Matthews has unseen role for new creepy film

NEW YORK -- Although Dave Matthews' face is never seen in the new movie "Joshua," he plays a crucial role in the spooky film, writing the song the demented child character croons as the film draws to a close.

"I wanted it to be delivered in a sweet way by the boy, but I also wanted it to be really horrifying," the singer told The Associated Press.

"Joshua," which opens in limited release today and expands to wider release later this month, is about a musical child whose family life dramatically alters once his baby sister is born. Quickly, the family starts to fall apart, and Joshua seems to be at the center of its downfall.

The leader of the Dave Matthews Band is part of the company, ATO Pictures, that produced "Joshua," starring Sam Rockwell. Matthews says he was involved in finding the film project, but was not very involved in the production (with one exception -- urging that Rockwell be one of the actors).

However, he always knew he wanted to try to write the song planned for the crucial final scene.

After asking director George Ratliff for the chance, he penned it while on tour. Matthews says it wasn't particularly hard to channel the emotions of a devilish child: "We all have lots of different sides to us."

He says he was inspired by children who pull the wings off of flies. "I thought it was an appropriate analogy for what the kid was doing to his family in sort of this methodical cold way, sort of vengeful way, so since I had that, it wasn't hard at all."

"Everything else around that is just an interpretation of the coldness of the song, everything else is his sweetness."

Matthews says he hopes to be involved in other productions made by ATO.

"But I certainly don't want to be a hindrance and I don't want to impose my artistic ideas on someone else's vision," he said.