John Corbett Discusses Staying Very, Very Still in Latest Film ‘Dead Boyfriend’

Sandra Miska

More than 20 years after working together on the Emmy-winning series “Northern Exposure,” John Corbett reunited with Anthony Edwards for “My Dead Boyfriend,” a dark indie comedy directed by Edwards set in 1999 New York. Corbett plays the titular character whose demise sets in motion a series of events for his girlfriend (Heather Graham). 

Corbett spoke with Entertainment Voice about working with Edwards, why every director should study acting, and his role in the new film, in which he is dead except for a few flashbacks. He also opened up about acting in the “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” films, as well as the “Sex and the City” series and film.

What attracted you to this project?

I’m old friends with Anthony Edwards. We used to do a TV show together called “Northern Exposure” in the early ’90s. He was a guest star on our show for two seasons, and we become good pals. We have the same manager and stayed in touch over the years, and he called me and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to this movie with Heather Graham.’  She’s another old friend of mine. We did another movie together a few years ago in Chicago. And I said, ‘I’m in! Let’s go, man!’ Because I always thought Anthony would be a fun guy to hang out with. I live in California and they were going to shoot in New York. I don’t really spend a ton of time in New York, and it was a couple of weeks in the Bowery, the beautiful Bowery Hotel. All of those things added up to me getting on a plane and wanting to be part of  “Dead Boyfriend.”

Do you think the fact that Anthony has such an extensive acting background, having been on “ER” and “Northern Exposure,” helps him understand the actors better when he directs?

I think anybody who ever acted at all, even for a short period of time, let alone a veteran like Anthony, can only help. I wish that every director I ever work with could have some sort of experience at it, so that they could understand the thing that you’re being asked to do. I don’t wake up in the morning ever feeling like I want to go perform for a hundred people starting at 6 a.m., all day long for weeks and weeks on end. You have to ramp yourself into it a little bit and do things you don’t feel like doing when maybe you’d just rather be sitting in a coffee shop having a cup of coffee. Now I have to perhaps go cry or try to be funny, and to do that I need all the help I can get from the guy asking me to do that in that scene. Maybe I don’t feel like crying, and maybe I don’t think my character should cry right now in that scene. If the director really thinks I should and can talk me into it, then I’m going to do my best to make water come out of my eyes on some level. And it just really helps when the guy helping you to do that has been down that road once or twice before.

I just worked on a movie for the last several weeks and was in this exact situation I was telling you about. I had to talk to Jesus. I had to say a prayer up into the sky and talk to God and ask God questions and legitimately wait for an answer from God, and while I’m doing that in a rain machine in Nashville and it’s 45 degrees outside, all the crew has big North Face jackets on. I’m in a T-shirt and they crank the water machines on and I’m praying to God and for God to give me some kind of answer, right? What does the producer do when I’m using all my imagination? He lights up a big cigar, and when I’m trying to be as emotional as I can in this movie, cigar smoke is wafting over towards me. All I can smell is a big old nasty Cuban cigar while I’m trying to make tears come out of my eyes while I’m saying out loud, ‘Tell me, Jesus. Tell me Lord.’ Does that sound like an extra hurdle in already a line of hurdles? Now I’m going to have to smell cigar smoke that’s pulling me out of this scene.

Yes, that definitely would be a distraction.

If I were directing an actor and asking an actor to do that, not only would I have the most minimal crew around that actor, if a guest lit up a cigar in the middle of the scene I’d take his head off. Anyway, yeah, that’s a long way around of saying it does help for the director to have some acting experience, for sure.

Speaking of challenges. You’re known for your voice. You’ve done voiceover work, but in this role you don’t speak at all. Can you talk about the challenges in playing a non-verbal role?

I like it. I really like it. You know, I didn’t know what I was doing in this movie either. When Anthony wanted to send me the script, I said, “Don’t send me the script. Just tell me what to do before each scene. I don’t want to know anything about the movie. I want to do a little experiment myself.” So I would show up and I didn’t know anything about the movie. I just would have Anthony tell me what he wanted out of each scene right before, and I didn’t know if I had any lines. I’m really quick with memorization. If I have big speeches I can memorize them literally in 10 minutes, so I wasn’t worried about that aspect of it. But he told, “You’re not going to have a ton to say in it.” I enjoy that, you know? The movie that I just did, I was in every single scene for six or seven weeks, every scene, except for one half a page scene. It’s a real treat to not talk in a movie and see if you can convey something across.

