On a conference call with reporters this morning, Hayden Panettiere provided a great deal of insight into our favorite show.

For starters, the young actress will be jetting across Europe as part of the Heroes world tour. She's most excited about visiting. Considering that the show's second season is currently in full production, this may mean less Claire Bennet in the initial episodes.

When we do see the cheerleader, however, it may not be the same sunny, homecoming queen-type stereotype of a character we were treated to last season. Panettiere said there would be a bit more behind Claire this year than in the past - which makes sense, based on what she's gone through.

Oddly enough, Hayden also said she's love to go all Sylar on viewers. The idea of playing a villain appeals to her.

"In the show, anything is possible. You never know what is going to happen. I doubt it, but anything is possible."

During the call, Hayden was actually watching the Heroes DVD box set and marveling over the sheer number of extras involved on it. She's a good little PR vixen for a DVD that's being billed as one of the most fan friendly sets in the history of television, replete with more commentaries and extras than other series.

In closing, Panettiere responded to a question about all the blood and guts on the show - especially considering how she got messier than most actors on the show. What was it like to work with all those prosthetics?

"It was sticky," she said. "It's basically corn syrup, and red dye, and you can imagine what that does to your body after ten hours of working. It was most fun when me and [Milo Ventimigilia] got to do it together, and got to get sticky together.

Then you have directors like Greg Beeman who like to go overboard with the blood. I just remember seeing him with that blood bottle in his hand and looking at me like he was going to attack."

And, don't worry, lovers of gore: Claire will be taking advantage of her ability even more in season two.

"The longer she has it and the farther it goes, the less she is conscious of it, the less she notices that she can't do certain things. Trust me, you will see plenty of blood. Plenty of snaps, pops, and crackles."

The following is taken from The Sioux City Journal, chronicling the mass appeal of Heroes...

One year ago, Masi Oka was just hoping a little thing called Heroes would last six weeks. Now, the NBC drama is a worldwide phenomenon and Oka is an Emmy nominee.

"It's a dream come true," Oka says as he leads a tour around the series' sets. "Every day, I noticed something changing. A little kid would come up to me and ask for an autograph. A father would stop and say, 'Thank you for uniting my family.' People would be so nice... and all because the series touched them."

Considered a key bridge between network television and on-line broadcasting, Heroes has managed to create buzz in countries where it hasn't even aired.

Sendhil Ramamurthy (pictured) was at the French Open this spring and couldn't move without a crowd gathering. Tennis officials had to assign him an escort just to keep fans at bay.

"That's the power of the Internet," he says. "France hasn't gotten the show yet but people there are fully aware of it."

Tabloid reporters are savvy, too. Hayden Panettiere can't leave her home without photographers chronicling every move.

"You're like shark bait," she says. "Being a young female in Hollywood is no easy task."

Still, Panettiere is grounded. She has a curfew, household chores and "great parents" to make sure success doesn't change her.

"In the first season, we had no idea it had become a phenomenon," Ramamurthy says. "We were locked away in L.A. It didn't hit until we actually finished and were able to travel."

First, Milo Ventimiglia admitted that his dream role would be to portray Robin on the big screen.

Now, a former castmate is sharing her hopes of landing a well-known comic book part.

Missy Peregrym, the 25-year-old actor who portrayed illusionist Candice Wilmer on the first season of Heroes, revealed that she would love to play Wonder Woman on in any future film.

"Actually, I've been pushing for that for so long because I know the guys who are trying to develop it and it's been forever that they've been trying to get this script going," she said. "We'll see what happens, but of course, that would be huge to play that."

A Wonder Woman movie was in development under writer-director Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) for several years. Though Whedon has since bowed out, producer Joel Silver claims that the flick is still a possibility.

We may be used to seeing Ali Larter as a reluctant heroine on Heroes - but fans will get a different view of her in the upcoming movie, Resident Evil: Extinction.

She recently talked about the movie...

You're going to be a red head for the role?
For people who are truly passionate about the games, it's important to have that resemblance to Claire Redfield. They have an idea of what they want her to be. The red hair is just one more thing to help bridge that gap, and get them to take the journey with me.

So do you spend any time in the cycling skinsuit from the game?
No, no, and I'm so glad about that because we're really just traveling in the desert and trying to survive. If you look at it, you can stop at different stores to pick up clothes that you need when you're living in these grave circumstances. So it's like cargo pants, tank top, baseball cap, sunglasses - anything that's realistic that I would have.

The look of the second movie was very much like a video game. Will that be the same this time around?
Not at all. I think with this movie they're going in a different direction. It's taking on a more realistic, or hyper-realistic world. We're out in the desert now. We're not confined to a certain area, so I think that opens things up. For me I'm glad because with the video games there's the mythology, but this gave me a chance to develop what I thought made the most sense for this character in this world.

How much action do you get in the movie?
Not as much as Alice. Alice gets to kick ass! She's this amazing figure. It's incredible. I have a barretta and knives, but my role isn't as much the action and the fighting of it. It's keeping everything together, organizing it, more of like a general. But I do have a couple of run-ins with the undead and I shoot the shit out of them.

