It might have been in the role of heart transplant patient Denny who fell for his doctor, Izzie, in "Grey’s Anatomy" that first established Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a household name, but as sensitive as he was on that hit TV show, his performance in "Watchmen" as the intense, ill-fated Comedian, is bound to take the actor to a whole new level.

Sitting down one-on-one with Morgan, I first asked what had been the most challenging aspects to playing such an emotive character? "Well, he goes on such an arc. You know, there were days that were tougher than others, and where I had to dig a little deeper. Because it was kind of unlike anything I’d ever really done before, for sure. I mean, I had to go places that I didn’t know I would have to go. And then when I figured out I had to go there, I didn’t know if I could go there."

When you do a comic book movie, and, your first time doing a comic book movie, do you expect the characters to be as richly drawn as they are in this piece? "No. Uh-huh. I don’t think it’s ever been done before. I mean, you know, you saw the film. And – you know, I saw it, and I lived it. This is kind of unlike any other project I've ever worked on, you know. I have a hard time even putting it in, and saying it’s a comic book movie. I think this movie is in a genre by itself. It sort of takes what we know of this comic book medium, and kind of throws it right out the f**king window."

"Much like my character. It’s just such an original piece. And, I mean, you just feel that these characters are kind of so – they’re so fledged out in the novel, too. I mean, what I found most fascinating about my character in particular, and what I tried so hard to kind of convey in the movie, was – this is a guy that we shouldn’t like. You know, you just – judged on his actions, you should hate this guy. There shouldn’t be a second thought about him. I never did."

"And that kind of fascinated me. The fact that I didn’t hate this guy. Trying to find the humanity in between trying to rape people, and killing my pregnant girlfriend, the woman who’s bearing my child. And yet, finding a way to like this guy, was sort of – you know, that’s a testament to not only Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, but – you know, Zack being able to convey that, and the work we did, particularly with this role."

Were you familiar with the Watchmen book before you started doing the film? "No. I mean, I’d heard of it. I just never knew the world of comic books. I mean, I’d read comic books as a kid, and gone through my Dad and uncle’s old comic books, when I’d stay at grandma’s house, that kind of thing. But my first time reading it was the day before I met with Zack, and Warner Brothers sent me over a Xeroxed copy of the graphic novel, if you could believe it."

"And I remember reading it, and I decided that I didn’t know what the hell I’d just read. And I think I read it three times in one day, just so I could have some sort of knowledge of it. It’s kind of – even not in color, I knew what I was reading was – it was not like a comic book, certainly. And – or any graphic novel I’d ever heard of. It was just so complex and smart."

What do you think Watchmen says about the state of humanity? I mean, what do you think it says about the state of the world today? "Well, I think it’s incredibly amazing, sort of how relevant it is today, as when – you know, the movie takes place, or when the novel takes place, the Cold War. You know, there was all this talk, always, of this movie, trying to update it and make it a war on terror, or whatever. And Zack went in and fought this good fight and said, “Let’s remain true to the novel.” But, you know, in seeing the film, and even when we were shooting it, we knew."

"I was like, “F**k, this is incredibly current to what is happening right now in the world.” And what that says is, to me, we live in a scary place. You know, this world of ours is in a fragile position right now. The doomsday clock is five minutes to midnight, in reality. And to me, that just scares the shit out of me!"

Your career has really taken a dramatic upturn! Did you expect Grey’s Anatomy to be such a springboard for you as an actor? "I’ll say! No. No, not at all. You know, I’m just thankful that I had a couple episodes on anything. And – you know, for me, it was paying the rent. And certainly I didn’t get to choose anything I was doing. And if I would have thought in a million years that that would lead to Watchmen—which it did. You know, I mean, I wouldn’t be here talking to you right now if it weren’t for Grey’s Anatomy. And not in a million years would I have anticipated. That story line just kind of took off all on its own. And then for Zack to be able to look at something like Grey’s Anatomy and go, “There’s my Comedian,” blows my mind."