Andrew Lincoln has to hate working on The Walking Dead these days. We know how his classically trained friends feel about the role and we know he never expected to play it for six years, but he’s got another reason to hate work now: Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Hate is probably a strong word to use, but it makes sense once you learn how Lincoln likes to act and what kind of torture Morgan is putting him through as Negan.
Morgan explains it all in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, pointing out that he has to keep prodding at Lincoln if he hopes to properly prod at Rick Grimes:
Anyone that has been on set of The Walking Dead knows that Lincoln really gets himself into a mood before filming. The man takes his craft very seriously. So for Negan to properly get into Rick’s head, Morgan knows he has to get in Lincoln’s as well. “I know I’m doing my job the more mad Andy Lincoln gets,” says Morgan. “So if off-camera he’s screaming and swearing in between takes, I know me and Negan are doing our job and I’ve gotten him pretty riled up. And then of course we have to go and apologize and get back to being friends after takes, but it’s been intense. And that is fun.”
Torturing Andrew Lincoln doesn’t seem to be Morgan’s only favorite activity on the set. He goes on the give a lot of praise to the cast and admits that he gets some joy from the dastardly things Negan gets to do over the course of the season. But it comes back to the cast and crew at the end:
“Well, there are a couple of things that go into why I love playing Negan,” says Morgan. “One is the cast that I get to work with. It’s an amazing cast from top to bottom, and crew. It’s just a really great group to be a part of. We really are kind of this huge family, and thankfully they’ve embraced me. Maybe not embraced my character as much, but they’ve embraced me. So that’s been awesome. It’s a hell of a place to work. We have a good time and we work hard. It’s just passionate and fun and cool.”
Not bad for someone who may or may not be taking it too far each week. Some folks still refuse to watch after that season premiere, but Negan seems to still be chugging along with his bat in hand. Lucille will likely get hungry again before he’s off the show and maybe those people will come back to see it during some binge one day.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
