I've been a fan of "Heroes" since it first came on the air four years ago so it's a real honor to welcome a special guest this week. Greg Grunberg plays telepath Matt Parkman on the hit NBC series but you might also know him from his roles on a slew of projects including "Lost" and "Alias." Or perhaps you know him from his Twitter updates? Or how about his hand in developing Yowza!!, the cell phone application?
The actor is such the ultimate multitasker that is was a miracle he had time to stop by Fanboy for a chat.
You've been on NBC's "Heroes" since the beginning. Your character Matt
Parkman, has come a long way since then. How much fun has it been to
bring that journey to life?
It's pretty great. What I love about series television is that if you're lucky enough to go on and on, and we've had four great years looks like five, you know you have a journey. If you get a script and you go "Aw man, I wish I was more a part of this," you know that eventually they're going to get around to you especially with 12 characters. They've serviced my character in such an amazing way. Just when I was starting to hear from people saying when is Matt's story going to become more important to the show, boom season two. They introduce my dad and all that crazy stuff. And then the end of last year it was "Who do we turn to to take down Sylar?" and they turn to me? It's crazy! I'm honestly just as much a fan of the show as an actor.
Where do we see Parkman in the future?
He's trusting people he didn't trust in the past. The fact that right now he's working with HRG a guy at one point he had taped to a chair in a hotel room. The alliances just keep changing on our show in a cool way. I hope that what happens is he goes back to his police instincts and sort of take control of these situations and go "OK, enough of this (expletive). I'm not working for anyone more. Here's how we're doing it." And put together a team and go after Samuel.
You hinted to a season five. Rumor has it that the show might be done after this season. You seem pretty convinced it's not.
Just going on my gut instinct and experience, it's a business and you gotta completely remove the emotion from it. Look at what are the numbers here? And our show does so well in so many ways. NBC right now has bigger fish to fry. Our show is a pretty big fish but man, they really are up against it. They've got to figure out their identity let alone what they are keeping and not keeping on the air. With moving Leno now, they got four holes to fill. A few other hours are being with reality and news or whatever. I mean, that's still a lot. You don't just make pilots and put them on the air. If you make ten pilots maybe you pick up two. If they took us off the air, that would be another hole. I actually love what they are doing with "Chuck." I think it's great this year. But no one is watching the network in general. But that's not an excuse. Our ratings have gone down and we need to find our way again. Having said that, I think the show is really good right now. It's gonna take some mix-up though. Hopefully they (the Network) use the Olympics to re-launch things. They moved us from 8 to 9 p.m. and didn't tell anyone. No one knew. My mom called me up and goes "You're not on the air anymore?" I had to explain it to her. I just don't understand. Who does that? But too, I know how this season wraps up and it in no way could end the series. I think we have another couple seasons but I could be wrong.
Speaking of last seasons, I heard you might be reprising your role as the captain of Oceanic 815 on "Lost." Any truth to that?
Yeah. I'm coming back just like pretty much every character. But it's not a huge thing. I'm just happy to be a part of such an amazing show.
Is "Lost" a show you watch?
Oh sure! JJ (Abrams) is my buddy. And (producers) Damon (Lindelof) and Carlton (Cuse), I know these guys very well. I was such a tiny part of that show but I think it was an important role. It was just so cool. These guys asked and I jumped.
Any Grunberg theories of the "Lost" universe?
(laughs) I do but I can't share it. I've sort of been privy to more than most people.
How did you get hooked up with JJ Abrams anyway?
I didn't have a choice. I was three. I've known the guy since we were in sandboxes together in the first grade. He's my oldest and dearest friend.
I was gonna say, he seems to have quite the crush on you when it comes to his projects.
Yeah. I have naked pictures of JJ Abrams. They disgust me.
Any chance we see you on "Fringe"?
You never know. Believe me, I watch that show too. I want to work with those actors more than anything. I love those guys.
I'm one of your 1.4 million Twitter followers, when did you know you were hooked?
I got hooked very early on. I'm a tech nerd. Everybody laughed at me. Here's the thing, I was being told by a few people about it. Brea Grant was one of them. Right before we left to go to London on a press tour, we were literally at the airport. She said "You should just get on Twitter. Try it." I checked out her Twitter stream and thought this is pretty cool. Before we got on the plane, I did it. Problem is I did not uncheck notifications. When I got to London, I had 25,000 followers and 25,000 emails notifying me. Now this is International. When you go to London, you get charged for all those. I got a bill for whatever the hell it was. I had to turn it off. It was just like ding, ding, ding, ding. But it's been just a great thing. I love it.
As an iPhone owner, I'm well aware of Yowza!! Could you explain it to those who might not know what it is?
It's as simple as paper coupons on your cell phone. But it knows where you and it brings the coupons to you. You just press Yowza!!, it finds your location and brings up all the stores, restaurants and businesses around you and what offers they have so you can save money right now. And now we're in 15,000 locations. And now we're not just on the iPhone. We're on the Blackberry, the Palm Pre and the Android.
Lastly, you're doing a lot for Haiti right now with Jimmy Jean-Louis (the Haitian) of "Heroes." What can people do to help?
Any time you think of what's going on over there, put yourself in the shoes of the people that are there right now. Pretend you have the most incredibly personal connection and do something, anything. Go through your cabinets, your pantry, pull out cans and bottles. Whatever you can send. There are places you can go. Go to Hollywood Unites For Haiti (hufh.org) and you'll find out how you can donate. Whether its food, clothing or money, they need it. They need everything. I can't even imagine. I mean there are no construction standards there. I mean look at what's going on. And Jimmy hasn't even gotten confirmation yet on his relatives. He doesn't know what the hell is going on. To see a great guy like that going through what he's going through, I will do whatever it takes to help him and I think everybody needs to do the same. And it's really time sensitive. Right now is when they need the help. Not in a month when you're like "You know what? I think I'll do something." No. Help now. Today.
