Jon Bernthal Knocking’em Dead

Humanity is back to square one — hunting, gathering, and avoiding being eaten. Decaying husks of men, women, and children wander about in search of flesh, while small bands of the uninfected struggle to survive. AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” based on the graphic-novel series, has launched the zombie genre into long-form television and opened up the classic horror concept to complex relationships and a genuine feel of, “What if it really happened?” Jon Bernthal plays Shane Walsh, a sheriff’s deputy in a small Georgia town, who finds himself looking after Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and her son (Chandler Riggs), the family of his best friend, Rick (Andrew Lincoln). Shane is the leader of a group of survivors who end up rescuing Rick, who had been presumed dead, and bringing him back to their forest refuge. Shane is then de facto demoted, from both the top of the heap and Lori’s sleeping bag. Season one saw Bernthal’s character begin to detach from pre-plague morals, and season two, premiering October 16th, will apparently follow him down the dark road.

Having landed parts with some of Holly- wood’s heaviest hitters, Bernthal appeared as a September 11 hero in Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center (2006) with Nicolas Cage and Maria Bello, and as a literary agent in Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer (2010), starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan. He co-stars in the upcoming Rampart with Woody Harrelson, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Buscemi, Ice Cube, Ben Foster, and Robin Wright. Focusing on Harrelson’s character, a fictional LAPD officer caught up in the scandal, the film is directed by Oren Moverman (The Messenger, 2009), who wrote the script with the help of crime novelist James Ellroy.

“Jon is a powerful, dynamic, dangerous actor,” Harrelson tells us, “who keeps you on your toes and makes you sharper and more alive in the scene by virtue of his level of presence in the character. I love working with him and I love hanging with him. I think the sky is the limit for him.”

A kid from D.C. with a knack for trouble, Bernthal got his act together in Russia, where he studied at the Moscow Art Theatre. “There’s something so beautiful and honest about the Russian people,” he relates. “I feel so indebted to them. In Moscow, you go around the city and it’s statues of playwrights and actors. You go on the subways and it’s people reading Dostoyevsky and Bulgakov; it’s not people reading Us Weekly.” From there, Bernthal was recruited to Harvard’s theater graduate program. “I was like, ‘I’m the biggest screw-up on the block,” he recalls with a laugh. “Hey, I’ll tell my old man I’m going to Harvard!”

A college baseball player who went pro while in Moscow, Bernthal is an avid boxer with a love of pit bulls, a breed he’s been known to rescue. “I do take in pit bulls when- ever I can,” he relates. “I think they’re the most abused breed out there, and the most misunderstood.” As for his own two pooches, Boss and Venice, “Oren Moverman saw them and ended up putting them in the movie. I think Venice is in about 10 times more scenes than I am!” Last May, we caught Bernthal’s fiery stage performance as an underachieving lady’s man and fiercely loyal friend in “Small Engine Repair” at an intimate L.A. theater.

Bernthal talks to us from Georgia. He’s parked in his truck, dogs by his side, some- where in the “three-mile radius that gets cell reception.”

Venice: What did you think of the “Walking Dead” script when you first read it?

Jon Bernthal: I read the pilot two years ago and it just blew me away. I’d never read a pilot script that paid so much attention to detailed character and atmosphere. I’d never read any- thing like it. I wanted to be in it so bad. Then you get cast in something like that and it’s the biggest thrill in the world. And then to have the reaction from the fans be what it is, and to have people dig it and give us a life and to let us stay on the air, it’s just awesome! It’s a show where everyone involved knows how lucky we are to be involved with it. We all love being there so much. I’m really blessed. It’s pretty damn cool.

What do you think is so compelling about zombies, who move really slowly but are always out to get you?

Strength in numbers, man. You just don’t want to encounter a group. Not to sound like a pretentious film geek, but zombies in film have always stood for whatever plight is ailing society at the time. Whether it be a nuclear holocaust, or the environmental disaster, or racial prejudice, or whatever it is. And I think there is something unbelievably creepy and daunting about this alive, slow, crawling threat that’s ever-present, that’s constantly creeping up on you from all sides. I think what’s so cool about this show in particular, and I think it comes right from the graphic novel, is that at the end of the day, it’s really not the zombies that are going to be the thing that will bring these people down. The scariest thing of all is the evil that exists in the human condition. I think that’s a really, really dark, twisted attitude, but I think it comes right from the graphic novel.

What will we see Shane going through this season?

He develops a new code, especially in the second season, of how to live, and what he can get away with. It’s all about making hard decisions and surviving; it’s not about doing what might be considered morally right. I think feelings of shame and guilt and doing the right thing, that kind of goes out the window for this character, this season. He finds no place for it in this world, and he looks at having a con- science as being a real drawback and a real hindrance to survival.

What are your thoughts on his “demotion” when Rick came into the fold?

