Patrick Dempsey on El Hormiguero [Videos]

Pablo Motos: You are here because of an event in Barcelona for the Tag Heuer watch brand, of which you have been an ambassador for 10 years, what a pleasure it must be to be an ambassador for a watch brand, you can ask for any watch you want and they will give it to you for free?

Patrick Dempsey: I’m very lucky to be able to have these watches, in fact I’m wearing the new Extreme Sport, it’s a beautiful watch, I’m very lucky that they are coming to me through my love of motorsport, because they have been sponsors of my racing team and it has been a great honour and a great luck that they have supported me in my racing team and I have been very lucky. I was in Barcelona last night to inaugurate the new boutique which is wonderful, and to be with them for 10 years is fantastic, it’s a great honour for me.

Pablo: Is it true that you spent all the money from your first big success on a classic car? Is that story true?

Patrick: Yes, it is true. Many years ago I made a film called Can’t Buy Me Love, which is a romantic comedy and I spent my first paycheck on a car, which was a ’63 Cabriolet that I still have today.

Pablo: You still have it, how does an old car that is worth less and less as time goes by differ from a classic car that is worth more and more?

Patrick: Well, it’s the number of cars that are made and also the iconic aura that a particular model has, its reliability, the enjoyment, it’s a collector’s car, there are other older cars like a Porsche or any other brand that get better as time goes by, it’s like a fine wine.

Pablo: I mean, now the car you bought and still keep is worth more money than when you bought it.

Patrick: Oh much more, I think I bought it for $5000 and now it’s worth a lot more, so the best investment I have ever made in my life, and I have had it for 35 years.

Pablo: Oh my God.

Pablo: Is it true that you were given the role? That role was given to you because… (Patrick interrupts him)

Patrick: She was great in the Ferrari film, incredible. [The host mentioned Penelope Cruz before asking his question].

Pablo: It’s incredible, but of course you suddenly got the two things you love the most, being an actor and being a pilot, it was like a total dream.

Patrick: Yes, I had read the script about 10 years before the producer finally had enough money to make the film, and I had always loved that era and there was also a very famous Spanish driver from that time and I had always liked that story, and I wanted to play a character there, so I called him and said “They told me that you finally have funds to make the film, I would like to participate doing whatever, I don’t care”, and he said “Well, would you mind playing Piero Taruffi? “and he ends up winning the Mille Miglia at the age of 50, I dyed my hair and I did all the scenes including the stunts, and that made me think that it would be a good idea to go back to driving a bit in my spare time, to go back to racing and I ended up in the championship series, we finished second in the championship with Porsche.

Pablo: You, for example, did the 24 hours of Le Mans, that’s where you’re driving for like three to four hours, is it possible to be focused for three hours?

Patrick: it’s 24 hours yes. That was in 2009 the first time I was at Le Mans, I did it four times and with Porsche three times and my last year we ended up on the podium in second place and also in the world endurance championship we won in Fuji in Japan which was wonderful. It was a great experience, the mentality is different in 24-hour races.

Pablo: Yes, but you don’t get distracted, I mean, you don’t suddenly go off in your head like “Did I leave the door open? Did I walk the dog?”

Patrick: No, no, at that moment you don’t think about anything else, the hardest thing is just before you get in the car, because that’s when you really start to get nervous and it’s very important to be able to visualise the first lap because you start to visualise to focus on what the procedure is going to be in turn one and through the whole circuit, and that calms you down, and to remember to breathe because all eyes are on you at Le Mans, it’s one of the most famous races in the world and so there is a lot of pressure, and of course with Porsche the demand for excellence especially, when I was racing in Ferrari as well it was tremendous, but I love it, I enjoy it so much.

Pablo: I can see you speak passionately about it.

Pablo: Grey’s Anatomy, because of course you spent 11 years doing the show?

Patrick: Okay. It was 11 seasons, 236 episodes, that was a long time yeah.

Pablo: What was your life like? What was a normal day like? Because I think the filming is interminable, right? It never ends. Eleven years, interminable filming for 11 years.

Patrick: Yeah, it’s 10 months a year usually, and I was racing on top of that. and most days are between 12 to 13/14 hours of shooting, sometimes six days a week, up to 26 episodes a year. It’s very hard on the crew, of course because they are there all the time, and also on the cast, because we had some days off but in general we were always there, but the beautiful thing and the legacy it has had for so many people, is that it has motivated them to study medicine, because the series has been running for so many years that they have studied at college, and they have done the mid (?) and they are already practicing, and you meet doctors who were in the hospital and they tell you that they were inspired by Grey’s Anatomy, that’s important because we need more doctors and more nurses.

Pablo: That’s good, that’s good.

Pablo: They named you the Sexiest Man Alive. Actually when they name you the Sexiest Man Alive, don’t they do a mental job on you? They don’t do you a favour because I understand that everybody is going to start asking you why you are so fine, which has no answer, and the next thing is going to be to tease you.

Patrick: The truth is that there was a lot of debate in my family about who really should have won, everyone had their favorite and there was a lot of debate, but it was a great honour, although it’s very difficult to take it seriously because there are wonderful men and much more attractive than me in the world, but well it’s always great to be considered, but at the same time it gave me the opportunity to talk about important things for me.

Patrick: My mother who fought many years against ovarian cancer and died in 2014, she was the inspiration for the Dempsey Center. What we do there is help people affected by cancer, we don’t treat the disease, we treat the person, with acupuncture, reiki, counseling, nutrition, yoga, and we take care of the whole family when they are in treatment, their children, the whole family. And that [being named Sexiest Man Alive] has given me the platform to be able to talk about this initiative, it’s the best thing.

Pablo: Tell me something about this, because of course, one thing is the cancer treatment, but another thing is, how important it is to accompany the person after the initial treatment? Because it is a bit like you have been treated and then you are left on your own?

Patrick: Yes, although a lot of progress has been made with the treatments that are now available for cancer, and if there is an early diagnosis there is a good chance of surviving cancer. I think one in three women will develop cancer at some point in their life, and one in two men, but if you know your family history and you can talk to your doctor about your chances so that they start testing you as early as possible and always have the necessary tests done, have good communication with your doctor, and then once you are diagnosed and treated you’re not necessarily healed. It has a lot of emotional impact and so the counseling that we provide is probably one of the most necessary things, this support is fundamental. Our goal is to connect with other like-minded centers that do this wraparound care, both nationally and internationally to raise awareness on the importance of this type of care. And if right now you are being treated, get in touch with one these centers because acupuncture helps with some of the side effects of chemotherapy, and if there is this kind of center here, talk to your doctors to see if they offer wraparound care.

Pablo: And beside acupuncture, because I’m surprised, and it’s very good that you say so, beside acupuncture is there any other holistic treatment that is useful?

Patrick: Reiki also helps a lot and then therapy, and also nutrition is very important, meditation, yoga, exercise, all these things help with the after effects of treatment. And also as people are diagnosed early, for many years of their life they are going to have that risk present, and it’s important that they have someone to talk to in order to manage those emotions, because you are not cured yet, not completely, it can come back, it’s a very long recovery. You can be treated for the disease initially, but it’s still a very long journey.

Pablo: And the fear.

Patrick: The fear of it coming back, the recurrences, my mother had 12 in her cancer, and it’s devastating for the whole family, that is why we do support groups for caregivers, spouses, children, whatever, because it’s important that they can talk about these things, and the group sessions are very helpful because there you can talk together about what you’re going through and how you can support each other to create that sense of a team, because you need a team around you to help you.

Pablo: And how would you say it has influenced you, in your personal experience, your experience with cancer in terms of life and death, I imagine it has changed you.

Patrick: Yes, I think it has. It’s also an opportunity to talk about the poor people who have been affected by DANA here in Spain [strange weather phenomenon that has caused flash flooding in Valencia] , the victims, which makes you think about how fast things change, that life goes by very fast, and that we have to be very conscious of what we do, to remember to take care of ourselves, to eat well, to exercise, not to put on weight. I think that in this country food also has less preservatives and less things, in the United States unfortunately we have a very industrial food production, with a lot of additives, which then lead you to put on weight and develop cancers, so you have to try to lead the healthiest life possible, do as much sport as possible, and have good support.

Pablo: Your life is very interesting because it’s a story of overcoming, you were dyslexic as a child and then to work a little on your self-esteem you started to do sports, I think it was sports that led you to acting?

