TV Hot Spot: News

Moonlight: Interview with Jason Dohring!

Post by: Sal


Source: Moonlight Detective

Q. You weren’t in the original pilot; how much of the role of Josef was changed by yourself and by the writers, obviously because you’re completely different than the original actor?

JD: I don’t know if you ever saw that little teaser, but I only saw about 6 minutes of the original. The guy was much older - a fantastic actor, actually – but he was more of a mentor, I guess, and Josef is like that but also a big playboy which wasn’t really didn’t really vibe with [Rade Serbedzija]. So that’s the biggest thing. But that guy is amazing. He’s been in every single movie, man. I looked up his credits and it’s like you just keep scrolling.

Q. Did they come to you for the role then, after they decided to recast, or did you have to go through the process like everyone else does?

JD: I think they were just gonna go in a different direction with it and Joel Silver had called ‘cuz it’s similar character, obviously, to Logan. So Joel had been with us on that show for the last three years and he just thought maybe we could do it. I had to go through network and studio and all that stuff, too. Then we still had to do a screentest after that, which was the first screen test I’ve ever done. It’s so cool because you show up and they get in full wardrobe and full makeup, and then you shoot a scene from it. You shoot it many times, as though you were gonna shoot it for the show or something like that. Which is great because you can try all kinds of different things; it’s not like one time and you’re out of the room. You can try different things and then they can use what they like.

It’s pretty cool, man. I tell that story because I think Alex was just such a sweetheart. I was pretty worked up, I was pretty nervous, but he was so grounded. He was really looking at me when I was doing my stuff and then he would smile when he was off camera, and it would kind of bring me up. It was just really cool. He walked me right into the role.

Q. You’ve built quite a fanbase at Veronica Mars and a number of them have followed you over to Moonlight. Was that something that was totally unexpected to you?

JD: Dude, the fans are unbelievable on this show! I mean I think it was probably Veronica in general. I don’t know if you know, but we got nominated for that Peoples Choice Award thing. It’s for Best New Drama and the other two nominees are all Veronica Mars, I mean there’s a Veronica Mars cast member on each of the new shows that got nominated. So, I don’t know, these fans are probably just pushing the button over and over to get us nominated with is unbelievable. When I was originally shooting Veronica, I didn’t think anyone was watching in the first place. It’s cool to go to a mall tour or something and there’s fans there and you’re like, Wow! People are actually watching!

Q. You talked a lot earlier this year at ComicCon about Josef’s backstory, about being alive 400 years and all these experiences he had with Mozart and other famous people. Obviously with all due respect to the writers, but how much do you know about where Josef is going in future episodes and how much of his backstory we’re going to get?

JD: That’s a good question and in this week’s episode which airs this Friday is probably the biggest episode I’ve had because you find out there are personal reasons that he kind of hates the fact that Mick and Beth are together. You see an experience that somewhat justifies his behavior toward Mick and Beth. You know, he’s always warning Mick about whatever, and you find out there’s a reason for it. It’s actually a very cool storyline; I’ll be curious to see what you guys think of it. There’ll be stuff in the future episodes which I’ve heard the storylines for and that sort of thing, but so far this is the biggest one and I’m pretty proud of it.


To read the rest of the interview, visit: http://moonlight-detective.com/?p=201

Take Care,

Sal