Greg Grunberg Online:
On Twitter
Hollywood Unites for Haiti
GregGrunberg.com
Band From TV
"Heroes"
Talk About It
Yowza!!
It's pretty great. What I love about series television is that if you're lucky enough to go on and on, and we've had four great years looks like five, you know you have a journey. If you get a script and you go "Aw man, I wish I was more a part of this," you know that eventually they're going to get around to you especially with 12 characters. They've serviced my character in such an amazing way. Just when I was starting to hear from people saying when is Matt's story going to become more important to the show, boom season two. They introduce my dad and all that crazy stuff. And then the end of last year it was "Who do we turn to to take down Sylar?" and they turn to me? It's crazy! I'm honestly just as much a fan of the show as an actor.
Where do we see Parkman in the future? He's trusting people he didn't trust in the past. The fact that right now he's working with HRG a guy at one point he had taped to a chair in a hotel room. The alliances just keep changing on our show in a cool way. I hope that what happens is he goes back to his police instincts and sort of take control of these situations and go "OK, enough of this (expletive). I'm not working for anyone more. Here's how we're doing it." And put together a team and go after Samuel.
You hinted to a season five. Rumor has it that the show might be done after this season. You seem pretty convinced it's not.
Just going on my gut instinct and experience, it's a business and you gotta completely remove the emotion from it. Look at what are the numbers here? And our show does so well in so many ways. NBC right now has bigger fish to fry. Our show is a pretty big fish but man, they really are up against it. They've got to figure out their identity let alone what they are keeping and not keeping on the air. With moving Leno now, they got four holes to fill. A few other hours are being with reality and news or whatever. I mean, that's still a lot. You don't just make pilots and put them on the air. If you make ten pilots maybe you pick up two. If they took us off the air, that would be another hole. I actually love what they are doing with "Chuck." I think it's great this year. But no one is watching the network in general. But that's not an excuse. Our ratings have gone down and we need to find our way again. Having said that, I think the show is really good right now. It's gonna take some mix-up though. Hopefully they (the Network) use the Olympics to re-launch things. They moved us from 8 to 9 p.m. and didn't tell anyone. No one knew. My mom called me up and goes "You're not on the air anymore?" I had to explain it to her. I just don't understand. Who does that? But too, I know how this season wraps up and it in no way could end the series. I think we have another couple seasons but I could be wrong.
Speaking of last seasons, I heard you might be reprising your role as the captain of Oceanic 815 on "Lost." Any truth to that?
Yeah. I'm coming back just like pretty much every character. But it's not a huge thing. I'm just happy to be a part of such an amazing show.
Is "Lost" a show you watch?
Oh sure! JJ (Abrams) is my buddy. And (producers) Damon (Lindelof) and Carlton (Cuse), I know these guys very well. I was such a tiny part of that show but I think it was an important role. It was just so cool. These guys asked and I jumped.
Any Grunberg theories of the "Lost" universe?
(laughs) I do but I can't share it. I've sort of been privy to more than most people.
How did you get hooked up with JJ Abrams anyway?
I didn't have a choice. I was three. I've known the guy since we were in sandboxes together in the first grade. He's my oldest and dearest friend.
I was gonna say, he seems to have quite the crush on you when it comes to his projects.
Yeah. I have naked pictures of JJ Abrams. They disgust me.
Any chance we see you on "Fringe"?
You never know. Believe me, I watch that show too. I want to work with those actors more than anything. I love those guys.
I'm one of your 1.4 million Twitter followers, when did you know you were hooked?
I got hooked very early on. I'm a tech nerd. Everybody laughed at me. Here's the thing, I was being told by a few people about it. Brea Grant was one of them. Right before we left to go to London on a press tour, we were literally at the airport. She said "You should just get on Twitter. Try it." I checked out her Twitter stream and thought this is pretty cool. Before we got on the plane, I did it. Problem is I did not uncheck notifications. When I got to London, I had 25,000 followers and 25,000 emails notifying me. Now this is International. When you go to London, you get charged for all those. I got a bill for whatever the hell it was. I had to turn it off. It was just like ding, ding, ding, ding. But it's been just a great thing. I love it.
As an iPhone owner, I'm well aware of Yowza!! Could you explain it to those who might not know what it is?
It's as simple as paper coupons on your cell phone. But it knows where you and it brings the coupons to you. You just press Yowza!!, it finds your location and brings up all the stores, restaurants and businesses around you and what offers they have so you can save money right now. And now we're in 15,000 locations. And now we're not just on the iPhone. We're on the Blackberry, the Palm Pre and the Android.
Lastly, you're doing a lot for Haiti right now with Jimmy Jean-Louis (the Haitian) of "Heroes." What can people do to help?
Any time you think of what's going on over there, put yourself in the shoes of the people that are there right now. Pretend you have the most incredibly personal connection and do something, anything. Go through your cabinets, your pantry, pull out cans and bottles. Whatever you can send. There are places you can go. Go to Hollywood Unites For Haiti (hufh.org) and you'll find out how you can donate. Whether its food, clothing or money, they need it. They need everything. I can't even imagine. I mean there are no construction standards there. I mean look at what's going on. And Jimmy hasn't even gotten confirmation yet on his relatives. He doesn't know what the hell is going on. To see a great guy like that going through what he's going through, I will do whatever it takes to help him and I think everybody needs to do the same. And it's really time sensitive. Right now is when they need the help. Not in a month when you're like "You know what? I think I'll do something." No. Help now. Today.
Greg Grunberg Online:
On Twitter
Hollywood Unites for Haiti
GregGrunberg.com
Band From TV
"Heroes"
Talk About It
Yowza!!
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