It’s a dynamic of a man who, from his perspective, was thrust into a position where he had a little boy looking at him like a father, he had a woman that he needed to protect and keep alive, and he was in this position of leadership and responsibility. I think it’s an incredibly intoxicating and attractive position to be in, and I think he fell in love with it. Then his best friend came back, which obviously he’s extremely happy about, but he’s now had a taste of what it’s like to be in this number-one position.

Even if he’s questioning morality, doesn’t it make sense to ensure the entire group survives?

But what happens when the needs of one person start slowing down the rest of the group? These are the questions that season two really explores. And in that way, I think it’s going to be a far more cold and brutal season. We’re going to pit human against human, versus human against zombie. People don’t have to worry, there will be plenty of zombies’ heads getting chopped off [laughs], but at the same time, this is really going to delve much more into the human question. The writers on this show have managed to create these characters that are so rich and dynamic. There are no good guys or bad guys. Everybody’s just doing what they can to stay alive.

Tell us about working with Oren Moverman on Rampart.

To work with Oren Moverman is an absolute blessing. He’s a real artist. He’s the kind of director every actor would be so lucky to work with. I think a lot of people either go into their work in film being unbelievably prepared and rigid, or unbelievably loose and improvisational, and I’ve never seen such a wonderful combination of the two in a filmmaker. I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life.

What was it like working with Woody Harrelson?

He’s my favorite actor; Natural Born Killers is my favorite movie. I’ve been the biggest Woody fan my whole life, and now to have him be a friend is just the greatest. We play basketball every day. He’s figured out a way of living in this world that is so beautiful and so right on. He’s got time for everybody and he’s so genuine and so truthful. He loves to do what he does. Before going into scenes with him, he’s just on it. He wishes every- body good luck and he’s so committed. He’s so unbelievably talented, but also so down to earth. I have a deep respect for him and he’ll be a friend forever.

What are your thoughts on the character you played in World Trade Center?

It was a tough movie to tackle when we did. I was playing Chris Amoroso, who was a Port Authority officer who died in the World Trade Center. He went in that day, he pulled a woman out, and he ended up not making it. I looked at it as a real responsibility to get this guy right.

Working with Oliver Stone must have been exciting for you, especially since he directed Natural Born Killers.

The way he works is he orchestrates the atmosphere. He gave me a confidence and taught me a really valuable lesson, which is to stand up for yourself and go with your gut. If you’re doing the right thing, then do the right thing. He’s really been a good friend and supporter of mine and I love him. I think he’s a genius.

How about working with Roman Polanski?

To watch him direct is like watching Michael Jordan play basketball. It’s like watching a video of Jerry Garcia playing guitar. A guy doing what he was put on this earth to do. He is inarguably one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. When you see this man in his mid-70s do 18-hour days... There is not one shot that is not of vital, vital importance. He can do a shot of you picking up a glass and he’ll spend hours on it. He will make sure everything is perfect. He never stops, he never sits down. He’s so happy on a film set. I found him fascinating and lovely. I know people have their issues with him, but I thought he was a sweet, sweet, beautiful man.

How did you end up studying in Moscow?

I was really kind of a knucklehead as a kid. I was getting in trouble all the time when I was young, and sometimes really pretty big trouble. I took an acting class in school and I met this wonderful teacher [at Skidmore College] named Alma Becker. She discovered in me that [acting] is something that I should do. She really steered me towards it. I got in big trouble and I had to leave school, and I really didn’t know what to do. Alma told me about the Moscow Art Theatre. I enrolled there in 1999 and it saved my life. It taught me discipline and a respect for the arts that I never would have gotten here. It’s a level of training in ballet, in acrobatics, in rhythm, in speech, that is so disciplined and so rigorous, and so brutal and cutting, and I really, really responded to it. It was like high- level athletics. I went to Russia a fucked-up boy, and I came out a man who had figured out exactly what he wanted. I really grew up there in a lot of ways. It opened my eyes to a lot of things.

What do you love about what you do?

It’s a huge question. I love storytelling and I love servicing a story. I think storytelling is such a vital part of being human. I think it’s one of the best ways we can learn, and it’s one of the best ways we can communicate, and it’s one of the best ways that our souls can actually touch each other. I know that sounds like the most sappy thing ever, but I love, through art, how an idea or an emotion that one person has — that you could never put a name on and you could never actually describe correctly — you can actually give it to somebody through a note in music, or through a color in a painting, or through a moment on stage, or a moment captured by a camera. I love, with acting, that we get to do that. And that’s what we’re trying to do. My first love will always be the stage, and I never in a million years ever wanted to act in front of a camera. But now that I’ve been doing it for a few years, I’ve really fallen in love with it. I love the collaborative nature of it. I love that it takes so many moving parts to make it happen. You’ve got to work with so many people. At the end of the day, I love the connection and I love being a part of storytelling. I think it’s a really honorable endeavor, and I dig it. I’m just so over-the-moon that people actually pay me to do this, because I’m getting to do what I love. And there’s no part too small and no part too big. It’s really an honor and I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world. 􀀀

“The Walking Dead” premieres October 16th on AMC.