The Interview: Philly's own David Morse plays against type as a backwoods tyrant, ATV and all

FRESH OFF his turn as Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer Mike Webster in "Concussion," Philly-based actor David Morse gets a backwoods makeover in his new TV series, "Outsiders."

Premiering at 9 p.m. Tuesday on WGN America, the "Sons of Anarchy"-meets-"Justified" drama has him playing "Big Foster" Farrell, the combative would-be leader of an off-the-grid family fighting to stay atop the mountain they've occupied for 200 years.

Morse talked with Ellen Gray about the joys of long hair, getting dirty and riding ATVs through the woods.

Q Between "True Detective" and "Concussion" and "Outsiders," you've worn a lot of wigs lately. Was the long hair on "True Detective" inspired by your look from this show?

No, I did "True Detective" before I did this. When they ["Outsiders" producers] were talking originally, they didn't know what the Farrells would look like. One of the things in the script was about when a Farrell walks into town or into a bar, everybody knows it's a Farrell.

So they were thinking about what is it that identifies the Farrells? And I sent them a photograph of me from "True Detective," with that hair, and they went, "Wow, how long does it take to put on?"

And it's like 30 minutes to put it on. So we could do that. Now, if everybody has this kind of look, we can play with that, put things in the hair, and all that.

Q So it's just a coincidence that you have not been in your own hair for your last few projects?

Totally a coincidence. And I prefer it. I like having [more] hair for a change.

Q Wasn't Mike Webster a sad character to play?

It really was sad, and his family's obviously still living with it, and always will. But the thing that keeps it from being tragic is that from what happened to him at the end of his life, now people's lives are being changed.

Because they found that CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy] in his brain, the world has changed. Football is going to change, sports is going to change, how people deal with those kinds of injuries is changing.

Q Do you see the attraction in the Farrells' lifestyle?

There's a romantic attraction to it. I think the reality is not that much fun.

It's really something that those people have survived up there, and I think that's an interesting part of the story. For them, they're not off the grid. This is all they've known.

Q Big Foster is almost like a Prince Charles - he's supposed to take over, but his very popular mother isn't dying. Isn't he kind of pitiful?

He is. And I think he is maybe a little more dynamic than Prince Charles. But there is definitely that thing that he has a mother who has been promising him for a long time that he was going to be the [leader] and she won't let go.

Q I understand producer Peter Mattei invented much of the Farrell's culture, but isn't some of it based in reality?

There really were these Scotch-Irish who disappeared into those hills, around the Revolutionary War. And there really are descendants of that culture. And that's part of what Peter chose to hang on to.

Q What did this have that you were looking for? Signing on to a TV series can be a long commitment.

It's just different. I've been offered so many police characters.

You know, I loved doing "Treme." I liked that character because he was caught between two worlds. He wasn't just a bad cop, or a good cop.

I've done other pilots. [In one] I played a hedge fund guy, in hugely expensive suits. It was OK. But there was just something about this. Getting to ride around in the woods on an ATV, getting to get dirty, wear tattoos, have fun.

I'm happy to do this for awhile. At this point in my life, I'm not going to be offered many more roles like that.

Q Do they let you do your own stunts?

Yeah, to an extent. I mean there are some things that would just be stupid to do. But there's a lot of it that we really do.

Ryan [Hurst, a "Sons of Anarchy" veteran who plays his son] and I have this thing. He says, "I've had it with stunts. I let my stunt guy do it." So I'm doing it with his stunt guy.

I'm not going to say he didn't do a lot of them, but I just have a hard time letting it go. I really like it.

Q Did you get banged up at all?

I sure did get banged up. But that's always a part of it.

Q What else is fun about doing the show?

Learning to throw knives. I got pretty good at it.