When I attended the first screening of the new film The Surrogate (which has just been picked up by Fox Searchlight for release this year), a woman behind me realized the movie starred William H. Macy and exclaimed, "The guy from Shameless? How am I going to take him seriously?!"

Macy's lengthy career has seen the actor tackling a variety of character types, and his recent TV gig is, perhaps, his wildest, playing a drunk Dad coping with raising a rowdy family. The woman was worried that, with her knowledge of Macy's TV alter ego, that she wouldn't be able to see him as a sympathetic Catholic priest, a progressive man of the cloth who helps a crippled member of his congregation embark on a mission to lose his virginity. As different as the two roles sound, I had only one response for the worried woman: "This is William H. Macy!"

In The Surrogate, Macy once again delivers a knock out performance. Simple, hilarious and, when the time is right, heartbreaking. I sat down with the actor during the festival and he had plenty to say on his new movie, Shameless and more.

Here's what to expect:
:00 - Macy's own experience at Sundance
4:00 - How Macy cracks his characters
5:50 - On playing a religious figure and the way movies portray faith
10:15 - On the future of Shameless and tackling TV
13:20 - Aging in Hollywood and the liberties an older actor can take.
15:40 - What Macy wants to do in the future
17:17 - On the song Macy and his wife Felicity Huffman sang at the Golden Globes

You can contact Matt Patches directly on Twitter @misterpatches and remember to follow @Hollywood_com!