite.

"I'm a wuss," he says. "You are not going to find me swimming with sharks or crocodiles or, you know, playing with lizards, or any of that macho stuff. I really prefer to take my risks in other realms of human endeavor."

So, it should come as no surprise that Platt was perfectly safe during his scene with Bart the bear.

"These trainers were really good," says the actor. "They really knew what they were doing."

Other members of the cast are Bridget Fonda as a nature-phobic paleontologist; Bill Pullman as a fish and game warden, Betty White as a local woman, and Brendan Gleeson as an irascible sheriff.

"It is a creature feature crockfest: Truly terrifying, but also very funny," explains Platt. "You know. Funny scary. Very funny, very scary."

Platt's other movie credits include Bulworth (1998), Doctor Dolittle (1998), Executive Decision (1996), A Time To Kill (1996), Indecent Proposal (1993), Beethoven (1992), Flatliners (1990), Postcards From the Edge (1990), Working Girl (1988), and Married to the Mob (1988).

[To see the official Web site for Lake Placid, click here.]