By Christina Radish

Jason Dohring on the set of "Moonlight" at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. on April 7, 2008.

Dohring spoke with MediaBlvd Magazine at Warner Bros. Studios, during the filming of Episode 15.

MediaBlvd Magazine> What’s it like going from Veronica Mars, where you played such a young person, to Moonlight, where you’re playing somebody who’s centuries old?

Jason Dohring> It’s tough. When you play somebody who’s been around one lifetime, it’s a bit easier to understand. They have more of a limited experience. It’s a challenge playing somebody’s who’s been around eight lifetimes, or the period that that would be. There’s no new situations. You’ve seen everything before. So, when Josef gives advice to Mick, he’ll be like, “Please, this happened to me 200 years ago.”

MediaBlvd> How did it feel to go back to work after the writer’s strike?

Jason> It was rad! It was so cool. We’ve been doing some really awesome stuff. You’re going to love the episodes. I saw one scene in the editing room, of the first episode back, and I was emotional for the next hour and a half. I was like, “Wow!” It’s just beautiful. We have this score that is just amazing, with a 30-piece orchestra. It was scored by the director. He got in there with those guys and was like, “Play your instruments like you are never going to play them again,” and they went crazy. It was so cool! It sounds rad. It’s going to be so good.

MediaBlvd> Did you use the break to work on your character at all?

Jason> Yeah, I did, actually. Episodes 13 and 14, I started to get what this guy’s really about. It’s kind of different, and it’s a lot better than how I perceived this character to be.

MediaBlvd> Are you going to have a bigger part in the remaining episodes?

Jason> I think so, yeah. Mick and Josef go and kick some ass. We come in, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and start ripping some vamps up. Josef goes vampire for the first time, which viewers haven’t really seen. It’s cool. It was a pretty good scene.

MediaBlvd> Is there anything you can’t wait for the fans of the show to see?

Jason> The first episode back is the one that I’m like, “Cool!” I think the fans will like it. I really do. I’m not just saying that. There are four scenes in that one, and one of them is where we kick ass. There are other scenes that are light-hearted and funny. I hope it will be good.

MediaBlvd> How much fun was it for you to finally turn into a vampire on the show?

Jason> It was great. It’s been 13 episodes coming. I got dressed for make-up, and they weren’t ready for me on set for about four or five hours. So, I just went around with all my make-up on and I looked like a drug addict. It was very funny. I looked like one of those really sick people that you just don’t want to be approached by. It was funny to go out like that.

MediaBlvd> Do you think there will ever be a knock-down, drag-out fight between Josef and Mick?

Jason> I hope so. For the most part, I think it will be Josef and Mick, kicking somebody else’s ass. But, at some point, Josef might kick Mick’s ass. I don’t know. It would be cool, just to see what that would be like. They’d both probably get a bit of a beat-down. I’m into that. It just hasn’t been written yet.

MediaBlvd> What was your reaction to the show winning the People’s Choice Award for Best New TV Drama?

Jason> It was unbelievable. It was funny that Moonlight was nominated, along with Gossip Girl, which Kristen Bell does the voice-over for, and Private Practice, which Chris Lowell is in. We had Veronica Mars alumni cast in all of the different things that were nominated. And, obviously, the best show won.

MediaBlvd> Are you satisfied with the direction of your character for the remaining episodes? Is there anything more you’d like to see?

Jason> Yeah. One episode goes into a bit of the backstory for the character, and I rather enjoyed that. I’d love to see some flashbacks -- not talking about the thing, but actually showing him back there, and the party scenes back then.

MediaBlvd> Do you know how Josef first became a vampire? Have they told you?

Jason> I don’t yet. But, I know he’s from some kind of good, powerful bloodline.

MediaBlvd> Do you think that’s something they’d get into, in the second season?

Josef's office on the set of "Moonlight" at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. on April 7, 2008.

MediaBlvd> Who is your favorite person to work with on the show?

Jason> I’ve mostly worked with Alex, so I’d say Alex. But, I’ve had a couple scenes with Sophia, and I just like to watch her. She’s very talented. If you watch her, you’re just like, “Wow!” She’ll have a line, and it’s a hard line that I’d probably have to work on to make it not sound artificial, and she just does it, like nothing. I learn from watching her. She’s just in it and just does it, and doesn’t ever question it. It’s very beautiful. And she knows how she looks on film, when she moves. I think she has a good awareness of that, especially in pictures. The pictures that are taken of her, she just creates a beauty flow and you can see it.

MediaBlvd> Were you a fan of the vampire genre before this show?

Jason> I had seen Interview with a Vampire, and that sort of thing, but when I got this, I started checking things out. We have different rules. Everybody has different rules, so we’re figuring out what we are and what our style is like. The show is about real people that live their lives, and yet become vampires. Josef is a little bit eccentric. I got much more into it, after I got the role.

