Humbling to know I'm entertaining people in India: 'Will & Grace' star Eric McCormack

Mumbai, Oct 13 (PTI) Actor Eric McCormack, best known for his roles in TV series “Will & Grace”, and “Perception”, says he feels deeply humbled by all the love he has received from his fans in India, a country with which he shares a personal bond.

The Canadian-American actor played Will Truman, a corporate lawyer, in the sitcom “Will & Grace” and was seen as Dr. Daniel Pierce, a neuropsychiatrist with schizophrenia who assists the FBI on some of its most complex cases, in the crime drama “Perception”.

McCormack now stars in “Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue”, currently streaming BBC One and iPlayer. When asked about the love he garners from fans in India, he said actors don't always realise the global impact they create.

“First of all, I'm dating an Indian woman right now, and so I'm loving India all that much more, and it is my favourite food always. But the amazing thing is, particularly in the States, you make an American show for an American audience and you sometimes don't even realize the impact that it has in the bigger picture,” McCormack told PTI in a virtual interview.

“When I hear that something like ‘Will & Grace’, which is so specifically New York and gay and has a very American sensibility, has such popularity in a country as vast and historic as India, I get very moved. It's very humbling,” he said.

McCormack said "Perception" did not do well in the US but it has travelled better in other markets.

"I'm just grateful to everybody that found it. It makes me really happy to know that I'm entertaining people in regions I may never be in. It's pretty awesome,” he added.

His new show “Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue” is a survival drama. A light aircraft carrying 10 people crashes in the Mexican jungle and nine of them survive. But when, one after another, they begin to die in strange and violent ways, they begin to realise that somebody wants them dead. As the story unfolds in flashback, the survivors are seen fighting against the heat, shortage of supplies, and the many dangers of the jungle, as per the official logline.

McCormack said he was instantly drawn to the show and its setting and relished the opportunity to work alongside a diverse ensemble cast including David Ajala, Lydia Wilson, Jan Le, Adam Long, Siobhán McSweeney, Peter Gadiot, and Ólafur Dario Ólafsson.

"We were shooting in the Canary Islands, so you don't say no to that. It has a group of actors that were, I was the only one from North America, it was mostly UK, Irish, some Spanish actors, a few Mexican actors, so it was a real chance to work with a whole other group of thespians.

"I just loved the storytelling of it, the lost in the jungle aspect of it, the survivalist aspect of it, I like anything that involves a growing desperation.” The show features the actor in the role of a former doctor and medical equipment salesman, Kevin Anderson, who is a “loner”.

I find these characters really interesting. What would put someone in a situation like that, who could help, who could be a bigger help and a bigger connector of people, why would that guy be still so removed and so unwilling to pitch in? I find characters like that (interesting), I want to solve their mystery,” he said. PTI KKP BK BK