August 2007 News Archive (Page 10)

Entertainment Weekly recently sat down with Heroes star Zachary Quinto and asked him about the honor of being named the new Spock.

Also on hand were the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy and the man who will direct the next Star Trek movie, J.J. Abrams...

Leonard, when you first heard they were making a new Star Trek film — that they were ''rebooting'' the franchise with a new cast — how did you feel? Skeptical? Angry? Relieved?
LEONARD NIMOY: None of those. I've been away from Star Trek for a number of years. The first thing I heard was that J.J. Abrams was doing this. I have a lot of respect for him, so I thought, ''This is something to consider.'' Then the script came along — that was the second major step. And then J.J. sent me some footage of Zach. I looked at him, and I'll tell you exactly what I said to J.J.: ''He looks exactly right.'' What's more, he has an interior life, which is vital to the character. With all of those elements in place, I'm very comfortable with this new Star Trek.

With this casting, Leonard, you're officially ceding this role to a new actor. How do you feel about this?
NIMOY: Strange. It is strange...but very comforting. I feel like the character is being put in very, very good hands.

Zach, how did the trek into Star Trek begin for you?
ZACHARY QUNTO: It began last December for me, when I got an e-mail from a friend saying they were doing another Star Trek movie and that young Spock would be a character. It was right about the time my character started to emerge on Heroes. So I started to talk about it a lot — in interviews, with anyone. I sort of thought, ''If I could generate attention to it, it would materialize.'' Then one day, we got the call for an audition. It's been a definite fast train for me.

Leonard, have you seen Zach in Heroes?
NIMOY: I've seen some footage. Scary.

How do you feel about having the guy who plays a brain-eating serial killer filling the shoes of Spock?
NIMOY: It's going to be a change of character. But he's a good character actor, and that's what he's supposed to do.

J.J., since this is a ''reboot'' of Star Trek focusing on young Spock and young Kirk, why did you feel that it was important for Leonard to be in the movie?
ABRAMS: The story needed his participation for a number of reasons. One, the plot. In many ways, the story revolves around the character of Spock. Two, I think it's critical if we're going to look at reintroducing these characters — I didn't want to disrespect what had come before, for those who care about that. But we're making this movie for people who don't care about Star Trek too. This isn't about pleasing the fans, this is about making a great film.

And to do that, you have to both please the fans and please the people who've never seen Star Trek. So having Leonard in the film shows that this film exists in a continuum of Trek history, as opposed to an absolute, page 1 reinvention. [Pause] Would you like longer answers? I'm unbelievable. I never stop talking.
NIMOY: They're long answers, but full respect.
ABRAMS: Now we're talking about my talking! Unbelievable!

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Without divulging any season two spoilers, Adrian Pasdar recently commented on the difference in filming Heroes this year, as opposed to last:

"Last year we were looking to talk to anybody who wanted to talk to us. This year the degree of secrecy is a lot higher in what we can say.

"No matter who your favorite character is, the things that are going to happen in this season will be exciting to the point of being numbing for fans. This season is not about defining them by their own behavior… there's a lot more at stake."

And we can't wait to see what that includes, including what new Heroes cast member Jessica Collins will be up to.

NBC is starting to put a lot of extras that you'll find from the Heroes Season 1 DVD onto the Web specifically YouTube.

Here's the latest one, a minute and a half scene that was deleted from Chapter 11, the episode "Fallout." In it, Mohinder goes to Isaac's loft, but finds Simone there instead. The two have a conversation. It's nothing too special, but it is new...

There are over 50 deleted scenes like this one on the Heroes DVD that will be available on August 28.

David Anders.

Dania Ramirez.

Dianna Agron.

We can now add another name to the list of new cast members on Heroes: Jessica Collins.

The actress last appeared on the ABC series, The Nine. Her other credits include turns on CSI and Ghost Whisperer. In 1988, Collins was also first runner-up in the Miss Teen USA Pageant. She attended The Royal National Theatre Studio in London and The Howard Fine Actor's Studio in Los Angeles.

With so many newscomers, will we even see Hayden Panettiere or Masi Oka again? Yes, of course we will.

But it should be interesting to see how these newbies are integrated into the show.

This is a bit old, but tugged at our Heroes-living heartstrings, so we had to post it:

Noah Gray-Cabey posted the following on his official website. He sounded pretty excited to star on Heroes, didn't he?

Hi Everybody!

A lot has happened in the past year and a half since my dad and I last updated my website. I am 11 years old now and am in the eighth grade. I like school ok, but I prefer weekends! I just got a Go-Kart and my dad and I go out to the desert to drive it. It's a lot of fun! I still have my two dogs, Teddy and Virginia, and one cat.

The big news is that I am playing the role of Micah Sanders in the new NBC show called Heroes! It's on Monday nights at 9:00 pm on NBC. The show is about regular people who find out that they have super powers. I love movies and shows that have to do with super powers – so I was really excited to play Micah.

The show has tons of surprise twists, so make sure you watch! My mom on Heroes is played by Ali Larter – she's a really great actor and she helps me a lot with my acting. My dad is played by Leonard Roberts who is a really great actor too and is super funny too. He always makes me laugh! I hope you watch Heroes and enjoy it as much as I enjoy acting on it!