You played dead in a very long scene. That must be more difficult than it looks, lying there still for that long.

Playing dead is really tough. It’s hard to do. I watch the dead guys all the time when I’m watching a movie or TV show and I want to see that guy’s chest move a little bit, because I know he’s sneaking some breaths. I did my best to hold my breath for a couple of minutes at a time, and then when I had to exhale I would just let out a big exhale so they would have to stop shooting, and not try to sneak little breaths like I see some of these cheaters doing. It’s interesting because I try to slow my metabolism down and there is one big scene where the cops are around and I’m sort of sitting in the chair. You can also see in someone’s neck their arteries moving too, pumping their heart, so I really tried to lower my blood pressure and not even have that show because there were a couple of close-ups. I wanted to be as dead as I could. I could have killed myself for this movie. I might have won an Oscar if I actually killed myself to play “My Dead Boyfriend.” That would have been great for the movie too. It would have sold a couple more tickets.

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” came out this year. What was it like to revisit that role after 14 years?

That was a real joy. That was a great time in my life when that movie came out. In my opinion, I thought that movie, the first movie, was probably just going to go to video. That was a little couple of million dollar movie, and I had done a few of those. I think we shot it in 2000. It took a couple years to come out. Back then we had video stores, so a lot of things that you would do independently would really go straight to video. You would go into a video store and see your film on VHS tape. So it was a big surprise when it was successful as it was.

I gave up that we would make a sequel, I guess, 10 years after the first one. If you don’t have a sequel within 10 years you’re probably not going to do it. So Nia Vardalos called me up and said, “I got another script. We’re going to do it if you want to.” I said, “I want to do it. How about everybody else?” I couldn’t believe everybody was in such great shape. Some of the older cast, they’re in their 80s now, and they just looked great. They have a ton of energy. I’m pitching to make another one right now. I love those movies.

Where do you see your character in the third film? What do you think will be happening?

I like the term “Big Fat Divorce,” “My Big Fat Greek Divorce.” That would be an interesting way to go, right? Why not, man? It would be the last one. Let’s go full circle. Let’s go from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” to “My Big Fat Greek Divorce.” Then we would be in the real world of marriages not working out and it would be kind of interesting to go that way. I don’t think it would ever happen. People don’t want to see us break up, really. They might find it interesting for a few minutes, but people like the idea that that big Greek family is together.

It might work if they found a way to reconcile by the end.

Yeah, yeah. I’ll talk to Nia, though. I’ll try to give us some marriage trouble in there. I think that would be interesting.

Everybody loved you in “Sex and the City.” You played such a good guy and a lot of people rooted for your character. Do you think you’d ever revisit that role?

I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s a place for that role anymore. I was in the second movie, and they talked about doing a third one. I don’t know if they will, but I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t be a place for me in the third one. I think Aidan’s just moved on. He’s got kids now, and he’s got a wife. We sort of visited the idea of him cheating on his wife and kids when he gave Carrie a kiss in the sequel. A kiss will lead to some bed action, usually, in those kind of movies, but she was smart to run away. I don’t think Carrie would revisit Aidan. I just don’t see it happening. I think she’s going to live happily ever after with Mr. Big.

I’d like to see another movie, though. I think that they should make another one. The lead actresses all look fantastic still, and people love them, so, do it! Go make another one. They’re easy to do. They just have to get the schedules right for all four girls.  I shouldn’t say they’re easy to do, but they have everything they need there. They have Michael Patrick King and the four girls. Michael Patrick King’s a great writer. He’s got a million ideas. They should just do it.

What’s next for you? You mentioned just finishing a film in Tennessee.

Yeah, I did a great little movie called ‘All Saints.’ It will probably be out in a year. It’s a Sony picture. And, now, it really slows down for me this time of year. From now until probably February I won’t be doing much except riding around the country, visiting friends on my motorcycle with a couple other friends, enjoying the Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s holidays. I’ve been working all year. I was in New York working on a TV show called ‘Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll.’ I’m going to kick back and have a little fun now. It’s time for me to go and enjoy myself. I work hard, now I’m going to play hard.

“My Dead Boyfriend” opens Nov. 4 in select theaters and VOD. It shows in Los Angeles at Arena Cinelounge.