Three years ago, I shared a dinner table at the swanky UNICEF Gala with Benjamin Schenkkan. We chatted about sports, our hometowns, and how he couldn't possibly leave before Lionel Richie performed (he had to be at work at a crazy-early hour the next day). Never once did our jobs come up. Not that I would have minded—I've long admired Ben as an actor—but that night I was more interested in talking about everyday life. That's what is so interesting about the actor you know as Ben McKenzie. He'll probably always best be known as Ryan Atwood from The O.C., but he's one of those actors who has successfully maintained an aura of mystery about him in a very public industry. Fast-forward almost three years later to when we met up for coffee at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City last week and Ben was still the same. He might be starring in the most talked-about pilot of the fall season (the must-see Gotham), but he's still the guy who is most comfortable talking football, values his sleep, and hasn't lost those Texas roots. And when he smiles at you? Forget about it.
Glamour: I have to start with this interesting bit of info that I don't think many know. Your second cousin is Sarah Drew from Grey's Anatomy!
Ben McKenzie: Yeah! She's such a great girl. I see her and her husband, Peter, and their little one, Micah, a bit. I haven't seen them in a while because I'm shooting, but she's pregnant again, which is great.
__Glamour: Not to be all "This is your life," but you also went to school with New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees. __
Ben: We played on the same middle-school football team. I haven't talked to him in ages and haven't seen him in ages. I am a fan of his though. I don't really have a pro team [that I root for] though. It's more college football and the University of Texas.
Glamour: You just turned 36, which is insane to me. That and the fact that The O.C. premiered 11 years ago.
Ben: It doesn't feel that long ago at all. Except on Gotham, the girl that plays Selina Kyle—the young Catwoman—is 15. She's lovely, but she told me just a few weeks ago that she used to watch The O.C.! She kept it a secret from me. She was seven years old when she watched it, and I'm like, "Gosh, I'm so old!" Then it feels like you've been doing it for a while.
Glamour: But you do not age.
Ben: It's my sleep chamber.
Glamour: Looking back at your career, you tend to play characters that have such a deep intensity and soulfulness to them. Where does that intensity come from?
Ben: [Laughs] I don't know. I like the intensity to be about the work and everything else just be relaxed, calm, and quiet. Maybe it's the films I grew up on or playing football in Texas, which is this macho and intense culture, but I've never had a hard time flipping the switch when I'm at work. Except for when I'm really tired. I really don't like [that intensity] in my personal life. I prefer it to be much calmer.
Glamour: Out of the three characters you're best known for: Gotham's James Gordon, Southland's Ben Sherman, and The O.C.'s Ryan Atwood, who are you most like?
Ben: I think you always bring a part of yourself to these characters. In that sense, all of them are similar to me in different ways. This role might be more similar than the other two. I was never the kid from the wrong side of the tracks. I grew up in a perfectly lovely family, upper-middle class. My dad's a laywer. Jim's dad is a D.A. He comes from a certain set of values. I feel like that is maybe more similar to me, but it's a hard question to answer.
Glamour: This role reunites you with Fox again, but you've traded the sunny shores of Orange County for gritty Gotham. How do you like New York City?
Ben: I love it. I really do. I could see myself getting a place out there, but I'm not wild about the dead of winter. The city just has a great energy to it. If you have a great job, New York is a great place to be. Otherwise, it's expensive!
Glamour: What sold you on *Gotham *and what was the audition like?
Ben: Well, it wasn't actually an audition. Bruno Heller created the show, and we did a pilot last year together. It didn't go to series, but Bruno and I really hit it off. He called me and said,"I've written this part with you in mind, so I'd like you to take a look." That was very flattering, so that's how it started. I met Danny Cannon, who directed the pilot, and talked with him. It's really hard—you can imagine reading it on the page and then thinking, There's an enormous amount of these legendary characters in a very condensed pilot. This could either be amazing or an enormous sh-t show. You see the potential, but how do we do this without making utter asses of ourselves? It's a big platform, and if you screw it up, you're going to look really stupid.
