E-mail a friendDylan McDermott
airdate August 17, 2009
Dylan McDermott's big acting break came in the film In the Line of Fire. He's since racked up impressive credits, including the feature Steel Magnolias, on stage in The Treatment and Biloxi Blues and on TV's The Practice—in a role which earned him a Golden Globe. McDermott overcame a tumultuous childhood when he discovered acting as a teen. Encouraged by his then-stepmom, playwright Eve Ensler, he studied drama at Fordham and New York's Neighborhood Playhouse. He stars in TNT's Dark Blue and the indie film, Burning Palms.
Actor explains why he took the name 'Dylan.' (1:33)
Full interview. (10:39)
Dylan McDermott
Tavis: Pleased to welcome Dylan McDermott to this program. The Emmy-nominated actor, of course, starred for years on the popular legal series "The Practice." He's back in prime time now in a new project for TNT called "Dark Blue." The police drama is produced by some guy named Jerry Bruckheimer (laughs) and airs Wednesday night - what else is it? - and airs Wednesday nights at 10:00 p.m. Here now, a scene from "Dark Blue."
[Clip]
Tavis: Why "Dark Blue?"
Dylan McDermott: Well, I guess it's the darker side of law enforcement, because these guys are really - these guys basically are acting like criminals to catch criminals, so it's the darker side, certainly, with undercover work.
Tavis: Tell me more about the role you play.
McDermott: Well, Carter Shaw is a - we're meeting him at the bottom of his life. This is a guy who's done police work for a long time. This is a guy who his personal life is a mess. I think that all he lives for is his work; it's the only thing he knows. He sleeps on the couch at the office a lot of the time. And he's really good at what he does - it's the only thing he really, really knows.
Tavis: For you, you've done this a couple of times now in prime time. Is the plan to do things that are diametrically opposed in terms of characters?
McDermott: Yeah, that's always the fun part. The thing about being on a successful show is that people get to know you, and that's the good news and the bad news. Because once they get to know you, they think they know you and they kind of like lock you in, you know what I mean?
So I think that when I left "The Practice," then the real work began because then it's my job to kind of change people's minds about me. I certainly don't want to play that role again. It's time to pay a new role. But sometimes in the old days they wouldn't let you do that. You were trapped into a role, and that was it. So it really is my job to mix it up as much as I can, and I try to do that in films like "Wonderland" that I changed my look, certainly.
And I think in "Dark Blue" it's a chance for me to play a much darker character, and sometimes that might be a little uncomfortable for people. But hopefully they'll catch up and say, “Oh, this guy has so many intricacies to him, and who is he, and the complexity of the character. He's much different than what "The Practice" was.”
Tavis: You said a couple of things I want to go back and kind of unpack a little bit. One, when you said in the old days they wouldn't let you do that, tell me what you meant by that, and why that's changed.
McDermott: Well, you know what? In 1997, I believe, television was - there was a very clear line between television actors and movie actors. And when "The Practice" came to me, everyone said, “Don't do it. You'll be labeled a TV actor.” So I knew the material was good, my instinct was huge on that, and I knew I had to do it. So I ended up doing it. I fired everyone because I knew (laughter) that my instinct was right. Sometimes you get that instinct and you don't want to listen to it.
Tavis: I know, yeah.
McDermott: And that instinct, I knew that I was correct. And by the way, the show was not successful when it came out. It took a good two seasons for it to catch on.
Tavis: That's something else that was different.
McDermott: Yeah. And I knew in my heart that it was going to be successful, but it did take time and I proved to be right. And that doesn't always happen, sometimes you do things. But that instinct was really remarkable when I think back on it, because it was really not a time for a movie actor to go to television. And now, of course, the lines are completely blurred.
Tavis: We laughed when you said it, but I know you were serious about it when you fired everybody. Tell me your process for juxtaposing what you believe is right for your career and being managed, being handled. Because everybody in this business - not everybody; Jay Leno was on here a couple nights ago and Leno doesn't have an agent or a manager.
McDermott: Wow. He gets to keep all that money. (Laughter)
Tavis: That was the same thought I had - $30 million and it's all his.
McDermott: How'd he do that?
Tavis: But most folk in this business are managed or handled by somebody, and there is always this thing where do you trust your own instincts, do you listen to what the agents and the managers and so and so are telling you? What's your process in that regard?
McDermott: Well, it's a great question because representation is a huge part of this business, and I've had many. I've had many agents, I've had many managers, and some have fallen by the wayside because they didn't line up with my vision of myself.
