The Jason Dohring Interview p2f :
making this little bcs it is int but detracts some from my feel for Logan
CB: Now, you have a reputation for being pretty serious about the craft of acting.
JD: ...What I was happiest with -- the work on Veronica Mars that I liked best -- was the pilot. I don't know, just, like, the little tiny moments, like driving up in the car ? in the school lot, asking her to come surfing, and does she drink like her mother ?, and Veronica didn't look at me, and I'm like, 'Hey! Hey!' and she looked at me, and my attention was totally on her. cool. I was just so there -- I felt quite secure at that time that everything out of my mouth would have been character-driven, in a way. A couple of things I did were embellishments of what was in the script.
I love how physical Logan is, with guys as well he oozes physicality. in the pilot at lunch he sits on Duncan's lap and plays at sensually rubbing his own chest. and a few episodes later, on the bleachers, he leans back and puts his head on the knee of another guy when he asks Duncan, "Your boy Troy was going to join us for happy hour... you think he got waylaid by Veronica?"
CB: What do you do to keep improving as an actor?
JD: I just try keeping an eye open for new stuff, listening, watching movies. A lot of movies, you can see all the clichés that people talk about, but then you watch a fucking Brando movie or you watch Montgomery Clift, these guys were so attentive to moments that you see in everyday life with dialogue, you see what they act and then you think of what that would have been on the page, and you go, "How did he get that?" Clift, especially, broke up speech in different rhythms, and you see that in life, man! People don't complete a thought so often, and it's awesome! I love that stuff. It's really exciting to me. So you can learn from that.
CB: Being a fan of Brando, are you a fan of the Method, then?
JD: I wouldn't say so, because I don't use past memories in the present to create feelings, but you can know what something's like, and create it in the present, you know, without kind of going back there. I think over time-- I know that good acting can be done through the Method -- I think Sean Penn is un-fucking-believable. yeah. But I don't know how great of shape he's in as a person now, and Brando was sort of the same way.
CB: You started to mention this earlier, but what are your favorite movies?
JD: Oh, boy. You know, I almost...don't really watch movies for pleasure. It's more that there are just actors that I like, whatever they're in. Gary Oldman's awesome, anything that Jack Nicholson does I think is great...and all for different reasons. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is just awesome. Such a good movie...I don't know, I'm looking at my shelf, I've got them all in alphabetical order...State Of Grace, I love. I thought Frida was rad -- I think Alfred Molina's one of the best living actors right now. East Of Eden's rad. I loved Kids w Chloe Sevigny?; that had some of the best acting I've ever seen in my life.
CB: So you spend a lot of time preparing your scenes.
JD: Yeah. But it's fun, dude, because the little things that you guys see -- I love that! That's why I act. You're limited only by the words on the page. You have to say those words, but whatever way you say them, whatever subtext, what's really going on, the feelings underneath -- you have room to express them, and that's what I really love about Logan's character; there are so many different emotions.
CB: A little more on the dark-type roles: obviously one reason you like them is that they're more interesting to you as an actor. But they must bring out so much more raw emotion in you; is that part of the process you enjoy?
JD: I guess so. I like to feel that something's alive in acting, like something's really going on.
CB: [When filming the pilot] Did you hang out on the set when you weren't filming? See what the show was all about?
JD: Well, I had a good idea -- but I wound up going back to L.A. in the middle of it to do that Cold Case episode. So I was really working, actually. But I studied Rico -- I love that guy. Working with good actors is so fun -- that's all I want to do.
CB: A lot of readers probably aren't totally familiar with what it's like working on a TV show -- the process of filming, doing six or eight takes just to get one scene, stuff like that. Describe your typical workday.
JD: It can be anything from one scene, which I did yesterday morning -- I worked from 6:30 in the morning to 8:30 or 9 AM on one scene, and then had the rest of the week off except for tomorrow. So it's a two-day work week, which is very different from Kristen's schedule -- [she] works fourteen hours a day, every day. It depends how many scenes you're in, but I like it when I get a whole day of scenes, because I get into a rhythm, you know? I remember in the episode with Anthony Anderson ["Lord Of The Bling"], I had all these scenes at my house, and it was great -- a couple of days shooting all day, every day, and it was so fucking fun! I really get into it. And you will do several takes, or sometimes you'll do -- that scene the I love you beary much scene where Veronica and I are kissing and we come through the door and talk about my mother, my mother's urn that has sea water in it, that whole scene is one shot.
JD: That movie with Robert Redford, All The President's Men, he has a six-and-a-half minute scene all on him. He said a cool thing -- we were up at Sundance and he screened it for all the people that were there, and someone in the audience asked how he did a scene like that. He said instead of worrying about it, he looked at it just as something cool to do, a cool exercise. I try to think the same way.

