‘The Walking Dead’ Actor Josh McDermitt Is Obsessed With Wes Anderson

The Walking Dead‘s Josh McDermitt has an obsession: Wes Anderson, the art-house director known for his movies’ twee sensibilities and a stable of recurring talent, like Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman. Anderson’s work first captured McDermitt’s attention when he saw the Academy Award-nominated The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). “Then I went back and watched Rushmore, Bottle Rocket. I’ve just been a superfan ever since,” he explains.

McDermitt’s wife gifted him the book The Wes Anderson Collection by Matt Zoller Seitz, a Dallas-area journalist who discovered Anderson’s work very early into the auteur’s career. Their resulting friendship eventually led to the coffee-table book, which gave fans like McDermitt a deep-dive perspective into the origins of the Anderson style. “They talk a lot about his inspiration. … He was very inspired by the Peanuts cartoons and Charles Schultz.” McDermitt says he devoured all of it because, “I realized we were inspired by all the same things growing up, and it’s exciting to know that someone that I look up to … that we have the same common threads.”

Lest he seem too sincere, McDermitt follows up his admission with a characteristic quip. “I’ve never met him — there’s a restraining order — but I still send him my underwear.”

Asked if he would like to be in a Wes Anderson movie someday, the actor gives a nuanced answer. “I thought I’d never want to be in a Wes Anderson movie, because … I wouldn’t want to screw that up for myself and not be a fan of his anymore,” he acknowledges. “But then, being a fan of The Walking Dead, and being able to work on it, is such an amazing experience that I don’t care. Now if I’m a fan of someone’s, I want to work with them, and collaborate with him, and tell some stories and just have a great time. I would totally be in a Wes Anderson movie. I just don’t want to be the worst part of a Wes Anderson movie.”

Josh McDermitt isn’t the only celebrity to confess what they’re #Obsessed with. Guy Pearce spilled the details on his extensive guitar collection:

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