Gregory Smith After "Everwood"

Gregory Smith is familiar to many of you as Ephram on the popular TV series "Everwood". The cutie has appeared in several feature films as well ever since he was a boy of six. You might have caught a younger Greg in American Outlaws, The Patriot and Small Soldiers as well as several Disney Channel TV films.

Now, in Nearing Grace, Smith takes on the sensitive role of Henry Nearing, a 1970's high school senior whose life is turned upside down when his mom dies. His dad loses it, his brother is a complete drug head and he's in limbo until he falls for the school seductress (Jordana Brewster) but, does she even care about him? We cornered Gregory in Beverly Hills recently for the insider info on his first big teen-friendly project after "Everwood", his longtime crush on Jordana Brewster, what's coming up for him and what it was like to dance around in underwear on screen like the young Tom Cruise did in Risky Business. Check it out...

TeenHollywood: Was this experience very different from shooting "Everwood"?

Gregory: Very different. Everything about it is really different, mostly in terms of just the amount of time you have to do the amount of work you have to do, and the pace. And it's just like a different set of rules.

TeenHollywood: And with a series you are more like a family, right?

Gregory: Yeah. You know, you get thrown together with people on film and you don't know any of them, and you become best friends, and then you don't really see each other ever again. And on a TV show, you get thrown together with people and you're stuck with them. [laughs] You know what I mean? [laughs] But they're both great. The nice thing about doing a TV show is you do it and millions of people are going to see it on their television sets every week. With a film like this, it's a lot more of a risk, and you really want to put your heart into it, because if you don't, then people aren't going to want to see it. So there's not a built-in outlet.

TeenHollywood: There is some similarity between the Ephram and Henry characters.

Gregory: That was a consideration and was talked about before because both Ephram and Henry, had parents that had died. Treat's character, Dr. Brown, he handled it by moving to a small town and trying to get involved in the community, whereas Shep, David Morse's character [Henry's dad in the film], becomes an alcoholic and completely closes himself out. The difference to me is in how these characters react in similar situations.

TeenHollywood: Nearing Grace was a popular novel. Were you familiar with the novel going into the project, or was the script your first exposure to the story?

Gregory: The script was my first exposure to the story. Jacob Aaron Estes wrote it, and he also wrote Mean Creek. He's one of the most incredible screenwriters I've ever read. I read the script and I was so taken with it, it was almost like love at first sight. I was like, 'Okay, I gotta get this,' so I got the book, and I put together a whole package of information. I took pages from the book, and I kind of put it together into my script and kind of incorporated the two. When I went in and met the director for the first time, that's sort of how I sort of tricked him into hiring me, I think.

TeenHollywood: And what jumped out at you from the script?

Gregory: It had very similar themes that resonated with what was going on in my real life. It gave me that experience, and put a positive spin on it which I know seems weird, but it just touched something inside me. It totally brought me back to a place that wasn't so far away for me. It just reminded me of my life and something that I had dealt with. But for some reason, it didn't make me depressed about it. It made me sort of think about it and smile. From people who have seen the film, the one thing that I've heard most consistently is that it brought them back to a particular time in their lives where they were trying to figure stuff out, but it was a nice trip back.

TeenHollywood: The film takes people back to the 1970's. Were you familiar at all with that era?

Gregory: I didn't really know that much about the '70s. I mean, that's one of the cool things about doing movies. It's always an opportunity to go spend a lot of money at like Virgin or something. I found out what the most popular movies were then, what people living at that time would have been watching, and then movies that have been made since about that time. And I probably brought 40 DVDs with me to location. And I don't remember what they were now, but I downloaded all the top 40 book lists, and I got all the same sort of books and tons of music, and I just basically insulated myself with those things.

TeenHollywood: Do you normally approach a role like that, by immersing yourself in the period's culture?

Gregory: It's always different, but that's one of the things I like to do; just try to absorb things rather than cram them. I just kind of surround myself with stuff. I'll buy a couple things [the character would wear] and I'll start wearing that. In the weeks leading up, I'll start writing things from his point of view and slowly try to find exactly what the voice is, so by the time you're on set, the voice is very natural. When you're playing a character you don't like, it's a real pain in the a**. [laughs]

TeenHollywood: What was it like working with Jordana Brewster and Ashley Johnson as your leading ladies?

Gregory: They're great. They were awesome. Jordana...I mean, she's Jordana Brewster! I actually did a table read with her when I was like 14, and I don't think she remembers. But I was staring across the table the whole time, like [stares at us with mouth open], 'Oh my God!' And they were like, 'I think [your co-star] is going to be Jordana Brewster.' And I was like [he bangs table, claps hands], 'Yes!' [laughs] And then Ashley and I have been friends for a long time before this. And so it was just awesome working with them. They're both so different, but they're both so awesome.

TeenHollywood: Did your previous relationship with Ashley make it easier to play the relationship your characters have in the movie? Or did it make it harder?

