Dermot Mulroney Has a New Appreciation for Rom-Coms
It [the happiness people get from rom-coms] really lasts. It lasts so long. I wouldn’t have known this until this much time has gone by. But the impact of those movies…really, I’m talking about My Best Friend’s Wedding and The Wedding Date. They really impact people’s lives, and they always have such a distinct impression from those movies, more so than other types of films that I’ve done. They really leave a mark on people. It’s amazing to see over time.
If you have a full day to binge watch whatever you want, what do you pick?
These days, I pick documentaries. Not a very exciting answer, but that’s because I’m working alone in a hotel. At home, if I was watching with my wife, we’d choose different stuff, comedies for sure. Although, Peaky Blinders is a big obsession of mine too at the moment.
But the real question is: What is binging? And what are the modern cultural repercussions of what that is? Because it’s different. And I don’t mean you’re watching the thing differently or they make them differently or they release them differently, what I’m saying is that people’s reaction to the product is different. Their reaction also is somewhat magnified, I’m noticing, if you see four in a row of something. Or having shown up on Homecoming, the way people viewed that affected how they remember the piece a little better than if you go to a movie. It seems to impact a little more deeply. So, yeah, be careful.
What’s the weirdest thing you do in your alone time?
You know, for me, one of the weirdest things is to go to a mall and go into a department store to buy, let’s say, a necessity. I don’t know why, but I’m just not really accustomed to doing that by myself. Sometimes the most normal shit feels really weird when you’re doing it alone.
I did do a yoga session in the middle of the London Natural History Museum with about 250 other people. That’s pretty weird. You’ll end up finding yourself at weird yoga classes and things like that when you’re alone on location.
Fill in this blank “I love when my partner…” What is something you enjoy about your relationship?
FaceTime and hikes. Hikes, I think is what we’ve been enjoying a lot. When I’m home in Los Angeles, it’s an amazing city for any kind of outdoor activity. But a good, friendly well-timed FaceTime right now is of super value to me.
Do you have a favorite movie or TV love scene?
I’m flashing on one I tried to have with Zooey Deschanel in the New Girl, which is still one of the most screamingly hilarious scenes I’ve ever been in. She’s trying to break up with me or something, I don’t remember. But the best one…gosh, I just saw Sharky’s Machine, you really can’t beat that with Rachel Ward and Burt Reynolds, and William Fraker’s cinematography throughout that film.
What’s the most inappropriate thing a fan has ever said to you?
Well, I’ve got another namby-pamby answer for that, and I knock on wood, because every single person that’s ever come up to me has been nice and smiling. And really what I’ve gotten all over the years is just this incredible good will. More or less every day, someone just is incredibly nice to me, out of the blue, some stranger. It’s amazing. I’ve had a few people drunk, couple of ass grabs, but I’m good. I’ve made it through so far pretty unscathed.