BTSCelebs: You play ranch foreman Derek Sterling in your new movie. Is your personality anything like your character in the film?
Diogo Morgado: Yes, I think so. As a character we always start from a point of knowing. What I mean is… we always start from a point from ourselves. From there, we start putting layers and different stuff based on information and stuff we want to achieve with the character or what we want to inspire. There were different elements that I was inspired by. I was beginning to connect with the audience. That path for the role. That troubled past or some sort of trauma, or a deep experience that somehow shaped the way they are as a person right now. I try to find inspiration in those kind of people I named in the past. For instance, the people that get out of jail and trying to enter society. They get it rough. It’s a rough time when you truly regret what you did in the past. You hope that wouldn’t define you as a person. You struggle with it. It’s hard. You get defensive and protective. Normally, you get strength in working really hard. So, I think Derek is a really hard worker. He found the Circle Cross to be his salvation. You hold on to that with everything you got. That’s why he’s defensive when Kennedy comes along. He tries to defend a piece of land that’s not his piece of land, but it’s his piece of land from the heart. It’s part of who he is. I try to get inspiration from that, of course. We always use part of who we are, but just as a start. We build on top of that.
So, answering your question. No, there are certain things that might be similar to me and Derek. Not in the structure actually. I was luckier in my childhood than Derek was.
Tell us about one surreal moment behind-the-scenes working with screen icon Lindsay Wagner.
It was great. She was a generous actor. I don’t know if you know this but I’ve been working as an actor in Europe not in the US. So, there are alot of things about the American culture that I’m not familiar with the same way you guys are. I remember her from “Bionic Woman”, but that was pretty much it. The good thing was that, I didn’t have any preconceptions about anyone. When you meet a person, you see the true person. It was beautiful to see this beautiful woman becoming my mother in the movie. She was pretty generous about it. We try to bring the love between a mother and her son. June adopted Derek. We tried to make that love as real or even deeper than a blood relationship. That was really important for us. We were on the same page with that. Hopefully, that came across.
If you had the opportunity to star in a film with any popular Hollywood stars, who would they be?
That’s only Tom Hanks. He’s my hero. He’s the one that name when I think about acting. Being an actor, what type of story I would like to tell I always say Tom Hank’s is the perfect example. He did it all. He did it all really well. The day I would be in a movie with Tom Hanks would be like the day I would be putting my gloves down. That’s it. I’m done. ….I’m not a fan of the star. I’m a fan of the actor, artist, the person as a talent.
What projects can we look forward to seeing you in 2016?
I just finished “CSI: Cyber “as a guest star. It happened this week. I really hope that this year I’ll be coming out with something as good as what I did so far. Pretty excited.
Don’t forget to watch Mr. Morgado portray ranch foreman Derek Sterling in the upcoming film “Love Finds You In Valentine” on UP tv on Valentine’s Day at 7pm EST.
*BTSCelebs sends a special thanks to UP tv and Diogo Morgado for the interview and photos.*
