From writer/directorJonás Cuarón,Desiertois a terrifying suspense-thriller packed with heart-pounding tension, as an unrelenting and deranged killer (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) points his rifle at a group of unarmed men and women at the U.S.-Mexican border. What started as a hopeful journey to seek a better life quickly becomes a nightmare for Moises (Gael García Bernal) as he fights for survival.
At the film’s Los Angeles press day, the undeniably and always charming Jeffrey Dean Morgan spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about playing such an unflinchingly bad guy, how scary it is that people might actually root for him, in our current political climate, whether you may even justify the actions of someone like this, and working with the three dogs who give their own stand-out performance as Tracker. He also talked about how the first episode of Season 7 ofThe Walking Deadwill be tough to take, how he hopes viewers will grow to love to hate Negan, and why Negan is the hero of his own story, as well as how he hopes there will still be an opportunity for him to return as John Winchester beforeSupernaturalwraps up for good.
Collider: I have such trouble with watching you play a bad guy because you’re just so good at it!
JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN: Thank you very much! It seems to be the latest trend for my career, to play a bad guy. Although, I think we made this movie over three years ago. It’s coming out now for very obvious reasons, I guess, but to coincide with what’s happening withThe Walking Dead, it’s two horrible characters at once, which is kind of fun.
Do you think if this role had come up now, you’d still want to do it?
MORGAN: I think so. I don’t know if being in this political climate might have changed how I thought about it, but at the time, I just really liked the role. For one, it was a bad guy, and I don’t play those often, or I hadn’t played those in awhile. It was about working with Jonás [Cuarón] and Gael [García Bernal], and making this thriller of a film. I wasn’t thinking about the flip side, politically, of what it is. Now, that’s what it’s turned into. It’s much more of a political conversation than a movie conversation. I was just making a fun scary movie.
And now, what’s even scarier is that people might actually root for this guy?
MORGAN: Isn’t that creepy? Yeah! There was a trailer that came out – and I don’t know if it was a fan made trailer or if the movie did it – with people’s tweets over the top, that are all pro my character. “We need more people like this!” “Build the wall!” It’s insane! It’s just insanity that people can think like that. It’s almost left me speechless. I did press for this last week in New York, and I don’t know that I was prepared for having to speak about my political views. I’ve never been huge on actors talking about their political views. I’m not against it. I’m just not one of those people that wants to talk about what I believe in. And suddenly, I’m put in this position where I’m actively speaking against Trump. It’s a little bit insane, and all because of this movie, which is a movie I wanted to make because it was with great filmmaking, was an interesting script, and was an opportunity to play a character I hadn’t really played before. It’s weird.
When you play a guy who’s this despicable, do you try to justify his actions for yourself, or is it more about getting as close to the director’s vision for the character as you can?
MORGAN: I think it’s always important for me, as an actor, regardless of the character, to somehow make him relatable, in some way, not that this guy is. But I have to be able to justify his actions, in some way, and hopefully I can make the audience believe that he believes in what he’s doing. It doesn’t matter if it’s The Comedian inWatchmenor Sam inDesiertoor even Negan inThe Walking Dead. There’s gotta be more to it than just good and bad. And with this film and this character, after I got the movie and we were actually in Mexico shooting it, I saw down with Jonás and was like, “We need to flush him out.” We ended up writing a bunch of scenes that we shot for the movie, that explained the whys for how this guy had become who he had become, and then in seeing a rough cut of it, it didn’t work. There’s no justification for a guy like this, so it didn’t matter what his thoughts were. It’s just much more effective not knowing exactly why he’s become this guy. What’s important is that there’s guys like this out there, and they’re fucking idiots! And I get to play one of them, here in this film.
And then, you can thankfully go home and be somebody entirely different.
MORGAN: That’s exactly right, yeah. Thank god!
Your main co-star that you work closest with is a dog, who really gives his own performance in the film. What was that like? Were you nervous or concerned about that?
MORGAN: There were three dogs that played the one. One of the dogs was much more people friendly than the other two. I wasn’t nervous about it until one of them almost bit my face off because it was the wrong dog in the car with me. I touched it and it snapped at me, and I was like, “Oh, my god!” I’ve never been so close to losing my face, in my life. But to me, the dog is a modern day Jaws. The dogs that played the dog are phenomenal in this film and deserve a lot of credit. Those trainers did an amazing job. I’ve been told for years, and have experienced it, that working with kids and animals is rough. In this case, other than almost dying, the dog was awesome and it was cool. I don’t have any interaction with people, really, in this film, other than at a long distance through a rifle scope. Anything you garner from this character is going to be him interacting with this sweet puppy. I liked it. Working with the dog was great. And having seen the movie, I think the dog steals the show.
After the big cliffhanger last season and because the new season hasn’t premiered yet,The Walking Deadfans have primarily been concerned about who Negan actually killed. But beyond that, after the premiere, which episode are you most looking forward to audiences seeing?
MORGAN: There are a few of them that I think are going to be really great. The first episode that the audience will see, since it’s a direct cut from what we last saw, is going to be a lot for the audience to take. In saying that, I think there’s going to be so much shock and anger that my guess is that people are just going to hate Negan, initially. And then, as we go forward in the year and you get to know Negan, and a couple more episodes play out, what I’m hoping is that you more love to hate him than just flat-out hate him. But, I think the first episode back is going to be very hard for people.
Negan’s arrival shakes up the power balance among the groups, and there’s clearly not a democracy in place, so how do you view this new dynamic? Is Negan a bully, a king, an executioner, or some combination thereof?
MORGAN: It’s a little bit of a combination. If we’d been following Negan’s story for the last seven years, and not Rick and our gang’s story, than I think Negan would be the hero. I think there are a lot of qualities about Negan that are fascinating, and not just brutal and dictatorship-y. But there are people that think Rick is a bit of a dictator, as well. In this world, you have to evolve to survive in it, and Negan has done just that. He’s become this person that is a little bit of a dictator, but he’s become that way because, when people didn’t listen to him, they died. So, he’s become this person that, if you don’t follow his rules – and he’s got a very specific set of rules – than you’re going to pay the price. That’s just how it works in this world. It’s a zombie apocalypse. That’s a little bit different than now, with Trump trying to be a dictator.
At this point, if you’re ever going to return toSupernatural, do you think it would be the final episode of the final season?
MORGAN: It has to make sense to the story. If I came on right now, I think it would be such a distraction and not go with the storylines they have now. They’re going to have to plan that out. I think the goal for them is to get to 300 episodes, which gives them a little bit of time to see that there’s a way that old John can come back and say, “Hi” or “Goodbye,” or whatever he needs to say. I still see those guys frequently and we talk about it, now and again. There’s a way, and hopefully it will happen.
It would be great because it still feels unfinished.
MORGAN: Which is amazing ‘cause I only did 12 episodes of the damn thing, and that was a long time ago. I haven’t been on the show in 11 years. But I’m still very much a part of that family and so is John, so I would love a chance to come back.