Glamour: I was amazed with how much they fit in within 52 minutes.
Ben: Exactly. What you see should hopefully leave you wanting more.
Glamour: I'm waiting for you to tell me, "Actually what you watched isn't the show at all. Gotham is really a romantic comedy!"
Ben: [Laughs] Yes, exactly! It was really hard to condense it. The pilot was originally an hour and a half, and now it's at 52. They have to get it to 44 or so, but it's hard. That's a good thing though.
Glamour: There's so many unique characters on Gotham. Which one has been the most fun to play opposite?
Ben: I really like acting opposite Robin Taylor, who plays Penguin, because his performance is so different from Jim that it really is a beautifully odd pairing of two guys who find themselves connected to each other but are at severe odds.
Glamour: There's a great scene with you both at the end of the pilot. Jim walks a fine line between being the good guy and keeping order and also having to conform to certain standards in order to achieve anything positive for the city.
Ben: Broadly speaking, what we're doing is the ascendancy of Jim to commissioner and the descendance of Gotham into anarchy. Jim finds himself an honest man in a morally bankrupt city. He's ambitious, smart, motivated to clean it up, but he realizes the only way to do that is to get his hands dirty and cut deals with people, including the criminals. Do the ends justify the means?
Glamour: You have a great romantic scene in the pilot with Erin Richards, who plays your girlfriend. But all isn't as it seems...
Ben: They're engaged, and she's teasing him about when she becomes Mrs. Gordon. I would say that at the heart of their relationship is a really intense love for each other and a raw kind of chemistry. They are being pulled apart by forces larger than themselves. It's noir, so I would say their relationship is going to have more drama than happy times.
Glamour: But how many sex scenes are we going to see?
Ben: There's a little bit of that! There's some fun, and there will be her past coming back. I'm sure there will different entanglements moving forward. At the heart of it, we need someone that he can turn to, someone that can be his better half.
Glamour: I just watched your Funny or Die video with Judy Greer, which was so cute. You are so talented at comedy!
Ben: That's very nice of you! I don't get the opportunity to do it as much because it's that old-Hollywood thing where people see you as one thing and then keep casting you in that type of role. I did a comedy recently with Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek, and Jessica Alba called How to Make Love Like an Englishman, so that will come out at some point. I play Jessica Alba's second husband. I want to do more comedies, so hopefully I'll get a chance.__
Glamour: Having grown up in Texas, what are some of the qualities that you still pride yourself on having?
Ben: Taking out the trash! [Laughs] Overall, straightforwardness, honesty as much as possible, and politeness. Basic common decency, which can be shockingly amiss in certain cities where people are moving all the time. It's the little things—shake someone's hand, say thank you, say please, things like that.
Glamour: What three attributes would you most use to describe yourself?
Ben: Quiet. Intense. Quiet again. [Laughs]
Glamour: Is it hard to do press and put yourself out there?
Ben: I don't quite know to how to be honest and still feel like you're private because I am private. Quiet, intense, private. There you go! That's my interview for Glamour! [Laughs]
Glamour: This cracks me up: Your Wikipedia profile says: "McKenzie has dated various unidentified women, keeping very low-profile relationships." They make it sound like you've gone out with aliens!
Ben: Unidentified women? That's funny. I feel like some of them have been identified, but that's a funny way of putting it.
Glamour: What's your reaction when you read things like that?
Ben: My reaction is "Success! I did it!" My personal life is not up for discussion. I do what I do, and I understand an interest in actor's relationships and marriages, but I feel like it's a slippery slope as an actor if you open up too much. If that becomes fodder for public discussion, then you reap what you sow. In the good times that will probably be good, but God forbid you have bad times. It's like if Kanye and Kim make their lives a spectacle, then they have no reasonable expectation for privacy. They are basically saying, "Yes, analyze us, pick us apart, glorify us, but tear us down." They'll get all of that.