Gregory: I guess it probably made it easier, just because we both knew each other, and we both knew that we liked each other, and we wanted to help each other and work together. And so it probably made it easier. But, if we hadn't had a relationship, I don't think the experience would have been any different. We hadn't seen each other for a couple years but she's one of those people...I won't see her for a year, and then we'll see each other, and it's like no time has passed.

TeenHollywood: Did you watch her on "Growing Pains" on TV?

Gregory: I don't think I watched her on 'Growing Pains', but I had definitely sort of seen her in the background while I was getting ready to go to school or something like that. You know, the TV would be on. So I was aware. [laughs]

TeenHollywood: Have you ever had a "crawl through the window" kind of best friend relationship; the whole "Dawson's Creek" deal where you can just crawl through your friend's window anytime?

Gregory: Not 'crawl through the window,' but certainly like sort of metaphorically, yeah. [laughs] So I had to put some bars on the windows. [laughs] No. You mean like a best friend? A Merna, [Ashley's character] for me? Yeah, absolutely.

TeenHollywood: What about a Grace [Jordana's sexy character]?

Gregory: Not yet. But I'm hoping. [laughs] But that's one of the things about the movie, as well. It's like they're almost different sides of the same coin. Most guys I know that I've talked to, or even girls, you can categorize people that you've connected with over the years, and they're either a Merna or a Grace, you know?

TeenHollywood: Who would you pick between the two?

Gregory: Well, you can't appreciate one without the other. [laughs] That's my story and I'm sticking to it. [laughs]

TeenHollywood: You've done a lot drama. Any plans for maybe a comedic or action role?

Gregory: Yeah. Action would be cool. You pick roles to a certain extent, but they also kind of pick you. So I would love to do everything. I have a production company and we just made a film that was a broad comedy. I didn't act in it, we just put it together. So I'd like to do anything and everything.

TeenHollywood: Henry can fly a plane. Did you learn how to fly for this role?

Gregory: Not for this, no. I have lots of friends who are pilots, and I've flown some in the past but just the fixed-wing glider where you tote up and let go and then you glide down but I would really like to. And I think at some point, when I have a chance, I'll take some lessons, get my license.

TeenHollywood: How did you feel in the scene in which you're dancing around in your underwear or I think it was supposed to be Jordana's underwear?

Gregory: Oh my God! For the weeks leading up to that, every day at lunch, I would go up to the director and be like, 'You know, I've really been thinking about this, and I don't think it's integral to Henry's arc. I don't think it's necessary for the film.' And I would try to intellectualize why we didn't need to shoot it. But I was actually just scared. And he'd be like, 'Greg, you're dancing in your underwear.' But yeah, when we shot that, I was really, really nervous because I was supposed to do a ballet in like women's underwear. How can you not be nervous? The director Rick [Rosenthal] is a big guy and he turned up wearing the same pair of underwear, and sneakers!

TeenHollywood: OMG, and did he direct the scene wearing that?

Gregory: He directed the whole scene going, 'All right, action!' and he's wearing the same underwear to make me feel more comfortable. It was a really cool thing for a director to do. It did make me feel more comfortable. It's actually one of my favorite scenes in the film. People say 'try to do something every day that scares you', but it really is true. Especially, I've found that, when you feel uncomfortable, when you feel off-balance, it's usually when stuff is the most real, and usually, in retrospect, the stuff you enjoy the most.

TeenHollywood: So, what else have you been up to since "Everwood"?

Gregory: We finished "Everwood" in April...Or May. And then I went and I did a film called Closing the Ring, that was directed by Lord Richard Attenborough, and it's sort of this period epic romance film that's set in '91 and '41, and a love story between these times. I call it an epic love story that spans generations. And when the characters are old, it's Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer. And then when they're younger, it was Mischa Barton and myself. And so I played a young Christopher Plummer. I grew a mustache and they had me like slicked back in like this military officer garb and all that. It was pretty cool.

TeenHollywood: Anything else we can look forward to?

Gregory: The production company I have, we produced this film Wieners, which I mentioned, which I think will come out in April. And that I didn't act in, we just sort of put it together. And I leave tomorrow to go shoot a film called Straight Edge, but the title's going to change, on a deserted island in Fiji...which won't suck. And that one is with Mila Kunis. from "That 70's Show". There are these drug rehab boot camps. They actually exist on deserted islands, they're not on US soil, they don't have to adhere to any rules or principles, and these kids have no rights. They're 16, 17, and so these kids, they get sent there. It's kind of a Great Escape type movie on this deserted island.

TeenHollywood: That's sounds really dramatic and scary.

Gregory: Yeah. In real life, a kid will have a behavior problem and the parents, they say like, 'I can't handle it anymore' and they'll call up one of these programs, and the program will send people to find the kid in public, put a bag over their head, drug them, throw them into a waiting van. They're gone indefinitely. That's what happens. [My character] doesn't necessarily belong there. They basically have to fight it out of there. So it's based on a real phenomenon that's kind of growing in the country, but it's a fictional story.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.