Each day this week, DRIVEN will post exclusive, one-on-one chats with the filmmaker and several actors who helped bring Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ epic graphic novel Watchmen to cinematic life. Tomorrow: Malin Akerman discusses life as Silk Spectre II. Wednesday: Watchmen director Zack Snyder. Thursday: a rare interview with Billy Crudup, AKA Dr. Manhattan. Friday: a surprise post. Plus: a chance for Watchmen fans to win a piece of collectible Watchmen memorabilia (find out how at the end of this post).

First up, Jeffrey Dean Morgan—previously known as the overly-sexed dead patient from Grey’s Anatomy—talks about his brutal, psychopathic superhero, The Comedian. After the jump, Morgan opens up about the super role, his other upcoming movies, and the possibility of a Watchmen sequel.

The Comedian is a very violent, damaged superhero. What are your feelings towards the character?
“All of us [Watchmen characters] would be in prison or dead if we hadn’t found our outfits to kick people’s asses and be vigilantes with. Of course, at one point he kills his pregnant girlfriend, so I’m not saying he’s the greatest guy in the world. One of the most fascinating things about The Comedian, in having first read the book and reading it over and over again, is I realized that I quite liked him. And I thought it was just me, but most people like him. I won’t make excuses for his actions, but I felt sympathy for him.”

Why?
“He’s a very lonely man, and he’s a guy on his own journey. He doesn’t hang out and have friends. So, I had to find the humanity in him that I felt he had. I was fascinated and kept asking fans, ‘Why don’t you hate a guy who shoots his pregnant girlfriend or attempts a brutal rape on the woman he loves?’ The biggest responsibility I had was to make sure that you didn’t walk out of the theatre only hating this guy.”

It sounds like The Comedian has some deep-seeded issues with women.
“Yeah, you think?”

Do you relate to any aspects of The Comedian’s personality?
“Not many people who know me would see The Comedian on screen and go, ‘He’s just like Jeff.’ [Laughs] I don’t go around beating women. There were a couple moments [during production] that were even hard for me to do as an actor, just because they were really vicious beatings. It’s not like you’re pushing somebody against the wall—not that that’s right either—I mean a real beat down. But … we took no prisoners with anything in this movie.”

Had did you feel about the way [director] Zack Snyder cast Watchmen—without big-name celebrity stars in the main roles?
“Great, but we were always nervous that we might get replaced. We just knew that the other shoe could drop at any moment. [laughs] I’m so glad that Zack didn’t do the Ocean’s Eleven kind of cast…. This movie will stand as what it is and not turn into a Tom Cruise movie—or whoever else big they could put in.”

How would you classify Watchmen?
“It’s the deconstruction of what we have come to know as the superhero movie or the comic book genre. Everyone wants to classify it and put it in a superhero genre, but it doesn’t fit. I don’t know how to classify this movie. I walked out of this movie the first time not knowing what I just saw. It’s really hard to process this film … I just want people to see it.”

Did you get a chance to talk to Alan Moore, the author of the original Watchmen graphic novel?
“I talked to him all the time. We’re tight. He had made it perfectly clear his feeling about this. It’s too bad, but I’m not Alan Moore, I can understand his contempt for how and what was done to his previous projects. But, we have (Watchmen illustrator) Dave Gibbons, who is our biggest fan and that’s pretty great”

What do you think your female Grey’s Anatomy fans will think about your role as The Comedian?
“Oh, I think they’re in for a shock.”

What other movies do you have coming out?
“I’ve been busy. I have five or six movies in the can. I’m ready for a nap. I worked with Ang Lee on Taking Woodstock, and I did this thing called Shanghaiwith John Cusack, and a movie called All Good Things, with Kristin Dunst and Ryan Gosling. The Accidental Husband, which I did with Uma (Thurman) is fighting its way out to get a release date.”

You are getting to be quite the movie star. It’s easy to get caught up in the celebrity hype, so how do you stay so down-to-earth?
“Because I have a really good memory. [Laughs] It wasn’t long ago when things were really bad. And I think it helps when good things happen a little bit later in life—it’s not like I’m going to be out whooping it up with Paris Hilton down on Sunset Boulevard. What’s important is the work now, it’s not the scene.

Do you think there will be a Watchmen sequel?
“Well, they never wrote any more comic book or graphic novels, but I can’t imagine that there isn’t a guy sitting in a little room at Warner Brothers working on one. But, if Alan Moore isn’t writing another one, then I don’t see it happening.”

WATCHMEN WEEK CONTEST

To win an exclusive, collectible Watchmen prize, send an e-mail to talkback@DRIVENmag.com by 11:59p.m. E.S.T (Eastern Standard Time) on Thurdsday, March 5. One winner, chosen by random draw, will be the recipient of a rare, limited Watchmen collectible. Thanks for your participation and good luck!

Watchmen opens in North America on March 6.

Tomorrow: the sexy, Swedish-born beauty, Malin Akerman talks about her experience playing Silk Spectre II.