NEW YORK -- Director Garry Marshall describes him as "a combination of Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise and Tom Sawyer." Heady stuff, indeed, for actor Greg Kinnear on only his second motion-picture assignment.
In person, Kinnear, 33, registers as modest. "I'm not very good at talking in complete sentences, as you'll soon find out," he ways as he sits down.
That seems like false modesty since he has presided over a pair of popular talk shows -- "Talk Soup" for E! Entertainment Television in 1991 and "Later with Greg Kinnear" in 1994.
Acknowledging its 1:35am time slot, the latter show began with the trademark introduction, "Like an upstart show hosted by a guy who happens to be from Indiana, this is 'Later.'"
"Later" thrust him in the unenviable position of following previous host Bob Costas, the Syracuse University graduate who elevated the level of the talk show. "Those were huge shoes to fill, about a size 22 1/2," Kinnear says. "He's the best interviewer in the business."
In fact, says Kinnear, "I'm haunted by the shoes I've been trying to fill -- William Holden, for God's sake." As the younger brother in last fall's remake of "Sabrina," Kinnear played the same character Holden portrayed in the 1954 original. And Kinnear received rave reviews. Some critics said he stole the comedy from top-billed stars Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond.
In "Dear God," Kinnear's current film, the actor is creating a role, so he has no shoes to fill. He plays a con man-turned-postal worker in the dead letter office. The film opens Friday (November 1.)
Still, there's a challenge. Kinnear's character is the central figure, surrounded by a raft of supporting players. Can he carry a movie? Director Marshall has surrounded him with a deft cast that ranges from Laurie Metcalf of "Roseanne" to veteran actor Tim Conway.
"I was looking for someone new," Marshall says of his choice. "I always like to work with people on the rise or about to rise." "People liked him in 'Sabrina,'" Marshall said, "so I met with him and I did his talk show and I said, 'Maybe this kid could get out from behind a desk.'"
The affable star displays the sense of humor he unleashed on "Talk Soup" when he recalls how he was cast in "Sabrina." "I got this call from (director) Sydney Pollack, so I went over to his office," Kinnear says. "I had no idea what it was about except I knew there was some movie project. I assumed they wanted me to run the catering truck."
Working with Marshall proved an unexpected treat, says Kinnear. "With 'Sabrina,' we pretty much stuck with the script. But Garry has a kind of loose script, and he welcomes improvisation where he excels. I found that freeing."
Kinnear says working in a real post office for several days was a revelation. "There seems to be organized chaos, which may account for your parcels arriving late," he says. "It's mind-boggling any letter gets to you."
Life for the young Greg Kinnear went from quiet and idyllic to noisy and dangerous, he says. After years in the small protected town of Logansport, Indiana, Kinnear began a peripatetic life, moving first to Washington, DC, and later to Beirut, Lebanon, where his diplomat dad was posted.
When fighting erupted, Greg and his brother got a two-month reprieve from school when it shut down. A neighbor was kidnapped. The acting ambassador was assassinated, and gunshots rang around his neighborhood.
Life resumed with more placid days when Greg's dad was sent to Athens Greece. It was there Greg snagged his first broadcast hosting job -- a show for Armed Forces radio called "School Daze with Greg Kinnear."
Back in the United States, he enrolled at the University of Arizona planning to major in drama. Instead, he earned his degree in broadcast journalism.
Kinnear then headed for Los Angeles and got a job with a low-budget film company. He later shifted his arena to Movietime, the predecessor of E! Entertainment Television. That 24-hour network assigned him to host a variety of segments. "I got on to this hosting route and I was perfectly happy with it," he says.
The critical jury on "Dear God" comes Friday. Whether reviews are yea or nay, Hollywood moguls appear to have dubbed Kinnear a new golden boy. Producers demanding his services prompted him this year to give up "Later."
For at least another year, his big-screen future is assured. The actor has completed filming "A Smile Like Yours," opposite Lauren Holly. Kinnear moves in even faster company with "Old Friends," which he is currently filming. He's teamed with Oscar-winner Jack Nicholson and Emmy recipient Helen Hunt under the direction of "Broadcast News" writer-director James L. Brooks.
Celebrity, Kinnear says, hasn't struck yet. "They're not chasing me down the street."