The Watchmen‘s Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Edward Blake aka The Comedian) on taking a punch, staying humble, and keeping his Grey’s fans happy (or not).
On learning to take a punch.
“[My] big fight was a series of taking punches, I didn’t get to land one [laughs]. I’m still mad about it, I was like, ‘Just let me hit him one time, for crying out loud!’ … I put up a good fight but not one punch lands. ‘God, let me connect.’ We did so much, there was so much training … I was in Vancouver two months prior to shooting, just because of that opening fight. And every day was working on the how to take a punch and how to not hit somebody apparently.”
On The Comedian’s deep seeded issues with women.
“Yeah, I think he’s got deep seeded issues with everyone, he just seemed to connect more with women. No pun intended … there were a couple moments in that, that were hard for me to do as an actor, just because it’s just kind of so, those are vicious hits. It’s not like you’re pushing somebody against the wall not that that’s right either, but I mean just a smack down and I give her a beat down … the fight scenes in particular are, they’re not pretty fight scenes, they’re not real stylized, they’re more, especially I think Comedian and Rorschach, these guys will just bite you and kick you in the balls, they were just brutal.”
On his recent success.
“ I just feel exceedingly lucky, and humbled by the last four years. I never had a comeback to have, I’ve been doing this for fucking twenty years and kind of before everything sort of hit at once, all the television stuff, I was done, I was like this isn’t working, I made a bad career choice, I put all my eggs in one basket, and I’m going to be 40 soon and I can’t pay my rent. This is ridiculous, what have I done? And it’s just, in this business, a lot of it is luck, and there’s a lot of really good actors out there that you’ll never get to meet, and then there’s a lot of crappy actors out there who you get to sit and talk to all the time [laughs].”
On staying humble.
“You’re really humbled by this whole fucking thing, and again, we’ve been on the other side [Jackie Earle Haley and I] and we know, if the other shoe does drop, then it’s back to business as usual … we have really good memories. It wasn’t long ago when things were really bad. And I think it helps kind of when things happen, when good things happen a little bit later in life, it’s not like Jackie and I are going to be out whooping it up with Paris Hilton down on Sunset Boulevard.”
On how his Grey’s Anatomy fans will react to The Comedian.
“I think they’re in for a shock. I may lose a couple of Grey’s Anatomy fans, but I’ll gain some Watchmen fans, so it’s an even trade.”