Did you have any gun training?
We did a little bit. I've worked with guns before and it's just so fun. Our stunt man was amazing and made it as believable as possible. And I think it is. I've seen some of the dailies and they're beautiful, just beyond my expectations.

Can you talk about coming into this franchise on the third picture?
Definitely. Going into a franchise that's been successful, especially one where there's an incredibly strong female lead, you wonder how are they going to feel about you coming in and how are you going to be treated. Milla was nothing but amazing. She is so cool. She is so fun. Creatively I think we work really well together too.

The other side of it, and this is why I did this movie, is it is a departure from the first two. I think it's a fresh take on the genre. They brought in a bunch of different characters and it's really a story about survival, and family, and what you would do at this point in the world. So it's not just a shoot'em up. There's a lot more going on and that's what drew me to it.

To read the full interview, click here.

NBC found a lifeline with Heroes, the biggest new hit last season.

As The Orlando Sentinel reports, the success will reverberate with the DVD release Aug. 28, at the Emmys September 16 and in many new fall series that feature superheroes.

Then there's the main event: Season two starts September 24. Yet series creator Tim Kring says he's not feeling pressure to top last season.

"It's pressure to keep it going," Kring says. "This particular show has become a show defined by its ability to defy your expectations. People want that experience of watching the show and not knowing where it's going to take them."

Heroes will introduce more everyday characters with astonishing powers this year. Among them the actor playing these roles? David Anders, Jessica Collins and Dianna Agron.

Heroes features, from left, Ali Larter as Niki Sanders, Noah Gray-Cabey as Micah Sanders, Adrian Pasdar as Nathan Petrelli, Milo Ventimiglia as Peter Petrelli, Zachary Quinto as Sylar, Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura, Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennet, Greg Grunberg as Matt Parkman, Jack Coleman as H.R.G., Sendhil Ramamurthy as Mohinder Suresh

"The message of hope caught people's attention," Kring says. "There's something hopeful about the idea we have these abilities, and abilities to connect around the world."

NBC Universal hopes to connect a vital property with more consumers. Universal Media Studios produces the series, which is a model for how NBC hopes to expand its business online and internationally.

"A hit does drive the business," says Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment. "Then we can build so much of this around it."

Universal Studios Home Entertainment is releasing the first-season DVD weeks before season two begins. The goal: gain viewers who haven't watched and please fans with extra content.

"There's like 50 extended and deleted scenes," says Masi Oka, who plays Hiro. "You get to see the behind-the-scenes things, the making of, Tim Kring's commentary on the 72-minute pilot that we premiered at Comic-Con."

Heroes will produce 24 episodes next season. The plan is for them to end in April. Heroes: Origins, a six-episode anthology series, will air in May and introduce characters separate from the main series.

Continue Reading...

Hey, it worked for Zachary Quinto.

That Heroes star began lobbying for the role of Spock in the next Star Trek film - and he's now fortunate enough to have landed that important part.

So, what long-time, well-known comic book character does Milo Ventimiglia wish to play? The answer may surprise you.

During a recent interview to promote his upcoming thriller Pathology, the 30-year-old actor could barely contain his excitement for Quinto's recent appointment as Mr. Spock. Remembering an early conversation they once had on the Heroes set, Ventimiglia marveled at the fact that Quinto has a chance to portray his dream role.

So, who would Milo be dying to play?

"Robin," he grinned, referring to the embattled Batman buddy most recently seen in the person of Chris O'Donnell in the late 90s.

When reminded that Dick Grayson typically signals the downfall of a Batman franchise, Ventimiglia insisted that current Dark Knight mastermind Christopher Nolan could bring enough of an edge to the character to make him worthwhile.

The Heroes star told MTV Movies that he was a big fan of Nolan's Batman Begins - and that if the writer/director ever put out a casting call for a Robin in a future Batman flick, he'd move faster than The Penguin at an umbrella sale.

"They've never done it right," he added, explaining why Robin has always seemed so dorky in the past. Asked how he'd change the Robin story, Ventimiglia offered up a single word that speaks chapters to comic fans: "Nightwing."

For those unaware of the storyline (i.e. most of us) "Nightwing" is a moniker Robin takes on as a tribute to Superman, then uses while trying to escape from Batman's shadow. Clad in black, the acrobatic hero is typically associated with The New Teen Titans, and is considerably traumatized when Batman hires a new Robin that is seemingly killed by The Joker.

Sounds interesting. But, as far as we know, there are no plans to hire a new Robin any time soon. So, fear not, Peter Petrelli is going nowhere for awhile!

As this week's Heroes Caption Contest proves, Hayden Panettiere gets sick of older men making inappropriate comments to a 17-year old.

But what about much younger men?

In this photo, it's not hard to imagine what little Noah Gray-Cabey is thinking as Hayden - and her cleavage - tower above him:

We love Masi Oka at Heroes Fanatic.

So do the folks at UnderGroundOnline, as that site recently chatted with the actor...

