Kevin Zegers admits he fought hard for his role on “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan’s new show, “The Madison.”
The Gossip Girl actor didn’t reveal how he landed the role, but told Page Six exclusively at the show’s premiere earlier this week that the process was “not easy.”
The 41-year-old theorized that perhaps “I wasn’t completely suited for it, but I didn’t[give up]. I just knew I was supposed to do it.”
The actor joked that he was even going to fly to creator Sheridan’s house and “knock on the door” to get the role.
But he didn’t have to rely on that, and ended up starring in a neo-Western series about a New York City family who moved to rural Montana. The show, which premieres March 14 on Paramount+, also stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell, Patrick J. Adams and Matthew Fox.
Zegers also shared that while filming the series, he was willing to apply several principles of sobriety, including the principle of service, which reflects his role on the show as a caring neighbor.
“I try to live my life that way,” he revealed. “That’s like a big tenet of how I live my life. And I’ve never seen that expression in a guy with no expectations and just trying to help.”
Zegers explained that he became especially close with child actor Alaina Pollack, who plays Pfeiffer’s granddaughter.
He was familiar with it, having appeared in 1997’s Air Bad when he was 13 years old, and believes it influenced his later issues.
“100%,” he exclaimed. “I’ve never met a child actor who wasn’t as active or in recovery as a drug addict.”
Zegers acknowledged that for a child, “it’s weird having to go to work,” adding, “It might be a bad day. If you’re 11 years old, you can say, ‘I don’t want to go to school today.'” But on set, it’s different. “There’s 250 people waiting… so that’s a lot of pressure.”
The Dawn of the Dead star attended the premiere with her two dates, her 10-year-old twin daughters Zoe and Blake, and posed dizzyingly on the red carpet with her dad.
“They think I’m the biggest loser in the world,” he joked. “And this is kind of the moment where they think, ‘Oh, maybe you’re not so bad.’
“When I was getting dressed, they said, ‘You can’t wear that jacket,’ so they made me change.”
Zegers said he was “proud” of his work on “Madison” and was glad he brought his kids to see it.
“It’s good to see them do the same thing that daddy does when he’s proud of something. I’m really proud of that,” he said.
