Being labeled a sex symbol by publications like People Magazine and Elle Girl doesn't faze Adam Brody. It's just "par for the course."

"On one hand I feel very humble, but at the same time I understand," he says. "I think I'm reasonably good looking, I'm a reasonably successful actor, so you're instantly in those categories."

The "O.C." alum won't be departing those categories anytime soon thanks to his starring role in writer-director Jonathan Kasdan's "In the Land of Women." The film is a sweet, semi-romantic drama about 20-something soft-core porn writer Carter (Brody), who bolts from L.A. after his model girlfriend dumps him. There, Carter holes up with his grandma and sparks a friendship with an unhappy neighbor (Meg Ryan) and her teenage daughter (Kristen Stewart).

During an interview at the W Hotel-Lakeshore, Brody tells us that he likes the movie's optimism and restraint, a welcome respite from big blockbusters and bigger budgets. ("Do we want to believe that a cop can fight a [freakin'] plane?" he says.) They're values he says he learned to appreciate on "The O.C.," when 10-month work schedules prevented the cast members from partying too hard or spending time off on ill-advised film projects.

Here's what else Brody told us about dealing with breakups, kissing Meg Ryan and the traits he shares with the Backstreet Boys.

Would you write soft-core porn?

I don't see the point in it, but I'm not morally against it, so if I was short on finances and somebody wanted to employ me for that, yeah, I certainly would.

Can you relate to your character's experience of running from a breakup?

Yeah, yeah, although I fortunately have never been dropped. He gets dropped. But I've definitely been through some breakups. Everyone has. If I was Carter I don't know that I would run to a place where I knew no one and sit in my grandma's room. I would call my friends and go to a bar and just want to go on spring break for a minute. Just as long as I had a lot of people around me. If I am in an emotional turmoil I do need someone else there to talk. I don't want to sit in my room and think about it. I just want to get drunk with friends.

What went through your head while waking up and thinking, "I'm kissing Meg Ryan today"?

I thought about it more when I first got it, like, "Wow, this is crazy." She was like my dad's crush, you know. So I got a kick out of it. And by the time we knew each other really well and worked together for a few weeks [it wasn't a big deal]. It was also a hard scene. It was raining and freezing. When you're doing that stuff, you have to do it a lot, and those rain machines are always so cold. Not to sound like the biggest [wuss] ever.

What's something that baffles you about women?

I don't totally feel like there's as big of a difference in the sexes as everyone [thinks]. I'm not baffled by anything. I don't mean to say that I'm Cary Grant, and I certainly can't get every girl to fall in love with me, but I do feel like as a person I've never failed to figure out where they're coming from or what makes them tick or that they've always felt like an alien species. It all seems very up front to me. As for the female species, it doesn't seem that much more complicated than us.

Do people see you as your "O.C." character, Seth Cohen?

I do think I'm perceived as slightly sweeter and smarter than I am, which is fine. I do think I'm bright and I do think I'm a nice person, but at the same time I have no problem being a [jerk] if the situation calls for it and it often does. And also I'm sort of under-educated. I didn't go to college. That's fine. I've always been a little self-conscious about that. I'm not incredibly well-read. I have not read the classics, so I've always been a little self-conscious about that. Seth is really, like, the sweetest nerd, and there's tons of elements of that in me, and maybe even more than I see or care to admit. However I think I'm probably a little more in the mainstream.

You say being mobbed by "O.C." fans is "akin to being a Backstreet Boy." Do you have anything else in common with the boy band?

Meticulously groomed facial hair? I mean, we've all got moves. That's evident. But other than our dance moves, I don't know. I don't think so.

Matt Pais is the metromix movies producer.