But then, this single dad is suddenly forced to care for his 11-year-old daughter, played by Elle Fanning. It's something new for both of them.
"I love the simplicity of this connection between these two, almost like an adolescent father and this little girl who's so sophisticated, more sophisticated than her own father in half the movie," said Dorff.
"I've been wanting to play more leading man roles, you know, but I think after some of my earlier work, I went into the villain area and after 'Blade' and some of that success, it was kind of like, I couldn't ever really get some of these other movies and it made my mom and grandma kind of sad because they always thought I had a sweeter side to me," said Dorff.
And luckily for him, so did "Somewhere" director Sophia Coppola.
"I've always thought he was such a great actor and I think he has a real sweet side and I wanted to -- you know, I thought it was interesting to see a more sensitive side of him and I thought he could really, you know, connect with the character and do a great job," said Coppola.
"Somewhere" is essentially a character study of a man discovering who he truly is, and Dorff found it the most challenging role of his career.
"She's almost made the film as if you're a fly on the wall kind of in this very evasive place," said Dorff. "You're in the shower with the guy, you're in bed with the buy, you're almost in that goop when he's getting the head cast made. You're really with him."
"Somewhere" is rated "R." It's in theaters now.
