Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich told USA Today that he is taking acting very seriously, with a role in the new HBO movie Hemingway & Gellhorn (premieres Monday, May 27 at 9p.m. ET/PT). The series stars Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman. The 48-year-old drummer turned actor said: 

"I don't have big acting career aspirations, but I love dabbling in different processes. I wasn't chasing this, but I couldn't say no."

Ulrich will be playing a Dutch documentarian named Joris Ivens. This will be the Danish drummer’s first foray as a screen actor portraying a different character. He appeared in Get Him to the Greek (2010) as himself and Metallica’s documentary Some Kind of Monster (2004). Ulrich continued:

"I took it very seriously. I studied the difference between how a Dutch person would say things in English and the way I would as a Dane. Most people couldn't tell the difference, but I can. And it needed to be right."

Despite a thirst for acting, don’t expect Lars to hang up his metal drumsticks, as Metallica is still a recording and touring band. Apparently the royalty checks bands as big as Metallica could expect back in the day no longer cover all the expenses related to releasing studio albums and maintaining a staff. Digital Music News quoted Metallica frontman James Hetfield saying:

“The cycles of taking two years off don’t exist anymore. We were able to do that because we had record royalties coming in consistently. Now you put out an album and you have a windfall maybe once or twice. But it’s not the way it used to be – a check every three months.”

While the music industry is having troubles, Metallica is still a household name and most expect Ulrich to keep his day job. We’ll see how far Ulrich pursues acting in the future. Let's see how he does in this clip: