Did you grow up watching films like [Spielberg's nostalgic Americana pieces]?
I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark, like, 13 times in the movie theater. I made my grandmother go with me. I remember she would take me because she liked the air conditioner. Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jaws and E.T. and all of those Spielberg movies from that era—that was my film upbringing. It's interesting to play a leading man in his 40s who is of the era from when I was watching Roy Scheider or Harrison Ford play these guys. Movies really do affect you, especially when you're young, and I certainly learned what it was to be a man from some of their performances. It's really interesting. Now I can do that in a certain way.
OK, we need to talk about your beard in this show. It's pretty awesome. How did you and the hair and makeup department come up with this?
It's funny. It was longer when I started because I had grown it for something else. But that hat the costume designer had designed by this guy in New York because I wanted him to have an iconic hat. I love hats like the porkpie hat in The French Connection or the fedora in Indiana Jones, so we came with this open road hat—a kind of hat like Eisenhower used to wear. We thought it might be something that maybe his grandfather had worn and had been passed down by generations of cops.