I swear I only had 2 glasses of wine at dinner last Saturday night.
It was a rare evening where I was able to relax a little bit with my wife and not have to worry about making sure there was room enough to squeeze in a high chair and, perhaps, whether the restaurant was equipped with Crayolas to keep the 3 year-old occupied.
No, this was an evening I shared with an old friend and his wife where I mentioned that I used his “situation” in passing with Greg Grunberg, the man of the hour in NBC’s HEROES.
“What situation is that,” he asked.
“Well, things were going along fine,” I said, “but he was talking about his son with epilepsy and somehow I told him I have a friend who came out of the shower one morning and all of a sudden you started to have a seizure.”
I knew he wouldn’t mind, he didn’t, but I told him that I talked about it because it illustrated the whole point about why it is that Greg does what he does: because epilepsy isn’t something that’s talked about in an open way. Greg mentions that epilipsy is the 2nd most common neurological disorder next to migranes but that it’s not really put out there in the public discourse sphere as one would share about the trials and tribulations of dealing with a migrane headache.
The moment between all of us at the table was a real honest one. Apart from my friend’s wife being the only person present who knew who Greg was, she knew him from his work to help raise awareness for epilepsy, the discussion dipped down into what medications my friend was on to keep his afflication at bay since it reared its head only a couple of years ago when he was well past 30. The discussion ranged from what caused his seizures, no one knows, the medication he’s been using to keep from having seizures, there’s a couple that make up his drug cocktail, and, perhaps, one of the most telling statements, that the seizures were actively trying to come back after he decided that his medication wasn’t really needed anymore.
There are few things that really don’t make for good dinner conversation but this did. It took an interview with the man who is trying to establish HEROES as a genuine gem in the arsenal of free television. From big budgets to big projects that he’s linked to in an effort to help his son Greg is a very occupied father. He talks openly about getting that life/work balance but it is his frankness, the honesty with which he talks, that made for an interview that was exciting to listen to while being actively engaged in it.
And while I know that most of the readers here have the kind of cabbage that is ear-marked for other things, like eating meals, it would behoove some of you out there with a beating heart to check out Greg’s involvement with the Pediatric Epilepsy Project and think about donating a a couple bucks by buying something in the celebrity store.
As well, check out Greg’s musical project called Band From TV, stocked well with luminaries from the small screen, which you can also see here, and just seems like something that could do well when played in the presence of those in the need for another spirited rendition of Mustang Sally with something else fueling it other than a karaoke machine and a case of Schlitz. And with Bob Guiney from THE BACHELOR as your lead singer does it really get any better than this? I think not, sirs.
We pick up where we left off, talking about the shooting schedule for HEROES.
And how’s the shooting schedule been like? Different cast, different director…
Yeah, it’s pretty much the same as it’s been, for me…I mean it’s heavier for me than it was on ALIAS. When I’m working, it depends. Like the episode I’m about to start is a big episode for my character so I’ll be working 6 or 7 of the 8 days it takes to shoot the episode. Usually I’m on an episode for 3 or 4 days and it’s not so bad.
Any adjustments you’ve had to make because of you being front and center and not just the background, character actor you’ve been…
No, not really. I enjoy that role. A lot. I really, really enjoy it.
You know, the playing field, like right now, is like me and Adrian and Milo and we have a lot of TV experience but all of that changes, just like it did on LOST. As soon as the show airs…everyone will have their favorite character. It’s like 8 shows in one, really. You follow Masi, which Masi will be the break-out character, everyone will love the character of Hiro, He’s unbelievable. He’s the only character in the pilot, at least, who is loving his ability and is relishing it. And people love that. That’s what I love watching it. As soon as the show gets up and running everyone is going to have their favorite character that they love.
For me, like I did these pilots where I starred, I was the main star of GRAND UNION and of THE CATCH. That’s where I want to be. I love doing that but I also love being part of a great ensemble like this.
I’m happy just working.
Just being employed.
