Why Matt Dillon is big on the small screen

MATT DILLON has been acting since the late 1970s, but is only now making his leading-man TV debut. It’s not, he clarifies, because he’s snobbish about the medium.

“There are great actors who work on soap operas, and that’s a horrible experience,” says the 51-year-old, who plays the lead in the upcoming psychological thriller, Wayward Pines. He rephrases. “I shouldn’t say that, because I haven’t experienced it, but I can imagine it’s very difficult,” he says. “You’ve got to make something believable in a very artificial environment. But I never feel snobby about anything like that.”

Laughing, he says: “Now you’re going to quote that.”