Playing the Pivotal Part

David Morse has played supporting and lead roles in scores of movies and TV series, successfully making the jump from beleaguered young TV doctor (St. Elsewhere) to serious film actor (The Crossing Guard, The Green Mile, The Hurt Locker, Dancer in the Dark, etc.). He has played his fair share of cops drowning in a sea of moral ambiguity (The Indian Runner, Hack, House, Treme), did a turn as George Washington in the miniseries John Adams, and received Tony Award nominations for his roles in the recent Broadway productions of The Iceman Cometh and How I Learned to Drive. Morse is a serious actor who can add legitimacy to just about anything – just watch his valiant effort at grounding the action in the midst of the ham sandwich that is the 1995 miniseries The Langoliers.

I spoke with Morse specifically to talk about his roles in 12 Monkeys and World War Z. In 12 Monkeys, he plays a research scientist who decides to wipe out the human race with a highly contagious airborne virus. In World…