Glamour: On your Instagram, you took a picture of a poster on a New York street pole that said "Looking for a Girlfriend." You captioned it: About five minutes away from employing the same strategy as this guy... How many girls asked you out after that? [Laughs]
Ben: I am single, and I'm kidding about employing the same strategy, but it is funny. In the age of online dating and apps and whatnot, a guy goes and advertises on the street. I thought that was pretty funny, but I didn't want to invade his privacy too much—even though he's the one that put it on a telephone pole. If you really look at what he wrote, he says "This is not a joke. I really am looking for a girlfriend!" He's putting himself out there. Gotta admire him for that! But my life is good...it's you know, whatever. [Laughs]
Glamour: I imagine meeting girls isn't hard, but finding one who likes you for you and not because of your job is another story.
Ben: I think you get a sense of that relatively quickly, but it's hard to meet people because you'd like to meet people outside the context of "this" so it's a delicate thing. But...I get paid to interact with beautiful women all the time, so... It's just terrible. [Laughs] It is important to me to find a balance with all this entertainment stuff and find someone that shares that with me.
Glamour: Do you enjoy the Hollywood scene or is it more about picking only the events that really appeal to you?
Ben: If I'm going out to a formal event like the UNICEF Gala or Chrysalis, then I really enjoy participating in these charity events.
[Waiter comes by to clean up my sweetener packets all over the table]
Glamour: I look like an addict right now with all these sweeteners.
Ben: You really do! That is an enormous amount! How many have you used already?
Glamour: [Laughs] Ten? I don't drink coffee that much, so when I do, it's OK if I tend to go overboard with the sweeteners.
Ben: That is really impressive! [Laughs] You need to slow down!
Glamour: Anyway, back to you...
Ben: Ha, yeah, I don't know how much of it is a need to go to these party things, but I like to get dressed up. Although I don't like the scene that much. If I'm doing it, it's more because it's a good cause that I want to be involved in.
Glamour: So if you're not shooting, what's a typical weekend like?
Ben: Work is really intense right now, so I sleep when I can. I'm living in the East Village, so I run on the East River, which is great. I get exercise, go to the park. Theoretically I go to the theater when I have time. I saw King Lear for Shakespeare in the Park, which is so fun. And I love food. That's what I do on the weekends—I eat!
Glamour: I'm a huge baseball fan, so I was so intrigued by the fact that you're producing a film about Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey. How did that come about?
Ben: My friend Logan [Marshall-Green]. We did theater a long time ago, and then ironically he ended up playing my brother on The O.C. He and I are big sports fans, and he introduced me to R.A. Dickey and his story, which was incredible. He was in the minors for a decade, never really making it, and then he came out of nowhere and won the Cy Young for the Mets. We teamed up with Mike DeLuca, who made Moneyball and Social Network, and Tri-Star and they've been great. Buzz Bissinger is writing the script, and he's a hero of mine. It's a beautiful story. It hasn't been cast yet, but we'll be getting the first draft at the end of the month.
Glamour: Would you want to star in it?
Ben: We didn't set it up that way for either of us, but I think we're both open to it. It was more that we just wanted to have a story told.
Glamour: Before we go, I have a story for you. I know that you're a big fan of Journey, and they incorporated that into The O.C. at various points.
Ben: Yes!
__Glamour: Well, I met (former Journey lead singer) Steve Perry last year and asked if he'd sing at my wedding one day. He said he'll highly consider it. __
Ben: [Laughs] That's amazing. That's huge.
Glamour: So, when do you want to get married? [Laughs]
Ben: Done! I love that! You know, one of our directors on The O.C. was friends with him, so he came by the set a few times, which was amazing. I should have had the same presence of mind to ask him to sing at my wedding.
Glamour: Well, I took care of it for you, so we're all set!
Ben: Done! [High-fives] That's great.
Gotham airs tonight on Fox at 8 P.M./7 P.M. CT.
__Will you be watching Gotham tonight? And what surprised you most about Ben?
