What’s up Doc?

BY Colin Sargent

Congratulations on your new role as Derek Shepherd on Grey’s Anatomy. How exactly did it come about?

Well, this is part of the pilot season out here right now, and we’re planning for the next season. When [Grey’s Anatomy] came across my desk, I read it and interviewed with Peter Horton, executive producer. I had to go in and test, and then we started shooting.

Can you describe what Derek wants superficially, and what he needs deep down, on the show?

I think he’s starting over in many respects. It will be revealed as the show progresses what he’s starting over from. He’s looking for peace of mind at present, no pun intended—he’s a brain surgeon. He likes going back to work with the doctor who was his mentor, so he’s in the process of reconnecting with his past.

What personality ticks are you introducing into Derek’s character?

I’m concentrating on his bedside manner, his sense of humor in the operating room. To prepare, I followed a surgeon around at UCLA [hospital] and studied his bedside manner, his ease in the OR, and his ability to empower his students, guiding them in a way that built them up. Isaiah Washington’s role on the show is juxtaposed against my character’s. Isaiah plays a heart surgeon in search of a heart.

Is Derek’s last name significant to his character?

He does guide people. He’s certainly one of the consciences of the show. But he has his problems. When he’s in the OR his world is together. Outside the OR is a different situation entirely.

Is that like you on- and off-screen?

Onscreen is comforting in that I know what I’m saying and doing when I’m in front of the camera. I like working in LA, but I’d rather be in Maine. Fortunately, my neighbor in Harpswell, Adam LeClair, is taking time out from lobster fishing and is working on the show here. He started working as an extra, and he’s moving up. He’s now an assistant director and a production assistant. When the crew really needed a break, he had about a hundred lobsters sent here for us. We call him “Lobster Boy” on the set. Back in Maine, his fishing buddies call him “Hollywood.” He’ll return to lobstering [this month].

Can you give us an example of an emotional early experience you had growing up in Maine that you draw on to be convincing onscreen today?

I draw from a lot of childhood times in Maine. That’s all gold to keep for yourself, these moments you can retreat to. That’s why it’s important to me to go home. The mentality of Maine people in general is an emotional resource, an incredible place to touch down to gather strength, and I don’t find that so much in Los Angeles.

In Sweet Home Alabama, your character’s rival goes up to a graffiti-stained water tower, as he did in high school, in order to think things out. We’re betting there’s an exact spot like this for you in Maine. So if your life were a movie, where exactly in Maine would you go in times of trouble or reflection?

I think the woods of Maine for me are very sacred. Every time I get back home I walk through the woods and I feel much better. The land where our farm is in Harpswell to me is incredibly magical. The first time I saw it, it spoke to me. There’s something about a New England farmhouse that has so much heart and soul and depth to me. For extra measure, add a full moon. Try not to think about the mosquitoes.

How often do the vaudeville and juggling skills you learned in Maine come directly or indirectly into play?

They help me defuse a situation that is tense. Here we’ve been working so hard that there are times when, after 14-hour days, the crew is burned out, the actors are tired. To have the ability to make people laugh, loosen them up, it’s valuable to me. I can also use that to loosen up a scene that I consider too ‘dramatic.’

Some of your early roles were intriguingly nerdy. But time and gravitas seemed to have transferred you into authentic leading-man material. Have you felt this leading-man business stealing over your personality, or was it there all along?

I think it’s age and maturity and the journey of life. The scars of life give you the depth and the ability to speak up for yourself. It’s kind of funny. People say, “You’ve grown up!” I’ve been acting for 22 years; I started at 17. I’ve gone on and lived a life and started a family. I’m proud of the early work I’ve done, but people need to see me in a different light.

What helped clinch your current assignment?

I think it’s been an ongoing thing, but maybe it was my work in Once and Again and Will and Grace. The shopping at Tiffany’s scene in Sweet Home Alabama helped change the way people look at me. This show will help.

Who is your favorite TV doctor, other than Dr. Drake Ramore [Joey on Friends]?

I think some of the attitudes of what was going in M*A*S*H appeal to me, the way they play humor against tragedy.

What’s the longest stay in a hospital of your life?

I think six hours. I split my head open! No, actually, the longest time was for the birth of my daugher, Tallulah, three years ago.

Dempsey's Harpswell neighbor Adam LeClair is also part of the Grey's Anatomy crew

When you come back to visit Maine, what are the first three things you have to do?

I stop in Brunswick to get supplies. I really love the town of Brunswick. Memories flood back to me there because I used to perform at the Maine Festival. When I get to the farm I inspect the grounds, just walk around and take everything in. Once I smell the lilacs I know spring has come. My mother lives next door, and she and I catch up on things. I love coming back here and talking with my neighbors, the LeClairs. We’re staying in Maine a lot now, all we can.

When I’m back in Harpswell, my wife, Jill, Tallulah, and I like to go to Dolphin Marina—and Cook’s Lobster House in the off season, when it’s empty. Another place we have to visit to feel we’ve made it back to Maine is Henry & Marty’s in Brunswick. But before we even get to Brunswick we’ve stopped at Browne Trading on Commercial Street, the place with the caviar in Portland. That’s a pilgrimage every time we’re back in Maine. It’s so fun to see Portland, the way it’s growing so much and changing.

You’ve just worked with Hilary Swank. What was that like?

Well, she’s just amazingly focused, very driven. Anjelica Huston as well. It’s an interesting subject matter [Iron Jawed Angels on HBO, about the women’s suffrage movement]. I’m staying away from movies that are violent for violence’s sake, so this project is a great example [of intense emotional conflict without gratuitous violence].

If you live in Harpswell, you must have a boat. What’s its name?

I never got to name it. But now I don’t have to, because I’m hoping to get a new boat this summer. Then I’ll have a new boat without a name.

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