Bo Duke is gone.

The shaggy-haired Seann William Scott who, as Bo Duke in the new ``Dukes of Hazzard,’’ loves his orange Dodge Charger, the General Lee, more than any girl, now sports a buzz cut and a beard.

``I’m working on `Southland Tales,’ Richard Kelly’s new movie,’’ Scott said. ``He did `Donnie Darko.’ It’s with The Rock and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays a porn star.’’

Scott, best known from his roles in ``Dude, Where’s My Car?’’ and the ``American Pie’’ series, wasn’t concerned about stepping into TV star John Schneider’s boots.

``What’s the point of trying to do what they did? The show’s still on,’’ he said, referring to syndication. ``So I didn’t think about it too much because I just wanted the movie to be good.’’

The casting of actors known for being bonkers - at least on camera - was key.

``Johnny Knoxville and me, we’re obviously gonna make it a little bit wilder and a little bit crazier,’’ Scott said. ``Once we thought, `OK, we’re gonna go crazy with this,’ I thought, `I’ll just make this character tri-polar.’ We still have to respect the fans of the show, and I think that we did. They’re gonna watch and go, `All right!’ The spirit’s still there. The car stuff’s insane, and it’s just funnier.’’

Scott, in true ``Dukes’’ tradition, does all the driving here.

``That’s Seann’s thing, he drives the car,’’ quipped Knoxville. ``I sit and bitch and talk on the CB.’’

Learning to drive was a lot more complicated than, say, what Lindsay Lohan had to do for ``Herbie: Fully Loaded.’’’’ Scott trained for a month with an ex-NASCAR driver and raced on a deserted runway at Los Angeles’ Camarillo airport.

``Every single day,’’ he said. ``I would dread going sometimes, because it was so intense. It was eight hours a day. It was like having to take a risk and put yourself in the most intense roller coaster ride you’ve ever been in. It ended up being one of the best things I ever did.’’