Photographs by MATT BARNES
Interviews by MATT MAYTUM

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Patrick Dempsey is used to working at high speed, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that his new TV show – Memory of a Killer – came together so fast. ‘It was very quick,’ he tells Hollywood Authentic from New York. ‘So I got a call – I think it was maybe on the Tuesday, and they were like, ‘You’ve got to read this real quick. You have this offer on this project, and they need to make an announcement right away.’ So I read the scripts, and I liked it. I found the world really intriguing – the character and the dynamic and certainly the action aspect of it – it was a much darker character than I’ve had the opportunity to play. I spoke with the writers. I spoke with the producer. And then I said, ‘Yeah, let’s go for it.’’

Based on a 2003 Belgian film (which was itself adapted from a novel), Memory of a Killer stars Dempsey as an unassuming suburban dad and widower, who leads a double life as a sharp-suited, sharp-shooting assassin in NYC. And while juggling two existences might’ve already been complex enough, Angelo Doyle/Flannery (depending on which life he’s living) is also suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s, compromising his memory. ‘What I liked about it was certainly the character flaw – the aspect of dealing with someone who has early onset Alzheimer’s,’ considers Dempsey. ‘I thought it was really quite interesting. And then on top of that, this double life that he’s leading.’

The challenge of digging into those three facets of the character was a big part of the appeal for Dempsey. ‘You want to create a life in suburbia, and then you want to be able to play the vulnerability of losing your power and your faculties,’ he says. The hitman side of the character, in particular, offered the opportunity to flex a different muscle. ‘For me, what was appealing was to play the assassin, and to get an opportunity to do all the action,’ he smiles. ‘I don’t get that opportunity very often. So it was something different for me to go and do, and to show a different side of my nature.’

Though Angelo is a morally murky character, there’s a thrill to being able to play someone so slickly competent with such a dangerous skill-set. ‘You’re playing make-believe,’ he beams.

‘There’s nothing better than that. It goes back to when you were a kid, running around and doing all that stuff. Now you get to do it as an adult with all the great toys.’ Indeed, there’s almost a Batman element to the character as he leaves his home life, where he poses as a photocopier salesman, and drives off in his extremely practical, family-friendly vehicle, only to head to his hideout where there’s a Porsche, weaponry and hitman-appropriate attire waiting for him. ‘We start off in suburbia, and then we go into the Batcave, and we show the audience who he really is… That was fun for me to play, too.’

The role also allows Dempsey to tap into his own dual life – alongside his acting career, he’s been a successful racing driver, and brings some of those skills to Memory of a Killer’s car stunts. ‘The whole sequence with the Porsche going through the parking garage was something that I got to do, and it was really a lot of fun,’ he explains. ‘That’s really one of the reasons why I did it – to be able to, in my 60s, become an action actor… I love all of that.’ Dempsey may have turned 60 earlier this month, but he’s relaxed about strolling into this new decade. ‘I think going into my 50s was much harder than now going into my 60s,’ he considers. ‘I’ve come to terms with this next chapter…  I hope I can just stay physically active, and be able to continue to work and enjoy life, and have a nice balance between the two. And you don’t take things as seriously.’

Talking of balance, Dempsey has managed to balance his passion for acting and racing, which he still participates in. After achieving key motorsports goals in 2015 like taking part in the World Endurance Championship, being on the podium at Le Mans, and winning in Japan and Fuji, Dempsey reached a turning point. ‘It was a tremendous sacrifice to my career and to my personal life,’ he says. ‘But then once I achieved those goals, there was a deep psychological turning point where I was like, ‘OK, now I can move on and do the next thing.’ The pressure was immense that year, and now I do it just for fun and the psychological, therapeutic benefits of it.’

Ongoing relationships with Porsche and Tag Heuer mean that he continues to have ‘these incredible adventures’. And, as he explains, it’s not like these twin passions don’t cross over. ‘There are amazing similarities,’ he says of acting and racing. ‘If you look at the car itself as sort of like the scripts – it’s what you drive – your engineer is the director. Your team principal is the producer. And the crews – the chemistry that you need to have, to have the right focus and the right energy, is very similar.’ The camaraderie and physicality also complement the two disciplines, as does the ‘meditative aspect’. ‘It’s the mind control… being present; being focused on what’s in front of you; being aware of what’s happening around you… it’s very much about being present.’

To return to a key theme of Memory of a Killer, Dempsey says while he hasn’t been directly impacted by Alzheimer’s in his own life, he could strongly relate to Angelo’s role as a caregiver (Angelo looks after his brother, who has a much further advanced condition than his own). Dempsey founded the Dempsey Center in 2008, which offers cancer patients treatment at no cost. ‘It’s very similar in that sense of, what does it mean to be a caregiver, and the pressures of that?’ he says. ‘I think it’s the most satisfying work in my life, outside of my family,’ he adds of the Center. ‘When you’re working with a group of people for the benefit of someone else, there is nothing better. And that’s really ultimately, I think, the meaning of life – it’s when you are here to serve.’

As for what’s around the next corner for his career, his future goals are clear and modest. ‘I think it’s just working with good material and really good directors,’ he says. ‘And just to continue to be a working actor…’