LOS ANGELES -- If Faith Hill can branch out from country music to the silver screen by playing a too-perfect spouse in The Stepford Wives, then surely Mr. Faith Hill ought to be afforded the same career opportunities.

Of course, only a fool would call Tim McGraw "Mr. Faith Hill" to his face. 'Cause aside from being a country star (and country gentleman) in his own right, McGraw apparently has a dark side. Or at least he can sure act like it.

McGraw plays the football dad from hell in Peter Berg's Friday Night Lights, the true story of a Texas high school pigskin team's troubled rise to glory over the course of a single season in the late '80s.

McGraw said at first he wasn't interested in trying to fit acting into his already hectic schedule, but he was hooked by the script (based on H.R. "Buzz" Bissinger's bestselling book) and by the role of Charlie Billingsley, father of the team's star tailback.

"I like to think that he was so much different than me, his personality and his mood was so much different from mine, that it was easy for me to just shut me off and let that character take over, and not let me get in the way," McGraw said.

And how.

The senior Billingsley, a former Texas state champion whose glory years are now a faded memory, is portrayed as an abusive, alcoholic menace who belittles his son (played by Garrett Hedlund) on and off the field.

Sadly, not an uncommon figure in amateur sports, said McGraw. "Anybody that's been around little league baseball long enough, every game that guy is there. Sometimes worse, sometimes better. Sometimes the coach is like that."

Friday Night Lights is McGraw's first Hollywood film role (he had a small part in Rick Schroder's indie Black Cloud, opposite Edmonton actor Nathaniel Arcand), but he's not looking at trading in his guitar and pickup truck for a Blackberry and Hummer.

"There's not going to be a balance. I mean, I'm a musician. It's how I make my living," he said.

"I love making records and I love touring. That's what I do.

"I love (acting), but I'm not gonna go out there and do a whole bunch of movies and quit cuttin' records."

Maybe that's a good thing. While McGraw's performance is surprisingly solid for a rookie, the sight of the shirtless, hatless singer spewing obscenities at his on-screen son might come as something of a shock to McGraw's legions of fans.

Still, his No. 1 supporter - wife Faith Hill - loved the movie when she saw it.

" She cried and cheered," said McGraw. "She knew how the movie was going to end, but she was still hoping (the team) was going to make it.

"At one point there, she leaned over and grabbed me and said, 'This is really good.' "