JD: I didn't know for the first couple episodes exactly why he was pissed off with Veronica, but he was just that kind of guy that does that to people in general. And then the backstory developed, and it was like, "Okay, cool, I see why that is." that he blamed her for telling Lilly saw him kissing the new girl? and bcs her father was making everything worse for the Kanes, right?
CB: At the beginning of the show, a lot of people had a very negative opinion of your character.Now, your fan support is pretty tremendous. Did that turnaround surprise you?
JD: It's kind of funny, because if you look at people in real life and think that they're mean or nasty, if you knew what got them there, all of a sudden you can have sympathy, and I think that's exactly what happened in "Return Of The Kane," where you see Logan's family situation.
CB: Yeah, I think the belt scene was a definite turning point.
JD: Yeah, isn't that amazing? But then it can go back and forth, which is great. I don't have one way or another that I want to play it, good or bad -- I think the more that you can keep it on the fence, the better. You can swing one way, and people think there's no way you're redeemable, but then you go the other way, and people feel for you. And that's what I think is cool about it -- do I root for him or not? But I think underneath it all, he's good.
CB: I'd guess that's why so many fans find him appealing. Do you think it's also because in this secretive, noir show, he's kind of readable? I don't think he's that readable. but hella expressive gaze and voice and physicality The guy who's impulsive and sort of wears his heart on his sleeve?
JD: Like that he's kind of vulnerable, in a way? Yeah. he's got tremendous vulnerability It makes him human and you can kind of relate to it, and I think people are basically good -- if someone's pure evil, that's not a part of me. I can't get that. But even if someone's evil, if they have a lot of -- this is kind of a weird concept -- intention, or a drive to do something, people can latch onto that as admirable. I think also -- [Jason's voice falls to a stage whisper] I stole this, too -- but like, I think Natalie Wood said that James Dean was always looking to understand. And I think that if you're looking to understand, it almost implies that you're not getting understanding. And the viewer sees that and is like, "Oh my God -- if someone just held him!" And the audience sees all the backstory, but the people in Logan's life don't see all that. The viewer wants to help that guy, but nobody else sees that.

CB: Going back to Logan and Veronica, a lot of the fanbase wants to see them together. You mentioned what the obstacles to that happening are, but is it something you want to see?
JD: Well, I think for acting's sake, I'd like it to go back and forth. It's the most dramatic. I love working with [Kristen], but the good scenes without the bad wouldn't be good. I like both, and I think we're on a pretty good path now. If that's how it ends up being written, I'll be thrilled, but on the other hand, I'm happy enough playing against her in the evil way -- it might even be more fun, because we're actually really liking each other underneath it all. The antagonistic scenes are great.

CB: Another character you've had some memorable scenes with is Weevil. I know that you and Francis are good friends, and you two always seem really on in your scenes together -- do you guys try to one-up each other?
JD: Yeah, I think there's definitely some one-upmanship going on. I don't know -- I think I get the better lines, so I think he just has to take it sometimes.
CB: Going back to what you said about Kristen, you and Weevil can be so antagonistic, yet it seems like underneath you do like each other.
JD: Oh, totally. In Neptune, especially with the elite of the different groups, I think there's a mutual respect. Even in the fight scene, which I loved, you could feel it. But Francis is great, so when you do a scene with another guy and you're both trying to be the best actor you can...it's really who can be the most present. I was realizing that the other day -- if you can be aware of everything the other guy is doing, that makes you a better actor. If I can be aware of everything and understand it and be able to receive it, that makes for good acting, and if everyone's doing that, then the show is really alive.

CB: Let's talk about Amanda Seyfried for a minute.
JD: Dude, this girl is such a good actress. People have no idea how good she is. She has a freedom that's unbelievable -- there's no attention on herself whatsoever coming across. She's a scene-stealer, man! huh

CB: Rob mentioned that he gave you some notice you'd be doing shirtless scenes, and that you hired a trainer. Did you bulk up a lot?
JD: Well, I guess halfway through the first season, I started working out, but I'm not trying to get all crazy with it. But it's cool to be in shape, I guess. I'd lifted a little bit before, but I didn't really know quite how to do it -- it makes a huge difference. I learned how to get in shape without getting certain muscles too big that make you look like a meathead. But Charisma is so much more in shape than I am. And she's so damned tan, too. My Irish skin did not contrast well.

CB: Now you and the rest of the cast, especially last year, were great about traveling a lot to promote the show. How did it feel when you guys got the payoff, so to speak, of the renewal? What did you all do to celebrate?
JD: It was so awesome, man. You know, I guess...the one thing I was sad about was that Kristen was working so hard, and it was like, here's another year of that, so it's kind of like...I don't know, my attention was with her. I hoped we could kind of...expand the show to other avenues, just for her sake. But we were in New York, and I think we all went out to dinner and just had a great time. I couldn't fucking believe it, man. It's such a pyramid -- how many pilots are written, how many are picked up to get made, how many are picked up to become shows, and then re-picked up for multiple seasons...you just have so few.
..We'd just go to like, these places where...our first one in Seattle, it was just unbelievable. We pulled up in like, two different Hummers, these girls were just screaming, and I don't even think they'd seen the show. It's like, I remember not being able to get the time of day from anyone, and all of a sudden you're on TV and it's way different. But it's cool when people understand what you're doing -- I love it when you guys post and you see the little things that we do.

CB: Speaking of Logan's dad, what was your reaction when you heard that you were going to be working with Harry Hamlin?
JD: You know, I guess L.A. Law was kind of before I started watching, you know, regular TV, so I didn't quite know who he was, exactly. But I told my parents, and they were like, "Unbelievable!" And I guess I had heard, but didn't really remember until recently, when that People magazine came out [and] he was "Sexiest Man [Alive]." But we never talk about anything outside of...we talk acting and stuff together, but I never ask about career stuff or anything. He's another very serious guy, but very nice.
CB: Were you surprised by how much he brought to the show?
JD: Yeah, man! I heard that it was some of his best work. But I gotta tell you, at one point I watched Clash Of The Titans, and I thought he was fucking awesome in that movie! For that role, he was so fucking vulnerable, heroic, and I think he was...his natural quality or dynamic, his innate character came through so much in that, I was like, "Dude, this guy is fucking awesome!"