Living in New York City, Schreiber and family venture to Amagansett in the summer to enjoy the quiet and explore the East End (he finds the Montauk lighthouse and the surrounding environs “exquisite”). A respite this year is well deserved, considering the run he’s had: Coming off the success of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and shooting next year’s Salt with Angelina Jolie, he’s also anticipating the August release of Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock (he plays a cross-dresser) and the sci-fi thriller Repossession Mambo, due out in 2010. We talked to Schreiber about kids, work and the beauty of doing nothing at all.

HAMPTONS: How much time will you spend in the Hamptons this summer?
LIEV SCHREIBER: Well, I guess you could call us weekenders. But when we’re not working that’s where we like to live, in Amagansett. I’m hoping that we’re going to be out there for most of June and July.

H: What was the impetus to get a home here?
LS: Initially it was Naomi; having spent so much time in Sydney growing up, the idea of being by a beach was really important to her. After I worked in Sydney I couldn’t help but agree with that. I took some surfing lessons over there and was able to continue that. I’ve been working so much, it’s been really hard. When Salt wraps and we head back out there, hopefully I’ll be able to take my colossal board out and try again.

H: Good plan. Living with a fellow actor, do the two of you plan who works when?
LS: We do. We try to share the workload with the kids. I also think that Naomi feels the same way, that we kind of embrace what we do. And it affords us the really great opportunity to travel and do some great things that I don’t know that we would otherwise get to do. Sasha just got his first swim in the ocean in Sydney, which I know meant a lot to Naomi. I was working on Wolverine.

H: How is it, being a father?
LS: Probably the biggest change has been less sleep. There’s also been a significant amount of play, which wasn’t really a part of our lives before because of work. And now you’re sort of forced to take the time to play, which has been a real blessing and a lot more fun.

H: We imagine there have been a few surprises so far.
LS: There are two things. One is how natural it is, and the other is how difficult it is. I had no idea that it would be so easy, but it’s just something... you take for granted that you have the ability to do. I think it came naturally to me.

H: Was there a moment when it hit you?
LS: The minute that they show up and you hear that first scream, it’s a pretty profound feeling. You know that you’re in for it—you’re in for the best thing that ever happened to you and the hardest work you’ll ever do. There’s just no questioning what you’ll do for your child. You’re not sure of that until your child is born and looking you in the eye and needing something, and then it just sort of happens. If you had asked me five years ago would I be willing to uproot my life and my sleeping schedule for a very small human being, I probably would say you’re out of your mind. But then it happened and you realize, of course, how could I do anything else?

H: We’re sure you’ve had some great times with them here.
LS: I think probably one of my most vivid memories of time spent in the Hamptons would have to be Sasha’s insatiable appetite for sand. I remember the first time we took him to the beach in Amagansett, he couldn’t get enough of the stuff. And just being able to have those quiet walks early in the morning—particularly off-season, when you’re on the beach early and nobody else is there. Sasha’s on the ground, running around the beach with his dog, having the time of his life. Pretty good stuff. There’s something really timeless about the ocean and the consciousness expanding. You have that perspective of nature.

H: You grew up in New York City and have had a relationship with it your entire life. Could you ever leave?
LS: It’s hard for me to imagine leaving New York. It’s just one of those things; I don’t know how to explain it. It’s just a hard place to leave. I think it’s really become a part of me. But arguably also in terms of work, I don’t think I ever want to close my connection to the theater. And I don’t think that exists anywhere as dynamically as it does in New York.