411mania Interviews: Greg Grunberg
Posted by Al Norton on 02.08.2010
411's Al Norton sits down for an exclusive interview with Heroes' star Greg Grunberg.
Greg Grunberg has starred as Matt Parkman on NBC's hit series Heroes for the last four seasons. Prior to that he was best known for his roles on Felicity and Alias as well as for playing the captain at the helm of Oceanic Flight 815.
Al Norton: Heroes will always hold a special place in my heart because Jack Coleman was my first paid interview.
Greg Grunberg: (Laughing) That's awesome. I'm sorry you had to deal with Jack.
Al Norton: I told him that he was my first and he was gentle with me.
Greg Grunberg: (Laughing) Did he cuddle afterwards?
Al Norton: If you can think back to what peaked your interest when you read the Heroes pilot script, were you more drawn to Matt Parkman or the concept of the show and the idea of playing a superhero?
Greg Grunberg: Truth be told, the first thing I got on paper was a one hour – I had no idea about the idea of a two hour premiere – and in that hour long pilot there was no Matt Parkman. When I got it I read it and freaked out. I was under a deal with NBC and was coming off of trying to do a comedy, which is right now my next thing; if we don't get picked up I plan on doing a comedy, although it looks like we are going to get picked up, which I am happy about. The end of my deal was coming up and I had done a sitcom for them so I was looking for something else. They called me because they found out I had met with another network and they asked what I was doing. I said, "you haven't sent me anything" and they said, "you only wanted to do a comedy."
They sent me Heroes and I read it and freaked out immediately. It was so well written, just incredible, and it had legs. It had a history to it, and I love the genre. I gave it to my wife to read and we tried to figure out what role I could do, and the only one we could come up with was Peter Petrelli. I went in and played it as honestly as I could.
Tim (Kring, Heroes creator) was squirming in his seat throughout the audition, up on the couch, sitting with his legs crossed…Clearly something was going on that I was unaware of (laughing) because I knew I wasn't doing that good of a job. As it turns out, he was thinking Matt Parkman. The director was a friend of mine, Dave Semel, who I had worked with on House, and when I got in the car for the drive home he called me and said, "it's good news, bad news. The good news is they absolutely love you, the bad news is you're absolutely wrong for Peter Petrelli. There is another role and if you want it, it's pretty much yours." I didn't have to go through any hoops because I was already under a deal from NBC. I was the first one officially cast on the show.
The best part about the whole thing was that Tim didn't even know who I was. He may have watched Alias once or twice but may not have caught me. It was just one of those things with perfect timing. He later told me I informed the character for him, that he was thinking more like Matt Dillon from Crash for the character and when he met me he thought it opened up so many different possibilities as more of an everyman.
Al Norton: Do you think it helped that he wasn't familiar with you, that he wasn't projecting aspects of previous people you had played on to your audition?
Greg Grunberg: Yes, possibly. I think I do a pretty good job of knowing my limits as an actor, of being me and changing it up a little bit (laughing). It was good for me that I went in with a clean slate. Now, that's exactly what happens; I go in to meet with someone and they start saying, "oh, you're the guy from Heroes, I don't know how slapstick comedy you can be."
Al Norton: How closely does the Matt of today resemble the guy you thought you were signing on to play?
Greg Grunberg: I think they have been pretty true to this character this whole time. I've really tried to keep this element of John McLain, of "be careful what you wish for." At the beginning he had dyslexia, which they didn't really deal with too much, but the original pilot they did had a lot more. I think they have stayed true to the fact that all he wants is a family and a simple life. Yeah, he wanted more of the action, and he got it, and now he just wants to stay at home and not deal with what's going on.
I think they've stayed consistent with the character but some of the others…I joke with Milo (Ventimiglia) and say, "weren't you a nurse at some point? Suddenly you're Rambo. What happened? (laughing).
Al Norton: He was doing hospice care in the pilot.
Greg Grunberg: That's right (laughing). He wasn't nurse, he was waiting for them to die. And now he's out in the jungle with a machine gun and he knows how to use it. They do take some leaps but I like to think they've stayed faithful to my character.
Al Norton: This season you've had a lot of work with Zachary Quinto. He comes across like such a nice guy, so I wonder if he just is able to flip a switch and become Sylar.
Greg Grunberg: He can do it very, very quickly. He and I have so much fun working together. It's the goofiest, silliest, most scatological time (laughing) and then suddenly it's, "I'm going to kill you." It's just such a blast working with someone like him, and Adrian (PAsdar), and Milo…Really, it's most of the cast. They are just so prepared that we can have a good time. That's the only way that I can work, to be really loose and enjoy the work and know that if you are going to step on someone's line because it feels natural in conversation, they are going to roll with it.
Al Norton: Everyone I've talked with from the show has been great and a lot of fun but you're all doing this heavy, the fate of the world is riding on me material, so it must just be "camera on, everyone gets serious."
