Interview: Jason Dohring (Searching for Sonny)

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Many of you remember Jason Dohring from the cult TV-show Veronica Mars. As the lovable bad-boy Logan, Dohring showcased and honed his talents to a great degree. Now that the show is off the air, Dohring has been taking more and more TV roles. Lately, he’s been on CSI, and the wonderful Party Down. But in Searching for Sonny, we get to really see how talented the guy is. 

Read on past the break to see how it was working with a first-time director, hypothetical plans for a new Veronica Mars thing, and possibly a chance to work with Pixar.

Flixist: How did you first get involved with the project?

Jason Dohring: Well, I got the script from Andrew [Disney; the director]. Read through it, and it was very refreshing. I was laughing out loud as I was reading it. I could see the way it was going to be edited. Later I found out through a trailer that the finished thing was as funny as I thought it would be. Very Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, very dark. I just got very interested in the project. Then when I met Andrew, he was a really fun and refreshing guy.

This is Disney’s first feature project. How was it working with a first time director?

Yeah, he did a few shorts before that I saw. But I gotta say, for a first time director, this was one of the best first movies that I’ve ever seen out of a director. I think he knew in his mind just what he wanted, and he was able to pull the whole thing together without a lot of guess work.

Everything just worked out before hand. I mean, that’s everything you want out of a director, first time or no. It’s great he was able to bring this together right off the bat.

Yeah man! You want the strong vision obviously, but you don’t want to be too serious, you know? Like, you can’t be all “We don’t allow for any input at all.” You have to have that, and he was very open to our input.

I take it you’d love to work with him again, but does Disney have any other projects lined up?

He’s always got stuff lined up. Not really sure what he’s going to do. I think one of them involves cowboys in space. I mean, with Andrew, you don’t always know what to expect. I’d love to play a cowboy.

Do you know of any plans for a Veronica Mars movie or reunion of sorts?

Gosh, I’ve been hearing things up and down over the years, even recently. I really don’t know. We’ve always had a strong fan support for the show. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. It’s a lot to do with the fan support. It really all comes down to Rob Thomas [show creator] and what other productions he has going on. We’re all still really good friends, all of the cast, and see each other pretty frequently. If we could all get together and do something, it’d be great.

I saw you were doing voice work for the Kingdom Hearts games as Terra. Any plans to do more voice over work for animated films or other games?

Yeah! I was just up for a Pixar movie recently. They’re doing a new one, so I’m seeing if that plays out at all. I love voice over. As an actor, I always get too involved and doing voice work frees you from working with your body.

Is there anything you can say regarding that Pixar movie?

Well, I was up for a role in one. We’ll have to wait and see how that plays out. I don’t know, really. They’re starting to get the cast together for that. I don’t know how much I can say about it, I put an NDA down and everything. It was super fun, though. The entire process was so great. I’ve never actually been to an audition like it. It was so creative, so well prepared, really got a long with everyone. And it’s really only a movie that Pixar could do.

What’s next for you? Where can we see you next?

I’ll probably be doing some more TV soon. I’ve got something lined up, but it’s not completely worked out yet. But I’m also interested in getting into more films like Sonny down the line.