February 14, 2005
By NANCY MILLS - DAILY NEWS WRITER
Don't worry, Dave Matthews is not quitting the Dave Matthews Band and going Hollywood.
"To ever leave the band to pursue a solo career exclusively would be absurd to me," he says.
That's including a solo movie career.
In his first major acting job, the gravel-voiced Matthews plays Otis, a lonely pet- shop employee who charms animals with music in the family drama "Because of Winn-Dixie," which opens Friday. It's based on Kate DiCamillo's best-selling young adult book about a girl and a dog she adopts.
"I didn't have to stretch too far to put myself in my character's situation," says Matthews. "If things in my life had not unfolded the way they did — if the disappointments and obstacles had been different — I think I could have been outwardly more similar to Otis."
Matthews, 38, became a connoisseur of disappointment and obstacles while setting up shots as a bartender in Charlottesville, Va., before he started his band.