A teen heartthrob thanks to his role as Ryan Atwood on the popular primetime soap opera "The O.C.," Ben McKenzie gets his first opportunity to play a more complicated role in Phil Morrison's thoughtful North Carolina family drama, "Junebug."

McKenzie sees it as an opportunity to court an adult audience, though when he presented it here at the Seattle International Film Festival, he wondered if "12-year-olds all over America will be going to go see 'Junebug' and be totally confused." (It opens tomorrow for a regular run here. See the review in tomorrow's Ticket/MovieTimes.)

He plays Johnny, a trapped young man who lives with his parents (Scott Wilson, Celia Weston) and very pregnant wife (Amy Adams). He's always existed in the shadow of his more sophisticated brother, George (Alessandro Nivola), who bugs Johnny when he comes home with a glamorous new wife (Embeth Davidtz).

"When I read the script, I found it so funny but also very moving, and I literally cried at the end," said McKenzie. "That's not happened before or since. I decided I have this regular day job [the TV show], so I have some money, and I'd like to do this."

One thing he likes about Angus MacLachlan's script is that it reveals another side to Johnny.

"Only through the eyes of George and maybe his family is Johnny seen as a failure, and he internalizes that," said McKenzie. "His older brother is so much more successful, and now he has this beautiful, cultured wife, and it brings out everything Johnny has fought against.

"I went to high school with boys not unlike Johnny, and they're leading lives now that are not dissimilar to Johnny's. I connected immediately to a lot of the things that he's going through. He's just a kid who's totally and utterly scared, but he has no capacity to admit that to himself or to other people."

To McKenzie, "the most important scene in the film, for my character, is the one where Johnny is really happy at work, because he loves his job. It's a good fit for me — Alessandro and I could be brothers — and I knew Phil would keep it from becoming a lot of Southern clichés."

He was also won over by the way the movie approaches religion, which clearly plays a crucial role in the social life of the family. In perhaps the most startling scene, George finds himself drawn back into tradition when he sings a hymn.

"It's very respectful in its handling of religion," said McKenzie. "I don't think it's going to be endorsed by the Christian Coalition, but religion is treated as part of the fabric of their lives, part of what they do. When I was growing up in a different part of the South, religion was always a part of life. At some point, it ceases to be about praising God, and believing in the trinity or whatever it is, it also begins to be about bake sales and youth groups and community."

McKenzie, who was born and raised in Austin, Texas, has never made a feature film before. Neither have Morrison or MacLachlan, who have been collaborators since they made a short film, "Tater Tomater," 18 years ago.

After the short was shown at the Sundance Film Festival, Morrison and MacLachlan were encouraged to make a longer movie. One of their models was Nicholas Ray's 1956 drama, "Bigger Than Life," about a schoolteacher (James Mason) whose wife and son suffer when he has drug-induced delusions of grandeur.

Morrison was taken with the Ray film's complex sense of what it means to be part of a troubled family. That's also what drew McKenzie to the script of "Junebug."

"I love films where there are no good guys, no bad guys, no one gets shot," said McKenzie. "It's very difficult to do and get it right."

John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com