The Heroes Cast Hits the Road!
Fans of the popular TV series "Heroes" will be delighted to learn that whether they live in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Munich, Paris, London or New York, they'll be able to see many of their favorite stars of the series in person as they visit fans worldwide. In association with Nissan, the cast will travel to meet fans and promote the show. The tour has been launched in tandem with the upcoming August 28th Season One DVD and HD DVD release in domestic and international markets.
TeenTelevision was front and center at a press conference on the stages where the show is shot in L.A. for the announcement. A big cake of the world was rolled out with the targeted tour cities labeled and Tim Kring, creator and Executive Producer of the series, cut the cake with a huge samurai sword.... then handed it to Masi Oka who plays Hiro on the show. Of course, the actor seemed right at home with sword in hand. Adrian Pasdar who plays Nathan and his series daughter Claire (Hayden Panettiere) shared a hug and everyone dug into the cake.. but not before Masi got a little cake touch of Paris where he'll travel on the tour.
Adrian told us that he and Masi just got back from Monte Carlo and the fans were "universal in their appreciation that the show is about hope and love. That communicated across any linguistic boundaries". He also noted that the show is downloaded illegally everywhere. "Every journalist I ran into had seen the show. They'd all seen it illegally. It hadn't premiered yet." Zach Quinto (Sylar) agreed that this is a world-wide phenomenon, "In April, we went to the Jules Verne festival that honored the show with an adventurous spirit award and the show hadn't aired in Paris. But, at the festival, there were three thousand people lined up to get in".
For the short tour, the cast will be divided up, each pod of Heroes going to different countries during a one week, very whirlwind trip. The cast started production two days ago for the new season and, as they gathered on stage in the glaring TV camera lights, we were reminded of a line-up at a police station.. although these folks aren't crooks but actors we love! Greg Grunberg (Matt) told us that, hey, there is a precedent for such a TV cast tour, "Uh, the Brady Bunch went to the Grand Canyon [laughter]". Grunberg noted that he was recently in Paris and the film hasn't premiered there yet on TV but "people were stopping me left and right, all over the place because they are watching it on the internet. [The tour] is going to be really exciting I think".
We tried to find out which of the "dead" were coming back next season etc. but everyone just smiled and said collectively "we'll see" and "everything is not what it seems to be" or "the reveal of the new characters is a huge part of the story" Yeah.. we figured. Adrian is sporting a hefty beard and says he is working on the show now so, in this time-twisty storyline, who knows? We did learn that Hayden might attend a comic-con style event in London and she's thrilled that she's no longer considered a minor and can work more than the 10 and a half hours allowed for "kids" in Hollywood.
From beautiful Ali Larter (Niki) we learned that she recently had a romantic, skinny-dipping, Hawaiian vacation moment interrupted terribly, "I was skinny-dipping at midnight. It was a perfect night and a gorgeous lagoon with sea turtles swimming in it so the dress came off and in I went. My boyfriend and I were having this wonderful, romantic night and, all of a sudden, a jellyfish wrapped around my arm. He had to lean over and rip the tentacles off and that was my exciting journey to Hawaii that ended up in the emergency room!" She shows us the formidable scar on her arm. Yeow!
We gathered that the new DVD perks will include an original uncut version of the pilot. There are commentaries on most episodes and tons of behind-the-scenes stuff along with 50 deleted scenes and five featurettes. And what about "Heroes: Origins", the new backstory series? Kring said that it's still in development. No news on the writers and directors yet. It will be an anthology series.. i.e. it won't have the same characters on every week and will run in April. We'll meet some new Heroes from all around the world.
If you aren't in one of the major tour cities, you can catch up with your favorite Heroes at NBC.com which will post photos, videos, v-logs etc. with the actors live from the road. In the Fall you can start collecting "Heroes" clothes, accessories, books and toys!
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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.
