After prodigious director JJ Abrams left the Star Trek franchise, many names have been rumored. Billy Bob Thornton was one of them, but he was quick to squash it down.

Billy Bob Thornton talks with Film.com about his new movie, "Jayne Mansfield's Car." Angelina Jolie's Ex-husband, who also wrote the film, narrates his creative preferences.

"What inspired you to write this movie? It's certainly not your typical plotline.

Well, I always liked the idea of culture clashes and saw, I wanted to make a movie where that was the backdrop, a culture clash. I'd also seen Jayne Mansfield's car just like it is in the movie in real life as a kid, they brought it around to the town, you know, and I always wanted to put that in a movie but I didn't want to just throw it in without a meaning. As a result, it's called "Jayne Mansfield's Car" and it's a metaphor for the romanticism of tragedy. I wanted to make a movie about how war is viewed by a generation and how they pass that on to the next generation and how the psychological damage of war manifests itself in families.

That's the basis for the movie, and I haven't directed in a while because you've gotta do something that you have your heart in, that you're interested in, that you know well, because it's a hard job. It takes a big chunk of your life out. Not like when you're an actor, you go away, you make a movie for a couple months and you're done with it. You're really with a movie as a director for quite some time, so not being a full-time director, I just want to direct things that I generate myself, I wouldn't be a good director for hire. You know, I'm not the guy to call to do the new Star Trek movie or anything like that.

Oh, squashing that rumor now before it can even start?

Yeah. [laughing] I don't think they'd ever call me for that anyway, believe me."