(Laughs)
Yeah. Absolutely. And with good material! I’ve been really, really, really fortunate and I know it and I never take one script, one day, one part, anything for granted. I’m so lucky that I met Tim. We already working with each other and he’s absolutely all about the work…he has an incredible team. He’s been doing this for a long time so he’s like J.J. I mean, the crew? Incredible. We had the great crew coming from FELICITY and ALIAS, and a lot of these people stick together and J.J. likes to use the same people and Tim too. They know to make a show. They know how to…They don’t freak out if we’re running hours over in a day, we’ll make it up…He’s got an executive producer, Dennis Hammer, if you want to make a TV show, he’s the guy you want working with you. He’s just amazing.
There’s so much to worry about and so much that happens, making a show, and there’s so much money involved, but these guys are unfazed. They know how to do it, they’ve done it so much and even on a show that has a production budget that this has, they know they’re going to be able and bring it every week. And they do.
And how much of that is going into effects and the like?
They’ve got a lot of effects, a lot of really cool shots. This show balances that kind of visual candy and character development like no other show I’ve seen. LOST is a good example of that. This has many more special effects shots than LOST.
Yeah, I’ve seen people flying around…
Yes, exactly. There’s flying around…there’s Hayden, her character I love because she’s indestructible and that’s cool and they’ve got a lot of that going on but it gets expensive. It’s hard…You’ve got to plan ahead. They need lead time to be able and do those effects. I haven’t been disappointed at all. After the pilot I thought there could be no way, “How are they going to keep this up?†And they do it every week.
You seem to be able and strike a nice balance with both work and life, some people in your profession take this a little too seriously, but is there a temptation to delve too much into work and not paying attention to the periphery?
Um…I think there can be but I was really lucky in that my family, I started a family, my wife keeps me incredibly grounded, and I hate to use the word “grounded,†my head starts swelling, it’s not my personality but…you can get lost in all that stuff. The truth is that’s a job like anything else. I love what I do, I’m so lucky in that I don’t consider it work at all and I have had my family, we started a family and got married before I was ever acting on a regular basis. I had so many jobs and small businesses, crazy stuff just to keep the rent paid before I was fortunate enough to really call myself an actor, where I was just making a living acting…I can look back and know how lucky I am. I don’t take anything for granted.
Also, on ALIAS, working with Victor Garber and Ron Rifkin and Jen and Michael…We’ve all had our ups and downs, we’ve all been in the business for long enough that you go a year without having anything steady you kind of go, “Uh, man.†You look back and think, “How lucky was I to be on a TV show?†So, I don’t ever forget that. Again, I’m just so lucky to be a part of this and I think this has the potential to go for many years.
In between those slow times, I don’t purport to know how long you’ve had HEROES in the hopper, even with THE CATCH and GRAND UNION was there a period of time when nothing was catching or did you ever feel that, “I want to do something but nothing seems to be working right now?â€
Yeah, I mean the last few years it’s been…Where I kind of compare every script that’s sent to me or scripts that I get a hold of I compare it to the quality of the stuff I’ve done and I want to keep that quality up. I know Keri Russell had that problem after FELICITY, every script you get you compare it to J.J. and it’s not fair to do that. I hopefully am versatile enough in the decision makers’ minds that they can use me for comedy and they can use me for this or that because I like to do it all but I’ve also started this band, this celebrity band…
I was just about to bring that up…
That’s what…I love balancing all that stuff. I’ve got this charity, my oldest son has epilepsy, he’s being treated at UCLA and they’ve got a foundation there that I’ve become a big part of called the Pediatric Epilepsy Project.
I’d like to know where has the latest Band From TV played to raise money.
We had a big event the first year and it’s so much work to have an event that people come to and have live music and arrange all that stuff it costs so much money to put the event on and you have to charge so much money so what I’ve done is that when I did HOUSE Hugh [Laurie] and I became good friends, James Denton and I have known each other because we’ve both been on ABC for a long time and James plays guitar, Hugh plays keyboards and I play the drums. I’ve been playing in a garage band for years and years and I decided to invite these guys to one of the rehearsals and, all of a sudden, Bonnie Summerville, through a mutual friend, Bonnie shows up and she has got the most incredible voice. Honestly, she’s an incredible singer. Hugh is incredible on the keyboards, I can hold my own on the drums, to watch James Denton play the guitar and sing a Garth Brooks tune is just fun. And we blow people away because they’re not expecting this. And the band I play with, and the guys that really back us up are really good musicians so suddenly we’ve got something that people really respond to.