MediaBlvd> Do you ever run into fans who think they’re actual vampires, or vampire hunters?

Jason> I’ve had people ask me if I believe in vampires. People are into that. I met a friend of Anne Rice’s recently, out on the golf course, and he told me about how it was a metaphor for her daughter, who died of leukemia when she was 6. It certainly is interesting. There is the human aspect of being immortal, and more powerful than you probably think you are. People see that and it turns them on. People like that.

MediaBlvd> If you were to become a vampire in real life, do you think you’d follow Mick’s path or Josef’s path?

Jason> Mick’s path, I would imagine. I’m not going to be hedonistic and go sleep with a bunch of women, or something like that. I’ll leave that to my acting career. You’ve got to find a way to do something good with it, and I think Mick does.

MediaBlvd> Would you like to see Josef eventually go to the light side?

Jason> I don’t think so, no. I think he’s more interesting, in that he does what he does. But, there will be moments where it drops in. I think, once upon a time, he was like Mick, and then just dropped over the edge that Mick’s not over yet, as far as holding onto his morals. I think he was keeping his life together and trying to make it work, and then he just let go. Rightly or wrongly, I think about that when I’m playing him.

MediaBlvd> What are you a big fan of, in your own life?

Jason> Good art. Good acting. I’m getting more into seeing artists -- people that can change lives, just with what they do and how they are, and the flow that they can put into their work or their life. I’ve been noticing that with some of the friends that I’ve been hanging out with. I’m just like, “Wow! This guy is incredible.” And then, I’ll listen to music that’s just so beautiful. I’ll be playing it in my room, and be like, “Wow!” I enjoy stuff like that. And I love talking about acting with Alex and Sophia. It’s just life and art.

Josef's office on the set of "Moonlight" at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. on April 7, 2008.

Jason> I didn’t want to become an actor until about four years ago, just before I got Veronica Mars. I’ve been acting since I was about 8. I got into it because I have identical twin brothers and twin sisters. When they’re really young, they just use one of them and then the other one because you can only work them about three hours. So, we got into commercials, and stuff like that. And then, about a year or less before Veronica Mars, I was like, “I wanna be awesome.” That was the start of it, for me. I almost don’t know if it was so much about acting as it was about doing good work. I want to do work that blows people away. And I guess that is about acting, but that was the product for the thing I was thinking of achieving. I want to change people’s lives and make it mean something to me. That’s why I loved Veronica Mars so much. It was a character that you could really get into so much. You could take a little thing and make it mean so much to you, and then it means more to the audience. It’s simple enough, as an actor. You’re dramatizing things. It could just be a simple thing, but if somebody has a huge backstory behind it, and then they tell you something, you see it. Doing that type of stuff is fantastic. And when you look at actors that do that, it just turns you on. That’s cool.

MediaBlvd> What artists have touched your life and affected you?

Jason> Everybody always says Marlon Brando and James Dean, but if you really watch them, and you watch one of their scenes 20 times, you’ll see it. That’s probably the best advice you could give to an actor. You watch it and you’re like, “Okay, cool, he did nothing.” You watch it again and you’re like, “Oh, look at that.” And then, you watch it again and you’re like, “Holy shit! Look at all that stuff he does in three seconds.” Every time they’re on film, and especially in the earlier years of Brando, they would do cool stuff, in every bit of film. I’m always upset when people say, “Yeah, Brando got so fat and was just crazy.” In every film, he was awesome or did awesome work, even if it’s one or two unbelievable choices or moments. He was never just walking through it. I think that is so admirable. And he played so many different characters. He played everything. It’s incredible. It definitely shaped my career to study those guys. They’ve got a style. You watch how they move and you’re like, “That is so cool! I wanna do that.” You don’t copy them, but you pick up on it. They moved with grace and beauty, and I think that’s something that can be learned. You can pick that up and use that in your work.  

MediaBlvd> Are there any little affectations or things you’ve done with your character that you hope people notice?

Jason> I don’t think you can plan out every single little thing that you’re going to do because stuff comes to you on impulse, and you just do it. I can’t say that every little thing that I do is planned. I’ve almost gone that route and it’s unbearable. You can get so in your head, it’s crazy. You can just be the guy, and then have fun with it. It varies, from take to take. Sometimes, you’ll get a little idea and just go with it, and it comes out good. There are just little things that come about from this nebulous thing of art. It’s different from take to take and person to person. Working with certain actors, it comes out more.

MediaBlvd> In real life, what’s your greatest fear?

Jason> Probably burning alive. I think that would be so bad because it would probably take awhile, and you’d be in extreme pain, which I guess is good for playing a vampire. That works for the character.