INTERVIEW: Glee‘s Matthew Morrison Is Expecting Great Things

Matthew Morrison is instantly recognizable to television audiences as choir director Will Schuester on FOX’s hit series Glee. But he’s long proved his versatility on stage, in such shows as South Pacific, Hairspray, The Light in the Piazza, and the recent reading of Dustin Lance Black‘s 8, as well as on his solo album and a variety of other projects.

Now, filmgoers will experience Morrison’s charms as Cameron Diaz’s dance partner in the star-studded film, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, opening on Friday, May 18. TheaterMania recently spoke with Morrison about what we can expect from the next season of Glee, working with Diaz, and his own feelings on fatherhood.

THEATERMANIA: Do you think Glee‘s fans will be pleased by the end of this season?
MATTHEW MORRISON: I think this season was really great, and it will end beautifully wrapping up a lot of the storylines. It’s a beautiful and emotional ending.

TM: What can you tell us about season four?
MM: We actually really don’t know a lot about what’s going to happen next year, which is a little scary for some people because they don’t know if they’ve got a job next year. But I think I’ll be back because I’m the teacher.

TM: Did you read the book your new film takes its name from?
MM: I hadn’t read the manual. It’s very scientific. But the movie script was great; it was very honest, funny, and messy. And very messy is what pregnancy is.

TM: What was it like to pretend to dance — and have a baby — with Cameron Diaz?

MM: She’s everything you’d think Cameron Diaz would be. She’s sweet, effervescent, and tomboyish. She always had a smile on her face and was cracking jokes left, right and center. I had a great time with her. But I wasn’t expecting the body she had. She’s pretty ripped in this movie, and I don’t know how believable it is that she’s got a big belly and those guns! We had a lot of fun and great chemistry dancing. The sign of a good dancer is they let you lead — and she was incredibly trusting of me and let me lead.

TM: What was the biggest challenge on the set?
MM: Cameron had some problems with depth perception because of her padding. She’d bump into stuff and she’d think she could fit into spaces that she couldn’t fit into. She almost gave me a black eye once with her belly.

TM: The birth scene is pretty real. How do you think you’d do in the delivery room in real life?

MM: I would love to be there. My dad is a midwife; one of about only 50 male midwives in the U.S. I asked him a lot of questions. There was a lot of him in this movie for me. Also, when I was a senior in high school, it was take-your-kid-to-work-day and I actually helped delivered two babies.

TM: You participated in the readings of Dustin Lance Black’s new play 8 last year. What did you take away from the experience?
MM: That particular show is taken from real court testimony, so we were speaking the words the opposition tried to hide. I didn’t know all the facts before I read it. They put fear on trial. It’s a great production, and you can go online soon and see it!