LI director Michael Cuesta's 'Roadie' trip

Think of Dix Hills native Michael Cuesta as Long Island's gift to the film business. His acclaimed 2001 breakthrough, "L.I.E.," about the relationship between a teenager and a pedophile, was set in his hometown, and Cuesta's subsequent production, "Twelve and Holding," also was Long Island-based. Cuesta, 48, has worked as a director and occasional producer on such prestigious TV series as "Six Feet Under," "Dexter," "True Blood" and "Homeland." His latest feature, "Roadie" (opening Jan. 6), stars Ron Eldard as a 40-something roadie fired by the Long Island band Blue Öyster Cult who returns to his Forest Hills home to get his life together. Lewis Beale interviewed the die-hard pro football fan by phone at his Huntington home.

You grew up in Dix Hills, one of the wealthiest communities in America. What was that like?

I had no sense it was a wealthy, wealthy area. The LIE was sort of like the train tracks; there was the working-class on one side, the white-collar on the other side. Growing up in the suburbs, there was Irish, Italian, Jewish, mostly. Just like Queens. We were really into music then; that's all we did.

How has the Island changed since you were a kid?

As a suburb, Long Island doesn't seem so much of a bedroom community as it once did. When I was growing up, most people worked in the five boroughs. Now, it's one economic entity. It's a melting pot. Sort of a microcosm of the country. There are a lot of different cultures mixing together here, and that's what makes it interesting. You don't have to get off the Island to find cultural things as much; they're here, now.

So how come you chose Blue Öyster Cult as the band Ron Eldard's character works for? There are plenty of other bands that came out of Long Island.

For Gerald and me, they were the band we grew up with, and they were based on Long Island for a long time. Also, they're still around, still touring. And they never really totally made it that big. They had marginal success, they never turned into the giant bands of that era. And, growing up, we liked them because of that; it was cool to like them, because they weren't as popular, say, as Kiss.

Eldard's character [Jimmy] is really kind of a sad guy, a 45-year-old man-child who's been living his rock and roll dreams for way too long. How would you describe him?

He comes from a place that we all share. The feeling of hanging onto that sense of failed lives, maybe blaming other people for it. Never fulfilling those dreams, being uncomfortable with not making it, and having to lie. I think people can relate to that. I've made other films that were more alienating, but I think this film has a universal quality to it, Jimmy holding onto dreams. In the end, I think he's able to acknowledge that, maybe move on. I don't know.

You're thought of, in a sense, as a regional filmmaker, since so much of your work is set on the Island. Does that bother you?

It doesn't bother me; I live here, now. Other than "L.I.E.," which was about returning to the scene of the crime, the films did not have to take place here; they did because I wanted to be home. And this one, it was a small film, it was going to be here because we're here. I've done other things not based in Long Island. I'm proud to at least have a vernacular. There's a New York- Long Island vernacular.

You've been working on the critically acclaimed Showtime series "Homeland," about an American soldier [Damien Lewis] formerly imprisoned in Iraq who may be a closet terrorist, and the bipolar CIA operative Claire Danes] who suspects him. What attracted you to the project?

The script was great, the complexity of it, the ambiguity of it. There was talk of taking the ambiguity out, and that's when I was less interested. If she wasn't bipolar, it would be a network show. The fact that she's bipolar, it's symbolic of where the country is now, dealing with the scars of 9/11; the idea of a bipolar person is a perfect metaphor for that. And I think it's interesting you have a flawed anti-hero.

Giants or Jets?

Giants. I was born in the Bronx, and my dad was a Giants fan. I'm a really intense fan, like on Sundays, don't call me.