I know we’ve seen a lot of interviews with Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the last few weeks, but I like this one. It actually has some new comments from JDM.
You’re a movie star now. Were you ever a loser when you were younger?
Yeah, I was a little bit. I think I didn’t come into my own until I was 15 or 16, so I got picked on. I got shoved in my mouth more than once. Kids were mean so I had to be scrappy. But I kind of came into my own later in life. I was a little bit dorky as a kid.
That’s one interesting sex scene you have with Zoe Saldana.
She’s tough. I’m not saying we were battered and bruised after it but I did put her through the wall a couple of times. She also does this overhead backwards kick and she landed on my face more than once.
You struggled as an actor for 20 years and then Grey’s Anatomy made you a huge sex symbol. No complaints there either?
I didn’t know I had any sex symbol status and I’m not really comfortable with the term but I’ll take it and I thank you for bringing it up.
Any downsides to your success?
People you have known for 30 years treat you differently suddenly. I think that’s the most disconcerting part. Luckily, I have a good group of core friends that wouldn’t ever allow me to change, including this cast in particular.
What are the coolest perks?
Oh man, a Harley-Davidson for me. They know I ride Harleys, I have a couple of my own. They called and said: ‘Hey man, we’d like to build you a bike and, in the meantime, here’s a bike for you just to cruise around town on.’ So they gave me a beautiful bike called a Softail Cross Bones, great fun. And so now I have a garage full of motorcycles. I’m a big motorcycle guy. It’s kind of my escape.
What else do you do to escape?
I like hanging out with my friends and I like walking my dogs a lot, especially now that everything is sort of crazy. It’s been crazy for a couple of years for me. So when I have those moments of quiet, or I can get off by myself, I really sort of look forward to those times where I don’t have to answer to anybody. Walking my dogs or taking off on my bike is always a good day for me.
Are you excited about the World Cup?
Basketball’s more my game. I had a college scholarship for basketball but I didn’t want to do the college part. It was at that time that a bunch of loggers beat the crap out of me and stabbed me right in the side. I quit the basketball team, moved to Seattle, got involved in the arts and here I am.
Do you ever get mistaken for anyone?
I get Javier Bardem quite a bit. I went to an event once a few years ago, got out of my car and all the paparazzi were there yelling: ‘Javier! Javier!’ I flipped them off and the next day in the paper it was all about Javier Bardem flipping off the paparazzi. I’m not dating Penelope Cruz, though. I also get mistaken for Robert Downey, Jr.
You were a murdering, raping bad guy in The Watchmen. How was that?
Oh, there were moments that were so brutal I had to step back. The attempted rape is one of the more brutal things I’ve ever seen in my life. I made a mistake during filming and asked to watch the footage. It took my breath away and made me want to throw up. It was so utterly violent. There I was, thinking: ‘I need to get away from being these nice guys,’ and, boy, did I.
Is life a big fat wet dream right now?
Put it this way: I could die a happy man if this was it. I’d been doing this for 20 years and no one ever noticed me. I just about managed to keep a roof over my head. A few years ago I had eight roommates and I couldn’t pay my $200 rent a month. Now I get phone calls saying things like: ‘Ang Lee wants you to be in his movie.’ I’m the luckiest guy in town.
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