TV Guide just paid us a couple hundred thousand dollars to play their post-Emmy party.
I just read about that…
It was amazing. Pink, she didn’t open for us but she played before us, then we played and then all that money, part of it goes to my charity, part of it goes to James’ and Hugh’s and Bonnie’s…And we’ve got Bob Guiney who’s the bachelor Bob, who couldn’t be more of a sweeter guy, who’s also got a great voice…so we’ve got this band now and we’re making a DVD and a CD, this place, Rehersals.com has backed us.
The St. Louis Rams asked us to play the national anthem and then the half-time show which is going to be crazy. I don’t know when or what game but we’ve been asked to do that, we’ve been asked to play…Schwarzenegger has this, the governor has this After School All Stars, which is a part of his physical education program for the public schools, they have a huge event coming up in Beverly Hills next month and he’s asked us to play that. There’s this meeting of the Middle East, and I don’t even know exactly what it is, but it’s like sort of a coalition of all the delegates from the Middle East showing we can get along…world musicians and we’ve been asked to play and sort of represent the Hollywood side of it. So, all these offers are coming in and hopefully the DVD, we’ve been shooting it, and CD, hopefully it’ll be huge. If we make a ton of money on it these charities will benefit so much.
I sent a check to PEP just yesterday and they called me back in tears. They couldn’t believe it. And, so, this is how I intend to raise money for them instead of putting on a big event.
What kind of tracks can we expect?
Right now, the first album is going to be called “Hogging All The Covers†and it’s just a bunch of cover songs. We play anything from “Shake Your Tail Feather†to “Mustang Sallyâ€, you know, “Hard To Handleâ€, “Take Another Piece of My Heartâ€â€¦great songs..,â€â€You’ve Really Got Me†by Van Halen and the set, our set, is so much fun and it’s like one song after another “Hit Me With Your Best Shot†like all these songs you love…And I’ve tried to keep control of the music, thankfully we’re all of the same mind set, which is that we’re familiar faces that people are comfortable with, let’s keep the music the same, you’re having a good time and you’re rocking out…
When we played this TV Guide party everyone was dancing and singing. We had a few rehearsals leading up to it that we invited the public down to and so it’s great seeing people having a great time and they’re happy to dole out, whatever, the 10 bucks just to come see us and it all goes to charities. It’s a lot of fun.
And Hollywood Hands. Is it still around?
That was the first fundraiser attempt and that raised a lot of money, like 300 grand, for UCLA and that was those guitars, hand painted guitars, and people can still go to CelebrityCars.com. We took that artwork and made the greeting cards out of them. So, people can go to Celebrity Cards, they can buy the greeting cards and that money goes to PEP.
