Heroes: interviews and articles

[Sara]

Seemed like it might be a good idea, given the level of S'cubie interest in the show.

[Sara]

From the 9th Wonders site:

In a special Halloween press junket, Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia - Heroes' super Petrelli brothers - talked with several websites and members of the press about the show and the characters that they play. Here are some highlights from what came up during the junket.

One thing that was unclear to Milo when signing on to Heroes was Peter's true power. "Going into the pilot, I had no idea," he said. "I just saw there was this dynamic relationship between Nathan and Peter, and it was Peter aiding his brother Nathan in discovering that he could fly. It wasn't until a couple months later after the show had been picked up and we were all in New York at the Upfronts, and Tim [Kring] walked up to me, and he had a big smile on his face, and said 'I think we figured out Peter'. And then he dove into his explanation of what Peter's ability was."

When asked about the relationship between Nathan Petrelli and his wife, who is introduced in the November 6 episode, Pasdar had this to say: "The relationship there was predicated on the common understanding of what it would take to be a politician's wife and all the things that go along with that, and love, of course, is factored in heavily in the beginning as well. There's a sense of guilt that's permeated. [It's] an accident that Nathan feels guilty for.... [in episode #9 or #10] we get information from this accident on a few fronts, not just this one that explains why she's in a wheel chair."

Also speculating on Nathan Petrelli's "gift" and what it means to him as a politician, Pasdar teases: "There will probably be somebody who finds out about it, and has to be dealt with, that would be a liability."

As for that other woman in Nathan's life, Niki Sanders, as seen in Episode #3 "One Giant Leap," Adrian had this to say: "I think there's an attraction between the two of them that is based on a classic dichotomy between being a politician and a stripper. I think one of the best things that they did was put the politican with the person who would be the biggest liability to him in the story.... the attraction between the two of them, I could run on and on, and make some stuff up, but she's hot. He's powerful."

For a love interest, Peter Petrelli's been seen with Simone, but what about other female characters on the show? When one reporter asked Ventimiglia what he thinks of a relationship between Peter Petrelli and "the cheerleader" Claire, the cheerleader's age came into play. "She's 17. That's just gonna be the story of 'never gonna happen', legally, for a while, Milo said. "I think there's a definite connection that Claire develops with Peter, but Peter has a connection with all of the characters that he comes in contact with. As more of a nurturer/caretaker."

Both Milo and Adrian are fans of the show in addition to starring in it. "I watch my scenes, let's say a scene that I'm doing with Adrian, to watch him, and see what I can improve on with the next episode, but then when I actually watch Sendhil, or Leonard, or Masi, or Tawny, or anybody else, Santiago, Ali, I'm watching because I'm drawn in by what they're doing and what their characters are into," Milo said.

Of the six episodes aired thus far, do either of them have favorites? Adrian weighs in first: "My favorite episode, I like Episode 5 where I actually got to fly, for obvious reasons. But I also think that they're like breaths of air. How do you choose your favorite? Every episode's provided something unique and interesting for me to focus on, and I've just been lucky and privileged to be a part of the ones I have been. So it's been great for me. I could not absolutely pick a favorite other than the obvious one, the one where I fly, just because it was cool."

"Five was definitely pretty rad for the reason of Nathan flying, but I also liked Number 3," Milo added. "I just liked where it went from the continuation of the feel of the show, and getting into new characters. Seeing Matt Parkman, Greg Grunberg's character, and even Number 6, I enjoyed, because I got to see Leonard Roberts finally come in and do what he does, which was amazing. It's kinda like what Adrian said. How can you really pick a favorite? They're all pretty good, and they all explore different things and different sides of all of us."

A decade ago, Adrian Pasdar played the deliciously evil Jim Profit on the short-lived but well-loved series Profit. Now, as Nathan Petrelli, where does Pasdar's character land on the "good or evil" scale? "My take on the character, I'd like to approximate as close to playing Richard III. Is he good? Is he bad? I don't think there's an absolute where that's concerned. I do think that there's a dark side that has to be dealt with, but the people that you think are good are probably gonna turn out the other way, and vice versa, on this show. It wouldn't do me any good to speculate as to how I'm going to end up. I think there's a whole lot of both in this character, which is just interesting to play. Hopefully it's interesting to watch, and I'm as much a fan and along for the ride as the public is, with this character."

"We're six episodes ahead of what aired last night in terms of what we've been allowed to read yet," Pasdar said. "We've had conversations, individually, with the entire writing staff, and they're very open to hearing our thoughts about what's been written so far and possible directions they might be going in, but they do have a bigger, broader scope of things than we do. It wouldn't serve them to tell us about it, because it's a fluid state, so things constantly change, but they break stories all the time up there in the writer room, and they have a pretty good idea, through the rest of Season One, where it's going to go and how it's going to end up."

And finally, some Halloween trivia: The 5-year-old son of Adrian Pasdar is going out tonight as Rocky Balboa. The upcoming movie sequel Rocky Balboa features Milo Ventimiglia as the son of the lead character, and Pasdar's son is a huge fan of his dad's brotherly co-star.

Special thanks goes out to Milo Ventimiglia and Adrian Pasdar for taking the time out of their day to do these interviews.

[Sara]

Very interesting, albeit lengthy, article about the show and its impact on the comic book biz in EW here.

[Anne, Old S'cubie Cat]

The LA Times has been busy this week...

Non-vague disclaimer: This week's episodes of Heroes and 24 are discussed in some detail, so if you haven't gotten around to watching, consider this a spoiler alert. You have been warned.

An interview with Tim Kring about writing.

An article about Jack Coleman, and how Mr Bennet developed as a character.

Apparently, he was only supposed to be in a few episodes, but there was chemistry, and people liked him, so they kept giving him more to do. From the article:

"The question we heard the most during our first few episodes was people demanding to know if he was a good guy or a bad guy. The thing about Jack is that he was convincingly both. Kind and loving in one moment, menacing and deadly in the next. There's something irresistible about someone you can't quite pin down morally. You never know which way he's going to fall."

Hmmm, where have I heard that before?

And an article discussing the impact of 9-11 on TV dramas with particular emphasis on Heroes and 24.

[Sara]

A very interesting article about why Heroes is probably Dick Cheney's least favorite television show may be found for the reading here.[/i] Obviously, there is political content.

[Anne, Old S'cubie Cat]

From this week's "Entertainment Weekly", some comments from the cast about the season 1 finale. The comments were preceded by a rather cutesy EW recap of the episode.

Meaty, huh? But on screen, surprisingly thin. True, in Coleman's words, ''a TV show can't do what Spider-Man 3 can do.'' But it tried: Kring's original script was ambitious and epic, but had to be scaled back due to time and budget constraints. ''On paper, there was this big final battle, with buses flying and trucks tumbling. And I know we shot a lot that ended up on the cutting-room floor,'' says Oka. ''I understand the criticism, but in terms of the story, it served its purpose.''

Yet good intentions don't quite explain the finale's biggest Huh? If Peter can fly, why did he need Nathan to zoom him up, up, and away before exploding? ''It's all about Peter's mental state,'' says Ventimiglia. ''He was so focused on stopping this power coming up from within him, he couldn't tap into anything else.'' Coleman teasingly suggests that expectations may have blinded viewers to the possibility that Sylar was diabolically manipulating the entire denouement, from his apparent defeat to Peter's paralyzing meltdown. ''Maybe we needed to play that up some more,'' allows Coleman. ''But I think there was a slyness that some people missed.''

The bolded part, about Peter? Yes, that's what I thought at the time.