Patrick: Yes, which is the worst profession in the world if you are dyslexic because you have to learn a lot of text. I was diagnosed very late, and for me sport was very important, because it allowed me to improve my self-esteem and have more self-confidence. Now with technology you have audio books, I listen to a lot of audio books, and it is also hereditary, so I wanted to make sure that my children were diagnosed early because if you do early intervention you can make a lot of progress. But still for me it’s a constant struggle, I wish I could have done theater, Shakespeare for example, but it was too difficult for me to learn the dialogue, and also the medical terminology, I had a hard time knowing what it was and learning all that vocabulary, but at the same time I’ve developed other skills because of it, to compensate. And I have continued learning all my life, when you finish the formal education part, the real education starts because traveling, coming here to Spain, traveling around the world, getting to know other cultures, makes me want to learn more things.

Pablo: The third element is impossible, I mean, where the hell do you look when there are three?

Patrick: It’s not impossible because it has to be crossed, as you throw one ball you are already throwing the other one underneath, you start with one and then two and then you add the third one, do you want us to try it?

Pablo: Yes, yes.

Patrick: I’m always fascinated.

Pablo: We better get up, don’t we? I need some balance.

Patrick: Okay yeah, okay then let’s start with one. We start like this, look. If you want to learn how to juggle you start like this with one, from here to here, and that’s basically all you do, and then you put the second one in and try to get it underneath the first one, like this, and that’s it, you keep going underneath, and now you add the third one. Are you ready? Have you got it right with the two? And then with the third one and the same thing, and then the other way around, and then you can change the rhythm. You start with one, just throw one, no, now throw it to the other hand.

Pablo: Yes, yes, this is very easy, okay, great.

Patrick: Now the second one but do it slowly so that as it is just at the top you throw the other one so that it goes underneath and you catch them.

Pablo: But it’s in the same hand?

Patrick: Look, look, I throw this one and there I throw it, just when it’s at the top. Yes, that but aiming, here’s another one. So the key is to keep the same trajectory. Okay, one more.

Paul: If you have a year, I can do it in a year.

Patrick: There you go, but look at the ball.

Pablo: What do I look at? Where do I look?

Patrick: Before a race I do this to improve my coordination, you see, then it goes up. One year.

Pablo: One year.

Patrick: Well, the clubs, let’s see if I can do it. Okay, it’s been quite some time. So when I was 15 years old I went to Cleveland, Ohio to an international juggling contest and I had 10 clubs. There you go, it’s been a while, I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it.

Pablo: And among your next projects is Dexter: Original Sin, which will premiere on January 30 on SkyShow Time, and we fans can’t wait.

Patrick: Yes, yeah, I had a really great time working on that series. I just finished shooting last Tuesday, and it’s a fun character, I play a detective, which is a completely different character.

Voice (interrupting Patrick): Hey nice moustache eh, you look good with a moustache

Patrick: And the moustache has been funny too, and I got to work with Christian Slater, we did a movie together about 30 years ago called Mobsters. Now we are much older now and we laugh at ourselves thinking about what we were like when we were younger. And it was a fantastic shoot, great cast, and if you like Dexter, it’s really a prequel explaining how he gets into the precinct and how he starts and how he manages that darkness that he has inside.

Ant 1: First question, put up the Christmas decoration with your partner? Put up the tree, put candles near the tree to make it more risky, what do you think?

Patrick: I think it’s very important and romantic.

Ant 1: Very good.

Patrick: Yes, very romantic.

Ant 1: Okay, put up the tree, have some nice balls.

Ant 2: Okay, no, I think it’s very romantic, I agree, but for example, the mistletoe thing. Is mistletoe already out of fashion? The mistletoe that you put up and kiss underneath, that didn’t exist in Spain until we saw it in American movies.

Patrick: Really? Is that true? I think it’s very important and very romantic and you have to try it.

Ant 2: Okay, okay.

Ant 1: We put it [on the list].

Ant 2: Okay, we introduce the mistletoe in the Spanish culture.

Ant 1: But you start eating polvorones [a polvorón is a type of heavy, soft, and very crumbly Spanish shortbread made of flour, sugar, milk, and nuts (especially almonds)] to compensate, okay? To compensate.

Ant 2: Come on, yes, one for another.

Patrick: But It’s not a tradition in Spain?

