Tim McGraw, star of the upcoming Country Strong movie, almost passed on it.

At a star-studded screening last night (Nov. 8) in Nashville—complete with co-star Gwyneth Paltrow and actor/producer Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man)—Tim told Country Weekly: “I didn’t want to do it.

“I thought it was perfect really. I thought it was fantastic,” he said of the script in which he portrays Gwyneth Paltrow's husband/manager.

But he thinks it’s tough for folks to see him in a movie and not go, “Hey, that’s Tim McGraw, the country singer!

“(And) to put yourself in a world that you come from in a movie, it makes it twice as hard to disappear behind your character,” he said. But Tim kept reading the script, and he said he admired the director’s past work.

Oh, and another thing. “Gwyneth being in the movie was a big plus.” Amen.

Watch video interviews from the premiere