Actor Seann William Scott's dukes are up, but he's not looking for a fight: Instead, he's looking to take fans for a swing and hopes they have a good old time with the long-awaited big screen version of "The Dukes of Hazzard."

New in theaters Friday, "Dukes" is somewhat of a departure for Scott in that he's further migrating away from characters like Steve Stifler -- the guy you loved to hate in the "American Pie" trilogy -- to fun-loving characters like Bo Duke. He admits, though, that there are some similarities between the two.

"In most comedies, you'll end up playing a doofus -- rarely are the main characters smart," Scott told me in a recent @ The Movies interview. "They're guys that end up getting themselves into some kind of situation that they have to try to get themselves out of throughout most of the film. In that sense, there's a through-line with all the characters I've played.

"But in this movie, given the environment I'm in and the fact that he's a really good guy, and he's not cocky, were elements that I really liked," Scott added. "I felt like that was what was different for me between 'The Dukes of Hazzard' and the 'American Pie' films. I think Bo Duke is tri-polar in this film. He's totally nuts, but he's a good guy."

A souped-up version of the classic television series, "The Dukes of Hazzard" first finds cousins Bo and Luke Duke (Johnny Knoxville) running a moonshine mission for their Uncle Jesse (Willie Nelson). Botching the job because of the their wild ways, the Duke boys' trouble is only starting to brew since Hazzard County's corrupt commissioner Boss Hogg (Burt Reynolds) is cooking up a dastardly plan to bring the family down -- and only Bo, Luke and their cousin Daisy Duke (Jessica Simpson) can stop him.

Though he's convincing in the film, Scott is not a good ol' Southern boy; in fact, he's a good ol' Minnesota boy (I say that with pride since I'm a Minnesota native myself!). But he's well aware that no matter where he's from, there are fans of the original television series from all over the country that don't want to be disappointed by the big screen adaptation of the pop culture machine.

One good thing, Scott said, is that he, Knoxville and the rest of the cast and crew didn't face the sort of intense scrutiny that usually comes when a beloved piece of pop culture is given a big screen spin.

"The people that we encountered were just excited that we were making a movie. They were like, 'Just get the tone of it right. Don't necessarily make it tongue-in-cheek,'" Scott recalled. "We thought it was better to go back to movies like 'Smokey and the Bandit' and 'Blues Brothers' and make it kind of a '70s country rock road movie. People really seemed to embrace that idea."

One thing Scott, 28, knew for sure, was not to try to imitate the stars of the television show.

"By casting Johnny and I, they knew that we were going to make it like two wild hillbillies," Scott enthused. "There's no sense in trying to do what John Schneider and Tom Wopat did. Obviously we had to update the idea a little, but overall, we got to cater to the fans of the show and make it a really fun ride for new fans."

One character that remained absolutely the same in looks was the famed 1969 orange Dodge Charger, The General Lee. But the action in the film was revved up a bit -- and Scott was right in the middle of it.

"The main thing we were thinking about was making the car stunts a real visceral experience," Scott said. "Having me do a lot of the driving was a big deal. I think we're all becoming a little bit numb to CGI in movies. Everything is starting to feel like a video game. We just wanted it all to feel real. We started out the movie with 28 cars and ended up with seven. If anything, people who see it, whether you like car stunts or not, are going to go, 'Wow. That was really wild. I want to get in the car with those guys, yet I really don't.'"

Scott, who earned his "Dukes" driving privileges by training with NASCAR driver Bobby Ore, said filming of the stunts was fun, but naturally intense.

"I did maybe half of the ground shots for the film, whether it was drifting, doing forward 180s, reverse 180s or 90-degree power slides," Scott recalled. "It's tricky because you want it to look great, but do it safely because you don't want to take out the camera crew. But also to do the move in the right spot so the camera can capture Johnny and I in the car."

Of course, Scott had to draw the line at some point and let someone else get behind the wheel -- if anybody at all. Heck, if you have the means to computer generate some shots, why risk it?

"In the show, stunt guys made the jumps every single time," Scott said. "But for the movie, we have a huge jump which a stunt guy was in and another jump -- a 150-foot jump -- where they used a rig to slingshot the car over an overpass. Nobody was in the car for that. That was the one time where they did CGI to put me in the car."

As it turns out, a less risky stunt actually ended up being more, well, hazardous, to Scott's health: Bo's cool slide across the hood of The General Lee.

"It wasn't so safe the first time I did it. I think they waxed it too much and I slid right off the hood and landed right on my ass," Scott said, laughing. "It was a little embarrassing."

Actually, Scott added, one of the more difficult stunts he had was getting in the car by jumping through the window.

"I don't know if I'm going to have to start doing yoga or something, but I banged up my shins pretty good," Scott said. "The guys must have been pretty limber in the original TV show."

Fortunately, Scott's partner in crime for the film, Knoxville, had his share of stunt experience coming in the raucous MTV reality show "Jackass!"

"Johnny is game for anything," Scott said. "This is fearless. You can't tell the guy, 'No,' because he can do anything. He's been shot before, electrocuted, set on fire -- you name, he's had it happen to him. To prepare for our big bar fight scene, Johnny worked with a stunt fighter for about a month. Johnny was the guy thrown against the bar. He's a total nut. I thought I was a little nuts -- this guy is on a whole another planet of insane."

Then Scott told me about the stunt we didn't see in the movie. Let's just say it had something to do with Bo's line in the movie about "making sweet love" to The General Lee.

"There's an alternate ending to the movie, between me and the car. I was always like, 'Guys, I think this might be the scene that might upset some of the fans. Can we change that up a little bit?' Having me just talk to the car is a little bit easier to accept."

Accept, at least for now, that is. After all, you can't let a scene with the guy who made Stifler a household name with the sexually charged "American Pie" films go to waste.

"It will be on the old unrated DVD," Scott said, roaring with laughter. "You've got to have something sexually ambiguous with me in a comedy, I guess."

By the way, Scott will next star in the comedy "Mr. Woodcock" opposite Billy Bob Thornton and Susan Sarandon.