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  January 27, 2010

  'Heroes' Greg Grunberg - Man On A Trapeze

  Do you know the old saying, “No good deed goes unpunished?” It is one that Matt Parkman perhaps should have heeded at the end of Heroes‘ third year. The good-natured and often put-upon law enforcement officer, who also happens to possess telepathic powers, thought he finally had the chance to start a normal life with his wife Janice and baby son, Matt Jr. Then, however, Noah Bennet and Angela Petrelli talked Matt into using his ability to help them get rid of Sylar. As a result, Matt not only wound up with a guilty conscience, but, at the start of season four, Sylar’s psychotic consciousness stuck inside his head as well. Yes, it was yet more angst for our reluctant hero to contend with, but Greg Grunberg, who plays Matt, readily embraced the new acting challenge.

  “Well, first of all, the end of season three was exciting for me because suddenly Matt was the one who they turned to in order to level Sylar, which was awesome,” enthuses Grunberg. “I love how we play things on this show, in that most of the time they’re character-driven and we try to keep it that way. So going into this particular story arc, I knew it would be good. However, Matt wasn’t happy about doing this. It was something he had never done before and he knew there would be repercussions. Although he was thrown into this, it was also something he chose to do. And, of course, when we’re burning the body [in the third season finale An Invisible Thread], Matt knows it’s not really Sylar, and he’s carrying that secret with him.
  
  “Then at the beginning of season four, when Angela [Christine Rose] calls Matt and says, ‘Things didn’t go as planned; we need your help again,’ it’s like, crap! He’s not happy about it and doesn’t want to go back. Once again, all Matt wants to do is try to lead a normal life, which is exactly what inspired Tim Kring [Heroes executive producer] to create this show after he saw [the feature film] The Incredibles. The thing is, no matter what you try to do, when you’re ’special’ and have these powers, you’re going to get called upon, and when push comes to shove, you’re going to have to step up to the plate. As much as Matt tries to go back to that normal life, he can’t. He always gets pulled back into this one.
  
  “There are themes in Heroes that are very consistent and, as this season has gone on, the focus for my character is that he will do whatever necessary to protect his family. This goes back to season two and what happened with Matt’s father [Maury Parkman, played by Alan Blumfeld], which was a powerful moment for my character. Matt realized that his father had all this power and did whatever it took in order to save their family. But then Matt had to take him down. This year, it’s another powerful moment for Matt when he realizes, ‘By killing myself, I’ll kill Sylar [Zachary Quinto], because if I don’t, he’s going to go on killing people, maybe even my own family.’ So towards the end of this season you’re going to see Matt do some really dark things that you wouldn’t expect from him.”
  
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