If you're going to be stuck with a nickname, McDreamy isn't a bad one to be tagged with. A co-starring role in the 2002 romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama helped revive Patrick Dempsey's career but it's his starring role as Dr Derek Shepherd in the hit TV series Grey's Anatomy that's earned Dempsey the McDreamy nickname and won over the hearts of millions of women. Dempsey's so red-hot right now, he even placed number two on People's Sexiest Man Alive 2007 list (Matt Damon took top honors).
Dempsey heads back to the big screen with Enchanted, the story of an animated fairy tale princess (Adams) who finds herself transformed into flesh and blood and then lost and alone in New York City. Fortunately, a divorce lawyer (Dempsey) takes pity on her and helps her deal with a world in which happily ever after endings are hard to come by.
Patrick Dempsey Press Conference
You’re almost the straight man in this.
“Well that was the hard part, is everybody’s having a great time over-acting and being brilliant, and I had to kind of just drive the narrative, which was challenging. That was the most difficult part. But I just wanted to be a part of it because it’s hard to find stories that are original and different. Yet there was something about this that was timeless and familiar as well, so it felt like it was entertaining on a lot of levels. As a parent, it’s a nice family film, but also it’s a good date movie as well and something you can go and find entertaining. I think the symbolism in it and the archetypes are really fascinating. It was different, and at the time I thought it was the right move to make, and still do.”
Can you talk about the Central Park sequence and that whole musical number?
“That was the best. I think my favorite part was obviously rehearsing for the dance number at the end with Cha-Cha (John O’Connell) who did Strictly Ballroom and Moulin Rouge. I think the amount of sensitivity and artistry that he brought to making you feel that every move you made in the dance was so vital to the story, that, to me, was probably the most enjoyable part of the process. And in the dancing numbers, and certainly in Central Park, working in Manhattan doing something like that is just unbelievable.”
How many times did you have to have the bird in your face?
“That was just that one take. It kind of just happened perfectly. The big thing was like that was the first two scenes - the ones with the rats and the birds. It was like, ‘Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into?’ Because I never felt completely comfortable in the movie, quite honestly, and maybe that works for the character.”
You weren’t comfortable in this movie?
“Well, yeah, because everybody’s so larger-than-life that you’re trying to figure out do you have the right tone? Are you hitting the right beats emotionally and comedically without going over the edge? And the more you’re, I think, honest, the better it is for people to come in and then sort of see the world through Robert’s eyes. I think that’s how people start to react, and that was really challenging. And certainly with Amy, [it was just] unbelievable to watch her. It made my job a lot easier. All I had to do was just listen and watch her and react to what she was giving me, but I never felt comfortable. It was always sort of kind of strange, stylistically.”
You’ve done theatre, so what was it like dancing and working with Idina Menzel?
“There was a great moment when we were doing a dance number. It was like a late Friday night and it was a really wide shot. We started just making some music and the band caught on, and then the dancers caught on. It sort of became like this Fame moment where everybody broke into spontaneous dance. It was really special in the sense where you felt like there was a true company there with the dancers. And the spirit of the dancers I have to say was, I think, the best part of the experience for me,, certainly. There was something true and creative about that that brings you back to the moment when you first fell in love with acting, I think.”
Did you have table reads or rehearsals? Did you and Amy get together or did you just go right into it?
“No, I had maybe a couple meetings with the writer about things that were concerning me in making that leap from bringing her home. I could never quite buy that. It was like, ‘This is a crazy woman, what’s the logical step? You wouldn’t do this in real life because you don’t know if she’s going to come in and kill the entire family.’ So that was a question that we kind of had to answer, and I don’t think we ever quite answered. You buy it because of who Amy is. You kind of let certain things go. No, I went right into it when I finished on Grey’s and then I went right into shooting right away.”
If Disney said that they wanted to take a chance with this as a franchise, are you signed on for any sequels?
“Oh I think it would be fun to explore, yeah, as long as the stories are good. I really loved working with Amy [Adams] and I think James (Marsden) is an unbelievable comedian. I didn’t realize that when I first found out about him being a part of it. And then the first scene I see him in, he’s this over-the-top with the shoulders and the voice and the singing. It was really something else. I think if we can come up with a really good story that’s, I think, meaningful…[spoiler deleted] If they can continue on and think on that level, so it has a lot of depth to it, I think certainly it would be fun. I think there’s room for improvement certainly, always.”
If there’s a sequel to this, would you like to sing?
“I talked to Alan (Menken) about it. Like, I can’t sing but it would be fun to go back and find some sort of style of singing that would be appropriate for his character.”
Like Rex Harrison?
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. We talked about that.”
Talk singing?
“Yeah, sort of a patter type of thing. Some more dancing I think would be fun to do as well.”
Page 2: Grey's Anatomy and Fatherhood
