Joshua Jackson says he would not play his character on The Affair today
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Fatherhood changed Joshua Jackson in more ways than one.
Before becoming a father himself, Jackson played grieving father Cole Lockhart on Showtime's The Affair. For the role, Jackson had to go where he had never gone before, unlocking emotions connected to the loss of a child.
When Jackson sat down with us for EW's Role Call he reflected on what the role meant to him and how he would not agree to portraying this character now.
Everett Collection Joshua Jackson in 'The Affair'
"I'm so glad I shot that before I became an actual father because it was a place of imagination," he tells EW. "I wouldn't want to actually do that now."
Jackson welcomed his first child in April 2020 with wife, Jodie Turner-Smith. Last year, he opened up to MR PORTER Magazine about becoming a father, saying it "100 percent changed how I approach my work and my life."
Of his time on the drama, Jackson tells EW: "The most challenging portion of that show was keeping the recollection separate. Keeping the storylines — the he said, she said — distinct from each other."
"It was a lot of fun. In a lot of ways it kind of mirrors Fringe honestly because we were doing multiverse storyline for most of that show." Jackson explains: "So, we had to keep the iterations separate in your head and I then I jumped into this other show which had a very science fiction conceived idea, even though it's played as a straight drama. In The Affair, the plot stakes were less, being more human scale, but the emotional stakes were higher."
Although The Affair may share similarities with Fringe, there were some aspects to the drama that differed and allowed Jackson to approach the work in a different way. "The Affair was more [thoughtful] of just maintaining and being detail oriented, but I love that part of the job. That's what keeps it fresh every time."
Watch more from Jackson in the video above.
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