So I think that you have to have a very clear vision of who you are, certainly, and sometimes you get lucky and you run into people that have that same vision. But right now, I have that - I have a good team of people that I really believe in, but it really comes from you. You have to decide what you want and what you see in your career.
If you're waiting for somebody to give you that, you're in big trouble, because they're not. It's like waiting for a director to give you a performance. It doesn't happen. You have to come in with a performance and they can guide you, because there's only a few great directors left.
Tavis: I hear your point that you can't wait for somebody to give that vision to you. I guess the question is whether or not that vision, rather Dylan McDermott's vision of who he is changes over time, or has that been pretty constant - you know where you want to take this career, or has that changed over your career?
McDermott: Yeah, I think it's deepened.
Tavis: That's a good word.
McDermott: It's deepened over time. I think that when you first start out all you want to do is work, and then you realize that you want to do the great work because there's a small window of what's out there for an actor, especially nowadays, when there's less and less movies, network television is clearly in flux and trying to find its identity, and cable right now, I believe, is the place to be, because you can have character.
And that's a great thing for an actor, to have character, because so much of the time you don't get to have character.
Tavis: What is it about cable that allows it - it's all television, ostensibly - what is it about cable that allows it to get the fact that characters work and that network is struggling trying to figure out, particularly when some networks own some of these cable outlets?
McDermott: Sure. Well, because you can do a lot more on television. You can use language.
Tavis: On the cable, you mean.
McDermott: There's sexuality, there's violence that you can get away with you can't do - it's a much more sanitized version on television because of the advertising. So on cable you don't have to worry about that as much because you're paying for it.
Tavis: You talked earlier in this conversation about from role to role, changing your style, changing your look, changing who you are, and hoping that the audience catches up. What's that process been like for you? Do you find that your core fan base does that or they have trouble accepting that?
McDermott: Well, I think it's always an experiment, you know what I mean? I think that certainly this is a much more darker character, as I said before, and I like that. I do this for me, right? I act for me, ultimately. I'm not acting for anybody in the world but for me because I love it, and that's the reason I began and that's the reason I continue to do it. I don't really have a calculated plan to move me to the next level.
I respond to material, and I responded to this because I felt him somewhere. I felt this guy. I felt his sorrow, if you would. And in the pilot he's just walking down the street, and when I read that I saw him and I saw myself in the role.
So I just respond to material. If the material hits me, I don't care if one person sees it or 10 million people, because it's for me. Once I lose that, once I start doing it for other people and trying to create success through that, I think that's when I'll be unhappy.
Tavis: To your point earlier about the lines being so blurred now between television and film, I assume that's a good thing and that you feel comfortable free-flowing back and forth, or have you decided you know what, I'm a TV guy and this is where I want to be now?
McDermott: No, no, I've made many films; I've made many films while I was on television. I've had more success on television. You don't know where that's going to come from sometimes. It just comes. For me, TV has been very good to me, so I have to kind of butter my bread there. When the movies come, it's great.
Tavis: If I got this wrong, you tell me and I'll move on, but I thought I knew - I'm a fan of your work and I thought I knew you relatively well, and I don't know how I missed this. Is it true that Dylan is not your given name?
McDermott: Right.
Tavis: Tell me the story behind that, because I didn't - I say that because Dylan McDermott is - I'm not saying this because you're here; I believe this. I can do, like, 10 of these. I think some people have the coolest names. I used to love Ahmad Rashad.
McDermott: (Laughs) Yeah, that's a great name.
Tavis: (Unintelligible) flow to it, you know what I'm saying? And Dylan McDermott just works. But I did not know that that was not your given name.
McDermott: Yeah, my stepmother, who became my mother, adopted mother, Eve Ensler, who's been on the show -
Tavis: I know her, yeah, absolutely. Great artist.
McDermott: I watched her on the show, she was great. She was the greatest influence, and still is the greatest influence in my life. She took me as a 15-year-old boy and shaped me, and she gave me books to read and she brought me to plays, and she taught me philosophy and she just was that person, that one person in your life that I'm so grateful to have.
Anyway, she was going to have a child with my dad and she miscarried. And they were going to name the baby Dylan, and I had to change my name because of SAG - there was already a Mark McDermott. So I had to take a new name, and there it was. So I took the name, so it's really sort of beautiful in the way it all kind of happened. It was very organic, and I sort of took over, I guess, the spirit.
Tavis: What a great story, and what a great name. And what a great show - "Dark Blue," on TNT, starring Dylan McDermott.
McDermott: Thank you, Tavis.
Tavis: Nice to have you on, man.
McDermott: Thank you, good to be here.
Tavis: Give my best to your mother.
McDermott: I will.
Tavis: All right.
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