If Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s “Rampage” character reminds you of his big baddie Negan on “The Walking Dead,” well, it’s because he played it that way.
“When I was watching the movie the other night, I saw a couple body movements that look kind of familiar, a little lean here and there,” Morgan said in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I was like, ‘Oh man, there could have been a little slop over there between Negan and Russell.’”
The biggest difference between their characters: Morgan’s “Rampage” character Russell isn’t the bad guy. In fact, Negan is plenty of bad guy for Morgan right now.
“I think now as soon as I walk onto the screen, people are like, ‘Uh, oh, he’s going to be the baddie,’” the 51-year-old actor said. “I don’t know that I would want to be a villain right now in anything other than what I’m doing.”
“I worry that with ‘The Walking Dead,’ people will only know me as Negan because it’s such a pop culture phenomenon of a show and character,” Morgan continued. “People have forgotten about all my other work as soon as I became Negan and they seem genuinely surprised that I don’t carry Lucille around and torture people in real life. So yeah, let me do something different.”
(Don’t worry, Jeff — longtime fans will always remember you as the romantic AF Denny from “Grey’s Anatomy”).
Morgan called his supporting role in “Rampage” a “dream gig.”
“For me to be able to come in with zero pressure and just have some fun and kind of chew up a little scenery, that’s a great time for me,” he said. “It really is a dream gig, just come in and have fun. That’s what moviemaking should be. I don’t know, I think this might be my deal. I like doing monster movies. I don’t need to win an Oscar. I like having fun.”
“Rampage” is now in theaters, and “The Walking Dead” Season 8 finale is Sunday, April 15 on AMC.