Ant 2: It didn’t exist.

Ant 1: No, very American.

Ant 2: Of course, we would see it in the movies and…

Patrick: Didn’t it come from Germany?

Pablo: We have no idea but…

Patrick: I don’t know.

Ant 1: We don’t even have the plant, the holly I don’t even know where they are from. I have never seen holly in Spain in my life. Ok, let’s see, next topic, tattooing your partner’s name, what do you think? Romantic or disgusting? Because we all remember the case of Johnny Depp who got a Winona Forever tattoo.

Patrick: You know? I don’t have any tattoo, so no.

Ant 2: Okay, better be careful with tattoos, because then it can become embarrassing.

Ant 1: Okay, we say no.

Patrick: You don’t have tattoos either, do you?

Ant 2: No, no.

Ant 1: No, sometimes we get an embroidery but not a tattoo.

Ant 2: Do you want me to get a tattoo? If you bring me a marker pen I have it forever, I mean…

Patrick: Yeah right, good point.

Ant 2: The next thing is a controversial, which is to make, to give gifts to your partner but they are vouchers for things, for example something that says “voucher for a massage” or “voucher for a romantic dinner”, is that romantic or does that mean you are lazy and you forgot to buy the gift?

Patrick: A voucher? You have to give a gift, you have to plan it, you have to care.

Ant 1: No to vouchers, say no to vouchers.

Ant 2: Sure but then when you forgot the gift it is better to do nothing and do it another day than a voucher?

Pablo: No, it is better that you don’t forget the gift, and that it’s personalised.

Ant 2: We are talking about emergencies Pablo! Emergencies!

Pablo: Well, in an emergency you go and buy anything.

Ant 2: Okay, a gift from the supermarket, perfect.

Patrick: You need to ask in advance “Hey, what would you like for Christmas?” And that there is a list, right? It’s always nice to have a list, but you want to start planning that now, because time is short.

Ant 1: Like a wedding list.

Ant 2: You have to ask a long time in advance so that later it will be a surprise because they forgot what they wanted.

Pablo: Walk, walk with her or him and see if there is something they like “oh what a nice bag!”

Ant 1: Sure, what a nice Ferrari, well there you go.

Patrick: Yes, a date, it’s a great idea.

Ant 1: Do something sensual in the shower, romantic or disgusting/embarrassing?

Ant 2: It depends on the shower.

Patrick: I think so, although it also depends on personal preferences.

Ant 2: There are people who have died.

Patrick: People have died in the shower?

Ant 1: Yes, a slip like this, the soap. You Pablo, are you in favor, are you against it?

Pablo: I don’t think so, I think that…

Patrick: So maybe a bath mat, it would be a good idea for a Christmas gift.

Ant 1: The suction cups, they are very sexy.

Pablo: And some air bags. I think that at the beginning of a relationship it’s very romantic, then with time it’s impossible.

Ant 2: You are already there.

Pablo: Time already, let’s say no.

Ant 2: Next question let’s see, what about giving a puzzle that once finished becomes a picture of the couple, have you seen that?

Patrick: Oh, it’s a box?

Ant 2: Sure, you order the puzzle, there is a website, you can buy and order it.

Patrick: You don’t like that idea? Don’t you like puzzles?

Pablo: No, no, more than two pieces seems to me like a waste of time.

Patrick: Yes, yes, so okay, I think it depends of what picture it is, if it is a picture of you getting married, a wedding picture then I say yes.

Ant 1: Oh okay, yes to the puzzle then, okay, very good.

Ant 2: Okay, okay, okay, I write it down.

Ant 2: The last one.

Ant 1: Okay, next, let’s see. Going out together when it’s raining with the same umbrella, what do you think? Because it has its pros and cons.

Patrick: Oh yes, that’s the best part, yes, very romantic.

Ant 1: But you don’t understand, one gets wet…

Patrick: But then you get to snuggle, no, that just means you have to be closer together, and you put your arm around her.

Ant 2: I understand, but in the end you both have a wet shoulder, one on the right and the other on the left side.

Ant 1: That happens, you keep bumping into people.

Patrick: You want to have a bigger umbrella, maybe you can put that on the list too.

Ant 1: A bigger umbrella, yes.

Ant 2: A giant umbrella.