'St. Elsewhere' Actor Sheds 'Boomer' Image

Los Angeles Times

HOLLYWOOD - Television audiences still know him best as the quiet, long-suffering Dr. Jack "Boomer" Morrison on the medical series St. Elsewhere. But since the demise of the Emmy Award-winning drama a decade ago, David Morse has developed into one of the most versatile actors working in film, TV and theater.

He has played his share of good guys (Sean Penn's The Indian Runner) and bad guys (The Negotiator) and worked with such respected directors as Terry Gilliam and Robert Zemeckis.

The shy, soft-spoken 45-year-old actor lives in Philadelphia with his wife and three children. He recently discussed his career on the set of The Green Mile, director Frank Darabont's adaptation of the Stephen King novel.

Question: You don't seem like you've had much difficulty breaking out of your "Boomer" image.

Answer: I was stuck as a "Boomer" type in a lot of people's minds. I will be always grateful to NBC. I got to do some different characters [in TV movies], but in terms of feature films, I would think that that image of that guy was so ingrained in people's heads, they really believed I couldn't do anything else.

Q: Then what changed producers' and filmmakers' perception of you?

A: Working with Sean [in The Indian Runner] sort of started it rolling.

Q: What has it been like working for Frank Darabont? How did it compare to working with a director like Sean Penn?

A: Well, he's [Darabont] a writer, first of all. This is really his second film, so he's really still finding out how to work with actors. He's doing a good job. With every director, it's different. Because he's lived through the project and he's heard it all and seen it all in his head. He has a very strong idea of what things should be. With Sean, he wants to be surprised.

Q: Is it difficult to play bad guys? Have you ever turned down a role because you hated the character?

A: It depends on the film. For something like [an escapist film] The Getaway, the fun is just playing a really bad guy. In a film that is really trying to [say] something like Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter ... He asked me to do the role of the father who molests his daughter. The script was so beautiful to read. But I hated the character. I told him, 'I can't justify what he's done and how he's done it.' Then I wound up doing a play in New York in which I was a pedophile. [That character] I understood completely.

Q: Why?

A: Partly it was the man I was playing in How I Learned How to Drive. He was in love. He didn't see he was a pedophile. He didn't see he was an alcoholic. ... There were things in him that were out of control. He just closed his eyes to those things which were out of control. I could understand that.