By Sean Chavel in Los Angeles

Horses. Sword-play. Armor.

Orlando Bloom has done an awful lot of action epics in recent years with "The Lord of the Rings" movies, "Pirates of the Caribbean," its yet to be released sequels, and "Kingdom of Heaven." Bloom finally gets to play a normal contemporary guy named Drew Baylor in the new flick "Elizabethtown," the latest film by Cameron Crowe ("Almost Famous," "Jerry Maguire"). In "Elizabethtown," Drew Baylor - a recently fired shoe designer- must fly to a small town in Kentucky in order to bury his father, who passes away as a result of a heart attack. But on his trip, he meets a beautiful young girl named Claire who opens Drew's eyes to a world and life he never knew existed, but is as familiar as home itself.

Q: So you went contemporary for the first time in a while?

ORLANDO: [LAUGHS] Yeah! I got off my horse. Laid down my sword. Obviously I always wanted to do a contemporary piece. I think it’s sort of a rite of passage for a British actor to try and get the American accent and have a good crack at doing that. Thankfully I had somebody like Cameron Crowe who really understands the American culture and Americana of America. You know what I mean? The sense of family and community that you find in place like Kentucky where obviously [Crowe] is from. So I had a good time going there, and I great dialect coach to try to help me. I don’t know, did you believe the accent?

Q: Let's put it this way: We forgot you were British.

ORLANDO: Good. That’s the idea. But it was really hard work. I think it will get easier once I get a shot at getting more American roles. I’d like to. It was fun. But it’s not like, well, you know, it’s something else to think about when you’re trying to make the performance real and the dialect your own. It was really cool. I tried to stay in the accent as much as possible. After work and stuff. You know the sounds. It was pretty awesome though to get to do it for Cameron, you know?

Q: Was it empowering doing it for Cameron Crowe, considering that a screenplay from him is about the power of the written word? There's much more dialogue and character.

ORLANDO: Yeah, that’s right! And he has a style of writing that is his very own. He writes like you want to speak. Words can flip around. Because sometimes you say something and it isn’t a perfect sentence, it isn’t grammatically correct. You don’t improvise with a Cameron Crowe script.

Q: Does he ever talk about his influences by Billy Wilder?

ORLANDO: Of course. I was watching "The Apartment." I was driving from the airport to the Brown hotel in Louisville. The tire had a blow-out but I was watching The Apartment so I didn’t even notice it. Jack Lemmon was a great frame of reference for Drew, as was Cary Grant. Especially in the moments with Claire, where the guy grabs the girl with that Cary Grant-esque thing. And Billy Wilder is a huge influence on Cameron. There’s a real feeling of an old movie within this contemporary kind of movie that you see, this comedic kind of film that touches on so many different areas. I think you can see it more than once to get more from it. I’ve seen it a few times now – I haven’t seen the cut that you guys have seen – but it’s got, um, this whole thing of success and failure, life and death.

The movie really begins with an ending and ends with a beginning like Cameron has said. We can all relate to that thing, of [being someone] going out to make enough money to buy a house, buy a new car, buy a new watch, and be bombarded with the idea that these things are going to bring you happiness. You know what I mean? And the truth is you can’t take those things with you when you go. And life isn’t about just what you accumulate. And for Drew, that’s his lesson. He goes on this journey to realize that. And when he goes down to Kentucky, he meets his family, he meets this girl on the plane. It’s a wake-up call for life for Drew. It’s an awakening. He learns to appreciate himself, in order to enable to appreciate the family that he has. To come to terms with the loss of a father. And to fall in love with a girl that’s offering him this great life.

Q: What else is "Elizabethtown" about that's not easily recognized?

ORLANDO: Well it has all woven in this rich tapestry of America, and the South. I had never been to the heartland of America. I never understood what it meant by Southern hospitality until I was there with people were baking cakes and cookies and bringing ice cream to the set. This is America, you know what I mean? It’s a whole different world to the New York to Los Angeles, and the other hip cities of America that I know. I sort of fell in with it. When you stand outside the Martin Luther King hotel in Memphis, or stand in front of the survivor tree in Oklahoma City, or standing on a bridge across a river in Arkansas which is amazingly beautiful. You just can’t help but be awakened to this America. It’s sort of in the shadows of the world’s opinion of it for some reason. Well, for reasons that are apparent. It’s kind of like this amazing – Cameron has this way to say, ‘Look, this is my view of America.’ And it’s truly beautiful. And I felt really lucky as a Brit to playing that guy. It’s an All-American guy. It couldn’t be more American. So I was really lucky to get to do it.

Q: After having success at a relatively young age yourself, do you see Drew as a potentially cautionary tale that resonates with yourself?