There a few different ways that I am generating…if they can get a few different revenue streams going then they’ll be fine. It’s not like UCLA needs, of course if someone gave them 50 million dollars they would be happy, but they don’t need that much money. They need operating costs for their research and treatment and their staff…the hardest thing for them…they don’t work on billable hours. I call the doctor when Jake has a seizure. I call and I say, “What do I do? He just had a seizure. I gave him the medicine…†Then they talk me through it, they don’t bill me for that conversation. So, there’s so much time spent helping families who need help and they don’t make the money you expect them to make and they don’t drive the cars you expect these doctors to drive, they’re not making a lot of money at all. They really do need help. And then, the other charity that’s a benefit, Hugh Laurie’s charity, Save the Children, that’s an incredible charity. Jamie just helped Cure Autism Now with his money, The Coalition Against Domestic Violence is Bonnie’s. So, there’s some really important charities that we’re helping out and we get to be rock stars…
(Laughs)
I have a question about PEP, if you don’t mind…
No, not at all…
Is there, and I don’t want to say cure because I am deeply ignorant on the subject…
I think, through stem cell research, how they’ve helped with Parkinson’s patients, that, and I kind of pray this, I really do think Jake, my son who’s 10, will not have to deal with epilepsy for the majority of his life. This is what I am really hoping for. Years ago they didn’t have ways of going in and operating, even if it was localized, even if they could find it in the brain, but now they can. The medications…there’s a medication that Jake has that every single child with epilepsy should carry with them and every parent should carry with them, it’s called Diastat, it’s like his emergency medicine. And that, I know, stops seizures. I know it stops it. If he has a grand mal seizure, that will stop the seizure. He’s on a series of 6 medications. These medications weren’t available years ago so it’s one of those where, yeah, I think they’re moving a lot quicker, the FDA is allowing these drug companies to use these medications…Let’s say a medication was originally used to treat migraine headaches but it benefits epilepsy patients. They’re letting that crossover happen as long as they do the clinical trials. These scientists, these researchers, the doctors, they need our help. They need the research funds.
Epilepsy is not a glamorous disease. It’s not talked about as much as it should. People are embarrassed to talk about it and they shouldn’t be. The awareness…it’s the second most common neurological disorder behind migraine headaches.
It’s odd you say that because I have a friend who is in his early 30’s and, a couple of years ago, it was just an onset. He started to have seizures all of a sudden. No warning. He had his life flipped as he was prohibited from driving a motor vehicle for months following that. Eventually it waned but it was terrifying.
Was it grand mal seizures?
I…just don’t know. I wish I could say that I was inquisitive enough to really find out what happened but I felt kind of odd bringing it up if he wasn’t going to talk about it. I don’t know whether I felt uncomfortable talking about it or…
It’s amazing. The way I compare it…your brain has a lot of wiring that send messages, it’s like two lightning bolts have to meet, and in your brain and in my brain they meet all the time, messages are sent the way they should. Well, what happens if one lightening bolt is pointed up and the other one is pointed down? The brain just goes “Whoa!†and it starts shaking and the message is not going where it’s supposed to go. With Jake, luckily, he developed epilepsy at age 7, his brain was fully developed. But kids who get it, as infants, while their brain is still developing, you can see how it’s affected them. In their speech, in their learning…Jake has an incredible team at school working with him and we just encourage him to do everything that a normal kid would do but we just have to be right there. I mean, we have a pool and Jake swims, I’ve got to be right there with him. If you have a seizure when you’re swimming? You could drown, easily. But I can’t not let him swim, he loves to swim.
He’s on a restricted diet, Jake has an implant that stimulates his brain, we’re doing everything we possibly can to stop his seizures. Jake is a very difficult case to treat, but if you were to meet him you would never know he has epilepsy. You’d never know.
But a lot of people, like you say, don’t know what it is.
We just started school, grand mal seizure out on the yard in front of all the kids…and Jake is truly my hero because what happens is he has a seizure, we pick him up, we bring him home, and he says, “I want to go back to school. What are you doing? Let’s go back, I want to go back.â€
(Laughs)
I’d want to stay at home…
If I had a seizure at work it would be like, “I’m staying at home for a few days.†It’s just the way we’ve been raising him and it’s just amazing. It’s amazing to see him like that. I thought that kids would make fun of him.
No. They don’t. They take his lead. It’s amazing. It’s like anything else…if you believe in yourself other people are going to believe that. You’re dictating how you want people to perceive you. He does…that’s the way he perceives himself.
We all have something to deal with. Everyone’s got something. This is his thing and take it or leave it, you know?
And do you draw strength from that?
For sure.
It puts everything into perspective. It really does. Everything else is just…it’s important in its own way, but, especially what I do, but how can I worry about a scene that I’m shooting when this, this is big stuff. This is the stuff of challenges that you’re faced with. I can do anything. Put me in front of 60,000 people, I’ll pull my pants down.
(Laughs)
It all doesn’t mean anything to me. When I see my son have the courage to go through what he’s going through…that’s real strength. That’s the real thing.
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