Greg Grunberg: I learned it on Alias. Every sentence basically was, "there is a big red ball and it's going to explode" (laughing). Victor (Gerber) and I used to joke on Alias that we were riding the line of being a parody of our own show. It's so farfetched and crazy but you have to sell it. The only way for me to keep sane is to absolutely over prepare so that I know my lines so well I can adapt to anything that someone throws n me. Things do change on the day but if you come incredibly prepared than you're just happy and can have a good time.
Actors doing guest spots on shows like Alias and Heroes are in a really tough spot because you're coming in to a situation where people are so familiar with working with each other and the material is filled with all this science mumbo jumbo and names from the Middle East. Actors sometimes will get on the set and start being pissy, rude to the crew and rude to the other actors, and all that says is that they weren't prepared. It's amazing how easy it is to spot people who didn't do their homework.
Al Norton: Not that you wouldn't read the scripts anyway but on Heroes, with so many characters that have no interaction with each other, you have to read them to keep up with the other storylines.
Greg Grunberg: Yes. I read everything. Some actors will just read their stuff but I need to know what I'm supposed to know and sometimes that's revealed in other characters scenes. There will be a bit of dialogue where someone says, "I talked to Parkman and he told me…" If I didn't read that scene I wouldn't know that I'm supposed to know that information.
You do have to read everything. I love it. As a fan of the show, I can't wait to read the scripts.
Al Norton: Matt hasn't been to the carnival yet.
Greg Grunberg: No. What's funny that (Robert) Knepper and I joke that once the two of us get together, the show's over (laughing). With our combined powers it would be pretty dangerous to get us together.
Al Norton: How great has he been on the show this season?
Greg Grunberg: My God, so great. We were so lucky to get him. I haven't talked to Zach about it but can you imagine bringing a villain like him on that is so multi-dimensional that you still can't figure if he's bad or not. To not just be relying on Zach as the villain is just a huge plus for us.
Al Norton: You certainly created a buzz recently when you seemed to guarantee that Heroes was coming back in the fall.
Greg Grunberg: What I said was, and I still stand by this, that I can't imagine them ending the show right now. The finale does not wrap up the show; it wraps up the season and the volume, and it does a great job of giving a little cliffhanger to set up the next volume, but at the same time a show like this deserves what Lost is getting, a proper 13 or 22 episodes that let the writers really finish up the story.
The show was not made ultimately for TV, it was made for the screen, whatever size screen you have, and whenever you want to watch it. We have a smart audience that's going to find us on DVD, on DVR, on their computers. The story needs to be properly wrapped up and there is an audience for it. I think that's what they'll do but anything's possible right now at NBC (laughing). I'm not going to try and figure out their next move but hopefully it will include us.
Al Norton: It seems like half the people in TV say they never pay any attention to ratings and the other half says the first half is lying and that everyone pays attention to ratings.
Greg Grunberg: It depends on the show. I only pay attention to ratings right now, at the time networks are starting to think about which shows to bring back. I don't go week to week with them. I've been on shows where there was a slight dip one week and people were going, "oh no, we're going to be cancelled." You can't think that way; this is a business.
I have Yowza, this iPhone application I created, and I'm dealing with retailers all the time. Some of them do 90% of their business at the end of the year, with lousy months throughout the year. You have to look at the big picture, average them out, think about international markets, is it doing well on DVD. We happen to come out of the box like crazy all over the world and we're still strong all over the place. Right now because of a number of reasons, NBC, and lead-ins, we're taking a dip in the ratings. Lost went through it…We're going through it pretty hard though, it's hard to find another show to compare to what we're going through (laughing). But we still have a tremendous show that doesn't need to be market and re-introduced, it just needs the right timeslot. We make money already so it seems like a no brainer to bring it back.
Al Norton: So can you confirm we will see you on Lost this season?
Greg Grunberg: Sure, I can confirm that you will but I can't tell you what I'm doing or how much you will see me.
Al Norton: When you did the role at the beginning did anyone tell you, "oh by the way, we are going to need you again for a bit at the end?"
Greg Grunberg: JJ (Abrams) is my best friend in the world, I've known him since we were three, literally he is my oldest friend. He'll call me up and say, "hey, I've got a great idea" and I've never said no. He is just such a creative genius and so much fun. You're best friend says "come dig a hole with me", you're going to go dig a hole. You don't care what kind of bodies you're throwing in to it, you just dig and have fun (laughing).
Al Norton: Especially when your best friend calls and says, "come dig a hole in Hawaii".
Greg Grunberg: That wasn't bad either (laughing).
Al Norton: I know you've got a pretty cool website – www.greggrunberg.com - what can fans find on there?
Greg Grunberg: I try to keep it fun. I've got links to all things that I do, the business side, the charity side, which is so important to me. I've got links to www.talkaboutit.org, the web site that I started to help people dealing with epilepsy and seizure disorders. The band is my kind of vehicle for raising money for all these charities and we're about to go out, not really on tour but we're playing a few dates that people can find on www.bandfortv.org. It all starts at my website and from there you can find everything. Twitter is another great way to find me being a pain in the ass (laughing).
Don't miss the Heroes season finale, tonight at 9 pm on NBC.
