’I TRULY BELIEVE THAT THE HERO IS MY BEST WORK’

There was no need for the film publicist to announce “I’ve got Sam Elliott on the phone.”

It was obvious who was calling as soon as the actor — on a press tour for his new film, The Hero — opened his mouth. Over a nearly 50-year career, the 72-year-old California native has made a name for himself in roles — many in westerns — that take advantage of his rugged good looks, brushy moustache, the ability to harness both soulfulness and grit.

In The Hero, which was written for Elliott, he plays a fictionalized version of himself — a cowboy actor in his 70s named Lee Hayden, who’s scrounging for ever-dwindling parts. After receiving some bad news from his doctor, Lee is forced to take stock of his relationships.

In real life, Elliott has had no so such work drought, with juicy roles in recent movies such as Grandma and I’ll See You in My Dreams. Are we in the middle of a Sam Elliott renaissance?

I don’t know. I’d rather look at my career as a continuum. It’s got peaks and valleys, and I’m just on one of the peaks right now. It may be the highest peak I’ve been on since I’ve been in the business. I truly believe that The Hero is my best work, probably, and certainly the most fun that I’ve ever been involved in. How much do you relate to the character of Lee?

On some levels, I connect very deeply to him. There are a couple of obvious differences that are contrived: My wife and I have been married for 33 years and have been together 39 years. I have a deeply loving relationship with my daughter (Cleo Cole Elliott), who I see almost daily. I don’t smoke pot. And I don’t have cancer. Apart from those four elements, there’s a lot of me there. One other big difference: Lee has totally screwed his life up by his choices. In The Hero, Lee says, “I did one film that I’m proud of,” referring to the movie-within-the-movie that lends the film its title. Aside from your new movie, is there one film — or five — that you’re most proud of?

There may be five: a film that my wife and I did called Conagher (1991), which was a Louis L’Amour novel that we both adapted into a screenplay, and that I produced and we both acted in; Tombstone (1993), probably; Road House (1989); Mask (1985); The Big Lebowski (1998). On some level, what makes one picture stand out from another is not so much even the work as the people and the journey. Ageism is a big problem in Hollywood. Is Brett Haley — who has now cast you in two films, both of which explicitly address aging — doing something radical here?

Revolutionary. It’s a terrible thing that Hollywood does with older actors, I think, particularly women. It’s always kind of mystified me that older people get short shrift — older people in general, whatever their field is. The way I look at it is, the older guy is the one that has the knowledge, the experience, something to pass on, something to teach. We put that aside for younger, more beautiful models. Lee becomes romantically involved with a standup comic in her 30s. Is the movie part of the problem, where older actresses are replaced by younger, more beautiful models, or is it commenting on that problem?

I think it’s commenting on it, for sure. I think we earned that relationship. It’s not a typical older-guy-and-younger-girl relationship. We deal with how weird it is.

Lee says, “What are you doing here?” She says, “What do you mean, ‘What am I doing here?’ You asked me out.” He says, “Yeah, I know, but this is kind of weird.”

There’s a lot more going on in that relationship than some b------- physical relationship.