Eric Dane is now more comfortable than in Grey's Anatomy

First as a doctor, now in the role of a Navy captain, Eric Dane works in white. The actor, yes, has put his television facet on the verge: he leaves behind the womanizing doctor Caliente -according to the torrid terms used in the love drama Grey's Anatomy- to play the icy soldier Tom Chandler, without much time for love affairs - is responsible for the destiny of Humanity in the brand new action series The Last Ship-.

Dane plays "a family man, honorable, in a very turbulent time, a person who is committed to the army," advances the actor, interviewed by this newspaper.

Shot in Los Angeles and at the naval base in San Diego, California, The Last Ship became the most watched premiere of the season on US cable television. Exactly within a month, the producers resume the recordings in a season of 13 episodes, after the 10 chapters of the inaugural installment.

Despite the constant presence of soldiers on the set, Dane acknowledges that his training period has not yet ended: "I have learned that my military salute is really bad. I have to work a lot on the gesture. In addition, I have to Get in the habit of taking your hands out of your pockets. Officers don't put their hands in their pockets when they're talking to people!"

Dane shares the spotlight with British actress Rhona Mitra, who in The Last Ship plays virologist Rachel Scott, in charge of stopping a pandemic. Sloan doesn't do the injections this time. "I didn't get into that area. We also have medical advisers for those kinds of scenes. I know very little about paleomicrobiology, which is what Rhona Mitra's character's area is called. I refrained from giving any kind of opinion in that sense," says the 41-year-old Californian.

Grey's Anatomy is a case on file for Dane. In addition, the resounding farewell of his character, Mark Sloan, makes any return to the Seattle Grace hospital impossible. "Without a doubt we are talking about two very different characters. For me, it has been a big change, but now I am more comfortable than in Grey's Anatomy. Sloan was further from me than this role," explains the actor, on the phone in Los Angels. "Mark Sloan was more of a challenge," he sums up.

If before it was enough to slide a scalpel, in this new fiction you have to handle a mammoth destroyer ship. "Luckily I don't get seasick. I've seen a couple of people on set who have gotten seasick and I can assure you they didn't look like they were having a good time," he thanks.

In this new series, lives are not saved one by one, as in the operating room, but millions. Not even the president of the United States is safe from the disease that the last ship aspires to remedy. In such adverse circumstances, the Stars and Stripes team, as usual, assumes all international responsibility. "Physically, the biggest challenge was working inside rubber suits, with a mask. It's very, very hot. It's not the easiest thing in the world to work with that on."

As for temperatures, it has not been possible to get rid of the nickname of doctor Hot, a denomination that the leak of an intimate video of the actor did not contribute to bury: "That name has led me to do this interview. It is part of my career ".