The Walking Dead: Exclusive interview with Josh McDermitt
By Adam Carlson
My co-editor at Undead Walking, Susan, loves the sincerity that you bring to Eugene when you apologize or even lie on The Walking Dead. Are you a great liar in real life or is that just part of acting for you?
"“[laughing] Well, if I told you it was just acting, would you believe me?”"
No, I don’t think I would. Although comedy might prepare you for that.
"“It’s interesting. Eugene was several lies into a con. People say ‘how were you able to keep all these layers going?’ and I just had to believe it myself. I think that if you believe what you’re saying, then you’ll let other people believe it too. It sounds very sociopathic…but it’s true. I think people inherently want to trust each other, unless you have trust issues or that kind of thing, but at the end of the day, they’re going to want to trust you. And if you believe what you’re saying, then they’ll believe it too. That’s what makes a good salesman as well.”"
Fans of The Walking Dead are some of the best people on Earth, but I’m assuming there are some really hardcore folks out there that make everyone else look bad. What is the craziest fan interaction you’ve had, either on social media or in real life?
"“You know, I haven’t had anything too crazy. Like you said, the fans are crazy, but they’re crazy in the greatest way. I mean, I’ll be doing an interview with you and I might say something in this interview that maybe a year from now someone will find and find out ‘oh, Josh really has an infatuation with paper clips’. Just because I mention a paper clip in the interview, everyone starts giving me paper clips. And they’ll talk to each other on social media and start giving me boxes of paper clips. And although that’s not true, stuff like that is true. I kind of get hesitant to even say anything because I don’t want to encourage any kind of behavior where stuff like that will get out of control. There’s a tortilla shop, a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix where I grew up. I absolutely love this place and it’s called Carolina’s. This girl Taylor, who lives in Phoenix, when she comes to these conventions, she will bring me a package of the tortillas. I mean, I’ll eat these things plain! There was one convention that she couldn’t come to, so she FedExed the tortillas to someone who was going to the convention so they could bring them to me. I was like ‘Oh, these are from Taylor! Awesome!’ and I was eating the tortillas and the person who gave them to me holds up their iPad and Taylor is on FaceTime with me watching me eat the tortillas. It was just this weird moment. I’m like ‘This is what my life is right now.’ I’m FaceTiming this 13-year-old girl in Phoenix who FedExed me some tortillas.”"
Oh, that is great.
"“But nothing super crazy, like if someone broke into my house and took a dump on my pillow or anything like that. [laughs] But it certainly is wild just to think of where this might go.”"
If I were you, I would have picked something besides paper clips. Because you might start getting a mountain of those coming in the mail now.
"“[laughs] Oh, I know they will. I’m smart. I’m trying to build my home office up, so I need to stock up.”"
There you go! That’s the way to do it!
Next: More with The Walking Dead's Josh McDermitt