John Stamos, Charlie Sheen, Goran Visjnic, Matthew Perry, and other actors say the wackiest things when they're not scripted or on-set
“I have a furry ball,” Goran Visnjic, star of ER, purred at the beginning of an interview. Naturally I cracked up.
The hunky Croatian actor who plays Luka Kovac on the long-running medical drama had just joined me in a swank suite at the W Hotel in Westwood near UCLA for a round of interviews with international press.
“I wasn’t expecting that to be your opening line,” I said, to which he so charmingly replied with a blush, “Oh, I’m sorry.”
The ball in question was a faux-fur pillow shaped like an oversized basketball, ridges and all. It was fluffy and fuzzy and brown and became the source of many conversations throughout Saturday afternoon.
Ottawa native, Jennifer Finnigan of Close to Home hugged it and laughed, “If you ask me tough questions I’ll just spoon with it.”
Owain Yeoman, who is most well-known for his role as Lysander in the Brad Pitt blockbuster, Troy, now stars as a reluctant bank robber in the new series, The Nine. The tall actor from Wales placed the round pillow between him and fellow castmate, Dana Davis, and then dove into a bowl of Starburst candies. “What’s the story behind the blue ones? They’re delicious!” Yeoman giddily chomped and smacked his way through a dozen blue sweets before the interview ended.
John Billingsley, a character actor, is winning kudos for his portrayal of a suicidal man turned hero in The Nine. “There aren’t a lot of roles out there for flabby 46-year-old four-eyes.” He says he’s in heaven.
But his Egan Foote is so much more than a middle-aged actor in glasses. Watch this space for an interview with him. I’ll write more about him and what a number of actors from series including Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Two and a Half Men, ER, Veronica Mars, Justice, Cold Case, The Class, and Men in Trees, had to say about their characters and their shows.
John Stamos talked about dating after 10 years of being in a relationship (with his ex, Rebecca Romijn); Jon Cryer talked about how he stayed out of the salary negotiations that led to Charlie Sheen becoming today’s highest-paid sitcom actor and Matthew Perry talked about his hopes for Studio 60 and life after Friends. Jason Ritter talked about his dad, John Ritter.
Still watching their behaviour off-screen, their unscripted, unpolished, and unexpected antics, was priceless.
In other news, this weekend (Oct. 22) a story of mine on religion in Hollywood was published in the L.A. Times. You can view "God's Entourage" at www.latimes.com/features/magazine/west/la-tm-bhollywood43oct22,1,2525232.story?coll=la-headlines-west until Friday.
Tomorrow it’s all about Madonna and her baby from Malawi.