ORLANDO: Oh definitely. But I always think of myself as someone on the edge of a fiasco. The truth is – I found myself doing these huge action-adventure movies, and um, and which are cool man. And I really love doing them. And thankfully I haven’t had too much dialogue, because if I had I would have really made a mess of it. You know what I mean? This is the first movie in which I have been given more in terms of acting, drama, and human interaction. And there’s a subtlety and a finesse to it that’s very different to what I’m used to from just reacting and interacting. And I learn as I go. This is the first step of like a whole new step towards human drama and interaction in a way that is different for me. And I’m hoping that I’ll get to do more of it because I really enjoyed it. And it was fun to not have to get on a horse and risk my neck and fun not to have to learn a sword routine. And I don’t mind doing that stuff, too, by the way, you know I’m doing Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3. It feels good you know that I still keep to do it.

Q: In the all-night-on-the-cell phone scene, were you talking with Kirsten for real or did you just pretend you were talking?

ORLANDO: The intimate scenes in bed at the end you know, she was in the room and I was in the room. But otherwise we worked in around stuff with Cameron. He would feed lines, and you know. She was in the studio and I was in an apartment. It was my one week off actually that week. I was on everyday [otherwise].

Q: Can you talk a little bit about working with Cameron on set and how he's different than other directors?

ORLANDO: Cameron uses music as a directing tool. It’s very unusual – I’ve never come across. Johnny [Depp] listens to music in his ear and I listen to music before I go to work and maybe I have an IPOD on set or whatever. But Cameron will play music to set the tone for the scene. He’ll blast music in the middle of a take and it kind of makes the text have a real sense of reverence and freedom to it, you know what I mean? And time – time is such a precious commodity on any movie set, and he affords you the luxury of time. He can put a 10-minute [camera] mag in and he’ll blow out the tune and you’ll be listening to music while the film is rolling. And you think, ‘Wow, if he can afford to let that happen then I afford to just let it rip and try things.’ He always gets what he wants because ultimately its his vision and he’s very specific as a director. But you get ripped around, like you’re playing your own piece of music. So it was cool.

Q: Did you feel that you and Kirsten got along quickly?

ORLANDO: Yeah, we got along real quickly. We became friends very quickly. We were both real excited to be making a Cameron Crowe movie. Cameron provides a really great family-friendly environment in which to work. We were both like, ‘Cool,’ let’s get onto it and make a movie. We were both very happy with our characters. Really happy to be making the movie.

Q: The movie is a lot about second chances. Can you talk about the second chances you've had on your own?

ORLANDO: Absolutely, I agree. It’s also about wake-up calls to life. Drew’s wake-up call is this true failure that he experiences. And that phone call about his father’s loss. He’s living that kind of journey, and Claire takes him through the hot end of America to wake up and realize, to appreciate his own life. So he can appreciate his family. And come to terms with the loss of his father. And fall in love with the girl.

For me, it was falling out a window. It was like I was 21, everything was going great. But there it went. It was a scary time of life where I thought I might not walk again, not get to do what I love. And I could of missed out on the opportunities that I’ve had. For me, my back is a constant reminder of how lucky I am to be doing what I’m doing. My back twangs me every now and again. I have to constantly stretch and work-out and eat well. If I don’t, it really effects my body. I take it as a blessing that I get to do what I’m doing today.

Q: What happened at 21?

ORLANDO: I was 21 in London still doing drama school in my second year. I was at a friend’s house and I was trying to help him out on the roof terrace. I tried to get onto the roof terrace from a window. I tried to get up a drain pipe to shimmy across the window. To the roof terrace from the window, sorry. And I fell back. I was 21.

Q: How does Cameron enable better chemistry to occur between actors when necessary?

ORLANDO: Cameron is really good at orchestrating chemistry between characters. When you play a piece of music, you can create any sort of vibe, mood, tone, chemistry whatever you’re looking for. Kirsten and I just got along really well. Chemistry, the connection, was there and was easy to do. The music that Cameron would play to set the scene would take us both to that place where the characters were at. We were, um, lucky.

Q: At this point, have you become comfortable with celebrity status?

ORLANDO: I don’t think you ever get comfortable with that. If I ever get comfortable with that, I’ll be worried. It’s not something that makes you feel comfortable. It’s odd. Do I accept it’s part of the business? Yeah. Do I accept that I get to life where I get to fulfill my dream in terms of getting to play the characters I get to play and travel the world and have a great life? Yes. I realize that you can’t have the sweet without the sour. But do I enjoy being photographed? No. Do I like having lies being spoken about and rumors being spread? No. What do I do? You either just let it eat you away or go, ‘Look, it’s part of life.’ So you know.

Q: Is there a rumor you'd like to set the record straight on?

ORLANDO: If I cared enough, I wouldn’t [LAUGHS] I would be. But let them talk.

"Elizabethtown" opens in theaters this Friday.