On his first reaction to reading Hiro Nakamura:
"I thought it was phenomenal because it wasn't one note. Tim Kring created an amazing, beautiful world with such rich characters. Hiro embodied the sense of the everyman, in many ways, and how we all dreamed as a kid of wanting to be a superhero. And he's someone who kept his dream. He believed in it, believed in it, believed in it, and finally his dreams came true.

To be able to live vicariously my dreams of becoming a superhero through his dreams, it's just fantastic. And I'm just very fortunate to have been part, and having Tim entrust me with the character."

Oka on working with George Takei:
"George Takei was phenomenal to work with. He's not only a generous actor, but a generous person. He's an icon in every aspect of Asian-American TV and American cinema. You have your Star Trek, everything, you learn so much from him. And if you were to ask George Takei he would say, [using the best George Takei impersonation ever] 'Well, I found working with Masi to be quite an experience. He's quite a young and talented individual. And it's nice to see the sci-fi generation get passed on from the older to the younger and the legacy being kept alive.'"

On whether we will see George Takei again:
"Yes. The season premiere you will see George Takei, as well as the rest - Masi and everybody else."

On Season Two being independent of Season One:
"Season Two is about new storylines. The whole idea, it's a new beginning for everyone, so that people who haven't watched the Season One can also catch up through the DVD, but you also just jump in to Season Two and watch it from there as well."

On his real-life hero:
"Well, my real life hero, as sappy as it makes me sound, is definitely my mother. Growing up, being raised by a single mother who came from Japan to America to provide for our entire family and give me a better life in America. She gave up pretty much her entire life for me. So it's going to take not only my lifetime but my lifetime after that to repay. I'll never be able to repay what my mom has done for me."

On mixing acting with his special effects background:
"Well, definitely it's really nice to be able go back. I have a lot of respect for what goes on, not only in front of the camera, but what goes on behind the camera. I remember spending months and months just to get about 200 frames out, and what it takes. A show is as good as its weakest link. And whether it's from the caterers, the effects folks, we have fantastic people all around.

Our effects folks are doing a bang up job. It's great to be able to talk to them on set and just say, "Hey, why don't we try to -- how do we (hot) archive this matte process?" or "Where do we need to put particles to work?" or "Where's the 3-D virtual..." You know, it's really cool to be able to talk that on the set and have kind of a camaraderie there."

On his first acting job:
"Recalling my first TV job in Los Angeles was actually for a pilot called Straight White Male. It was for the FX Channel. And it was a pilot that didn't get picked up. But I recall it pretty well, because that job allowed me to fulfill the contract I had with ILM at that time, and allow them to agree for me to stay in Los Angeles and continue working for ILM in a telecommuting capacity while pursuing acting down in Los Angeles. So that was definitely a memorable role for me."

On the production of Season Two:
"We're deep into production. We're moving at a really fast pace. We're almost starting Episode 5, I believe -- or we may have started. The filming has been fantastic. The location looks phenomenal. It looks great. It looks like feudal Japan. You wouldn't have guessed that it's Ventura County. But it looks like feudal Japan. And the scout people found an amazing place.

It's been so fun working with David Anders and Eriko Tamura. They are the main focus in Hiro's feudal Japan storyline. And we've been having lots of fun, lots of action and drama. So it's been great. And I know Hiro will be in feudal Japan for a handful of episodes."

On the Season One DVD:
"DVDs are great because it gives us an opportunity to give fans more as well. Not only to just recap the episodes they've seen, but there's like 50 extended and deleted scenes, [and] we even have the 72-minute premiere of our pilot episode... it's like a huge seven box set, but you get to see the behind the scenes things, the making of, Tim Kring's commentary on the 72-minute pilot that we premiered at Comic-Con.

Yesterday, actually, I got a chance to see the DVD content and there's some really cool stuff in there with the special effects, in particular, the scoring."

Many thanks to Kirsten of E! Online for the following Heroes spoilers.

She has answered a couple questions and revealed some intriguing information about our favorite show's second season...

Q: Can you tell us anything about the new Heroes?
Claire's new boyfriend (Nick D'Agosto) can fly - and for one particular romantic getaway he picks her up and carries her to the Hollywood sign atop Mt. Lee. Also, according to our source, Claire is still very much a teenager and has been sneaking out of the house to hang out with her new fella.

Q: Anything good on Heroes?
If all goes according to plan, one of your favorite Heroes will appear in the third episode of Pushing Daisies. He (yes, it's a he) even brings one of his "powers" with him.

That's a new show on NBC, folks. But who do you think will be making this unique crossover? Our money is on Peter Petrelli because, well, he can do pretty much anything at this point.

 We already knew David Anders was coming on board Heroes for season two - but news is now that this former Alias star has inked a deal to be a full-time cast member .

Although initial reports suggested Anders was brought in as a full-fledged player, this wasn't the case. He was technically hired as a recurring player, but TV Guide says after seeing him in action as the 1,000-year-old Kensei, producers decided to keep him around for good.

While we're dishing about Heroes casting news, rumor also has it that that Deadwood's Stephen Tobolowsky will appear in at least six episodes this season. Not much is known about his character for now.