Did you enjoy last night's episode of The Walking Dead? AMC posted a new Q&A feature with David Morrissey who talks about joining the cast this season:
"This is your first season on the show. Was there a learning curve to get up to speed with The Walking Dead?
A: I was very nervous about joining the show on the first day, but once I got there it's been a joy ever since. There's an element about needing to know about the conditions: the heat and the humidity and the snakes and bugs and ticks. You have to have a little bit of an outward bound course before you start filming. Those things are different for me, because normally it's like, "How do I get to the canteen." But I do think those crazy brutal conditions add to the show -- because the show's all about that. It isn't a comfortable place to be and that's important.
Q: How much of the Governor's backstory have you sketched out?
A: I feel that the Governor is someone who before the event was a pretty middle-management type guy. He didn't have the status before, but now he's walking that tight rope of leadership about what he needs to do as a leader. It's all relatively new to him.
Q: Do you ever take the Governor home with you?
A: The Governor would be a pretty tough character to take home -- I don't think my wife would like that. He's a pretty intense man to play and there is a darkness to him, which can get inside your head sometimes. Thankfully, I have quite a long drive from the location back here to Atlanta, so I often put on a bit of rock music on the way home -- the Rolling Stones or whatever -- and that tends to get the character out of my head.
Q: Do you ever have to do the reverse: put on some music to get into your character's head?
A: On every job that I do, I have some sort of playlist that I use. And that can get me into character in a good way and get me into that mood. Of course different scenes require different moods and different music as well. At the moment I have a band called 16 Horsepower which I really like. Sometimes I throw a bit of jazz in there -- John Coltrane and Miles Davis -- something like that that can get me into certain moods. The Stones are always good to get me going. I can get into some Chet Baker, Art Pepper type stuff as well.
Q: Back home in the UK -- do your friends and family have a different reaction to the show than fans here?
A: For me it's very interesting because I have a 17-year-old son. I've been working for a long time as an actor and he's usually quite blasé about whatever I'm doing. If I tell him I'm playing the lead in a Shakespeare play he's like, "Oh, whatever." Or if I tell him I just got an award for a TV show in the UK, he's like, "Oh, yeah, well. " But when I told him I was doing The Walking Dead he was like, "No, you're joking dad. That's fantastic!" It's made me cool in my son's eyes."
We wrapped up an interview call with David Morrissey earlier today and we'll be posting our interview later this week. To read the rest of this Q&A and more features from AMC, visit: http://blogs.amctv.com/the-walking-dead/2012/10/david-morrissey-interview.php#more
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
