"Hancock" director a superhero of sorts

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In the past four years, Peter Berg has directed three features, starred in three other films, and served as an executive producer of NBC's critical darling "Friday Night Lights."

He's also found time to make sci-fi geeks -- and David Lynch skeptics -- happy by signing on to directed a "Dune" remake. Berg's latest film "Hancock" -- helped just a little by leading man Will Smith -- stormed the box office during the July 4 holiday weekend with five-say sales of $104 million.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: IN LESS THAN A YEAR, YOU WENT FROM

JAMIE FOXX TRACKING DOWN TERRORISTS IN SAUDI ARABIA IN "THE

KINGDOM" TO A DRUNK ANTIHERO FLYING OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

FREEWAYS IN "HANCOCK." SOME WOULD SAY IT'S QUITE THE

TRANSITION.

Peter Berg: After doing "Kingdom" and having to kick my young son out of the editing room every seven minutes, I decided I wanted to do something he could watch. So I came up with this.

THR: WELL, IT'S STILL NOT EXACTLY A FAMILY FILM.

Berg: No, it's an alcoholic self-destructive lunatic who flies around saving people while drunk! But what I like is that although it's a superhero movie, at its core it's about a man seeking redemption, a man looking to tap into a higher version of himself disguised as a superhero movie.

I'm always looking for a slight gray area. I got to a certain point and I didn't want it to be what you expect from a movie like this. At the beginning, it's funny, and then it aspires to a kind of drama.

THR: "KINGDOM" WAS A BIT OF A TROJAN HORSE, TOO -- IT WAS

SET IN A GEOPOLITICALLY CHARGED PLACE, BUT WHEN YOU TRACK THE

STORY LINE, IT'S REALLY MORE OF A POLICE PROCEDURAL.

Berg: We're in a very confusing war, and it's a confusing time for our country. But it's dangerous when a movie offers a political point of view. It's fair and reasonable to present facts. It's another to get into a critique of a military. In "Lone Survivor" (another movie Berg is set to direct), the setting is Afghanistan. But I want to make a kick-butt movie in the vein of "Saving Private Ryan" and "Black Hawk Down."

THR: YOU HAD A SMALL ROLE IN A MOVIE THAT WAS MORE