Thanks for visiting my website and please write - I really enjoy hearing from you all!
Noah Gray-Cabey

A trio of actors from Heroes recently talked about the pressures of filming season two, following such a successful inaugural campaign:

Milo Ventimiglia: I think there's always going to be pressure no matter whether it's the first, second, third fourth or fifth season. But I think you have to strive to better yourself and better your characters.

And you look at going into a second season as you are familiar with what the workload is going to be, but then again, this show is always going to be a big one to make. So I think, if anything, it reminds us not to slow down and not to slack off, to do better and to grow.

Greg Grunberg: I think there's less pressure this year, personally, just because a pilot usually is never as good as the series, and this pilot was just extraordinary. And I think we have kept the quality. To me, at least, whenever I received the next script, it just got better and better. And I think we are in a group.

We are really a group on the show. Certainly, the scripts keep getting better for it. So it's just unbelievable, the stuff that's coming out.

Zachary Quinto: Also, I think that pressure, it comes from outside, and I think part of the thing that made this show so successful is that everybody that works on it, you know, from Tim all the way through the cast and the crew, is here to do the best job that they can do, and that has nothing to do with the outside reaction to the show. The work we do here is separate from that, and I think that's what we do as well.

So I think that sort of takes a little edge off, too, is that this doesn't seem to be a group that's too interested in plugging into all of this stuff because we know what we are working on is what really matters.

Thank you to all Heroes Fanatic followers that voted in our second Caption Contest. Our staff had a good laugh reading through these entries.

But there can be only one winner, just like the eventual showdown between Peter Petrelli and Sylar.

So scroll down to see how funny other readers were and congratulate hayden_is_my_hero for providing the winning caption. Hayden probably really does think this..

Any more cracks about me turning 18 this month and I will end you.

It was an intense first season of Heroes.

And the second one isn't far behind.

As we prepare to launch into another chapter, our staff first sat down with a couple stars from the show. No, not Hayden Panettiere and Milo Ventimiglia. We spoke with Claire Bennet and Peter Petrelli. How else would we get true insight into these individuals' lives?

These two first crossed paths into the episode "Homecoming," depicted above. Peter survived his fight with Sylar, of course. And you can read his take on their next duel, along with Claire's prayer for her friend, by checking out our Character Interviews now.

Enjoy.

Perhaps more than any other show on TV, Heroes does a tremendous job of selling itself.

Therefore, it comes as no shock that - fresh off a popular panel discussion at Comic-Con - two main influences behind Heroes sat in on a conference call with journalists this morning.

Masi Oka and Tim Kring talked about the second season, while also revealing intriguing details about the initial few episodes.

One interesting detail revealed right away was that Masi's character, Hiro Nakamura, did NOT exist in the original script for the Heroes pilot. When Kring looked at the bulk of dark and conflicted characters, though, he felt the show needed someone who really wanted to be a hero.

The creator also indicated there will be more fan-friendly casting in season two, similar to the choice to use George Takei as Hiro's father. Kring didn't wanna give away too many Heroes spoilers, but promised that the next special actor's appearance would evoke a similar response.

The stars were then asked about their real-life heroes. Oka talked about his mother who raised him as a single parents and brought him to America; for Kring, it's the people who work mostly anonymously in small charity organizations, as opposed to those that seek celebrity through their efforts.

When reported brought up the chance that Heroes would win the Best Drama prize at the Emmys, Kring made it clear that The Sopranos will be difficult to beat. And he's right. There's no chance any other program wins that trophy this year.

Oka, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actor, was quite humble in discussing his odds, focusing instead on the validation that comes with just being nominated.

On the brand expansion side of things, Kring detailed a new project waiting in the wings that will be a hard-covered graphic novel that collects the online comics that covered events between episodes. Sounds great to us.

Remember: The Heroes season 1 DVD comes out August 28; and the second season premieres Monday, September 24.

Heroes star Ali Larter won't reveal the identity of her boyfriend, but it sounds like he may be her knight in shining armor.

"I'm madly in love," the actress and model tells InStyle Makeover's fall issue and People magazine reports. "He just brought light to my life. I feel lucky every morning when I wake up and see him."

Hopefully, the mystery man likes children. Why? Because the portrayer of Niki Sanders would like some in the future.

"I'm loving this right now," she says of acting. "But I can't wait for that."

Larter spent many years modeling before she caught the acting bug. But growing up, she was hardly the most beautiful girl on the block.

"I had a bowl haircut," she says. "My face was always flushed, and I had one big tooth. I was the sweaty dirty girl, and I'd come home with one sock up, one sock down."

Now that she's found success, Larter says, she and her boyfriend are doing a good job staying balanced, knowing when to turn things up and when to chill out. It's something Hayden Panettiere and Stephen Colletti are still learning about.

"Last night I was in my skintight Brian Reyes dress and Louis Vuitton heels. ...Today I packed my weekend bag – cargos, sneakers and sweats," she says. "And you know what? I need both. Balance is something that we all strive for, but for me it's to make sure my life has enough downtime, plus a bit of play."