“When I heard we were filming in the Canary Islands, I thought, ‘Well, perfect, because they must have jungles there.’ They really don’t,” explains Eric McCormack as we discuss the tropical wilderness set six-part thriller Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue. It premieres on MGM+ on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
“It’s a volcanic island, and it’s just very gray, so except a few great cliffs that we shot on, most of the spot where we are trapped in the show was created from scratch on soundstages,” he continues. “However, there isn’t a single fake plant in there. It is a real biosphere that was created within weeks. We didn’t have to pretend to swat away insects. There were real bugs and ants and stuff. I went to the prop department and asked, ‘Did you put insects in here?’ They said, ‘No, that’s just what happens. You’re in the jungle now, baby.'”
Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue sees McCormack play Kevin Anderson, one of nine strangers marooned in a Mexican jungle after their plane crashes. As they begin to die one by one, they have to solve the mystery of who is killing them.
“That jungle environment creates a very appropriate claustrophobia. When you’re in a jungle, it goes on forever, and you have no idea which direction civilization is going. That is weirdly claustrophobic,” the Will and Grace actor recalls. “To be on a sound stage, we knew that from the moment we saw that incredibly production-designed plane crash that we were going to be on that set like Gilligan’s Island for seven weeks, and that kind of creeping claustrophobia helped all of us.”
“There is some tremendous beauty in the Canary Islands, but a lot of it is ocean and stuff we can’t show. I finally saw the first episode last week on a big screen at the premiere in Culver City. To see something that you’ve always envisioned as television on a big screen and it looks so lush, it’s shot so beautifully, and the constant sound of insects and bugs and the stuff that you can’t see because it’s beyond the trees, is essential. It becomes quite creepy.”
How Eric McCormack’s Walk Sealed The ‘Nine Bodies’ Deal
Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue, written by iconic British author Anthony Horowitz, was initially going to be adapted as a serial for the shortlived platform Quibi. Had that come off and that streaming app not imploded, the actor would have missed an opportunity he relishes.
“As a North American, I didn’t know Anthony Horowitz, but I realized this is his bread and butter, creating mysteries where readers can’t wait to turn the page,” McCormack explains. “I was really into it and into how different the characters were. I was also very fascinated because he wrote so many American characters, which he hadn’t done until now. I found it incredibly surprising.”
“I got to sit down with Anthony a couple of months before we started. He’s a very British writer. He’s taken a very American group of people, with the exception of one, and placed them in a very Mexican setting. I said to him that sometimes the verbiage, because it is similar to Agatha Christie in its essence, almost feels more British. Once in a while, I’d see a phrase that stood out, and, for example, I’d say, ‘Anthony, maybe they don’t say sea, but they say ocean.’ He was like, ‘Yes, of course. That makes perfect sense,’ so it was fun to have this collaboration with him because there is a Britishness to the style, where the mystery unravels in a deliberate, almost Poirot sort of way.”
But it was the first time the pair met, and the actor knew this was the right creative fit for them both because of McCormack’s walk.
“I was doing a musical in London at the time. We met up and he and Jill Green, the executive producer, were there. I walked in, and he stood up,” the actor reveals. “The first thing he said was, ‘That is exactly how I always imagined Kevin Anderson would walk. How did you do that?’ I said, ‘It’s just how I walk,’ and he was like, ‘Well, brilliant casting for us. There’s something about you. I knew it.’ His attention to detail and his love of character is what makes him such a great novelist. The detail is always rich.”
Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue sees McCormack get to stretch his action-man skills, something a lot of his fans aren’t used to being shown. He relished the chance.
“I did a show called Travelers for three years for Netflix where the character is not Rocky Balboa or anything, but he definitely is the leader, and there’s a lot of sort of action stuff that happens and fights,” the Lonesome Dove: The Series actor says. “Most of what I’ve done has lent itself to the more erudite characters that have other people to beat people up for them or just get beaten up. I did something a couple of years ago, a series called Slasher. I did the fifth season, and I played the most horrible violent character I’ve played to date, and it was just so much fun.”
“I think sometimes when it’s extreme like that, people get a kick out of it. I just did an episode of a show called Elsbeth, where I am the murderer, but it’s more of his creepiness. When I play a character that makes you go, ‘Oh,’ people don’t like that. I did a Neil LaBute play 20 years ago. It was off-Broadway, Will and Grace had just ended, and you could tell that every night that the audience there was like, ‘Oh, there is, the guy from Will and Grace.’ Within ten minutes, they’re like, ‘Oh, I hate this guy.’ You have to go in embracing the idea that if you like an actor, you want to see their versatility, and not just the same thing all the time.”
Being reminded of McCormack’s diversity, especially in a mystery jungle setting, makes it hard to ignore that he’d be perfect for a role in a future season of HBO’s acclaimed show The White Lotus.
“Tell everyone you know,” he says with a laugh. “The other day, my son said, ‘Do you know that you’re a reference on Family Guy?’ and I said, ‘I am?’ He said, ‘Yeah, there’s a bit where Lois goes up to the attic, the guys are all up there, and Peter Griffin says, ‘Oh, wow. So and so was just doing his Eric McCormack impersonation,’ then Lois says, ‘There’s no such thing,’ which made me laugh out loud because I think that’s the thing. You might think of me as Will, but in general, I love the idea of being a chameleon, going back and forth between comedy, drama, good guys and bad guys, the screen and the stage and The White Lotus just lends itself so beautifully to actors being a little more unpredictable than from what you might have thought of them before.”
Eric McCormack Loves Being A Storyteller
With a broad catalog of work, McCormack realizes that it’s still his work on the sitcom and pop culture phenomenon Will and Grace that audiences associate him with. With a love for the stage and his unfaltering passion for showing us what he’s got, was there ever discussion about a Will and Grace musical on Broadway?
“I think that got kicked around a little bit, for sure,” he says. “The four of us, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally, Sean Hayes, and myself, sing, and we didn’t even do a musical episode. There are lots of episodes where each of us sings at some point or other, but never in a kind of meta way; it never became a musical. As for Broadway, if it ever got really seriously discussed, I don’t think they told me about it.”
A charming and witty raconteur with a plethora of engaging anecdotes, McCormack is perfect for a one-man show. It’s something he’s considering revisiting, having dipped his toe in the water once before.
“I did do a one-man show that was a combination of that and a concert,” the actor recalls. “I did a show about five or six times in three cities called The Concert I Never Gave (Except for, like, 2000 times in my bedroom) because I have a real fascination with my own adolescent years, in my bedroom. I was not particularly social. I would go home every day and pretend to be Alice Cooper or Freddie Mercury. I really did it. I had costumes and took myself very seriously, so I did a concert where I talked about the kid I was and the man I have become.”
“Over the years, I have become friends with Barry Manilow and Alice Cooper, and I have stories about them. I made the show out of that. I had a band, including my friend Loren Gold, the keyboard player for The Who, who was my musical director. I do love telling these stories, particularly when they’re self-deprecating and certainly talking about my adolescence; I can’t help but be self-deprecating.”
“I love telling stories, but when I was 22, I thought there couldn’t be anything better than a one-man show, but now I like an ensemble. I like other people to have the lines too, and maybe I just listen sometimes,” the Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue star concludes. “I may come full circle again and one day just want to sit, but I love telling stories, particularly about Will and Grace. The number of showbiz stories I have about actors and musicians that we all know and love, who just happened to all want to come and join us for a week, is incredible. I never saw that coming, and I do. I love Hollywood stories. I love the stories of how films get made and the coincidences of our lives in the business.”
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