Party Time For NBC’s Heroes & Stars

Party Time For NBC’s Heroes & Stars
Things Getting Interesting For The Cast Of Heroes, James Kyson Lee In Movie Asian Stories

 

 

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GREG GRUNBERG and JAMES KYSON LEE from Heroes

 

The Heroes stars were out in force at the NBC party to launch the fall season on the peacock network. They all gathered at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour, a great place to get all the news about the show and what’s happening with the stars.

Of course the cheerleader Hayden Panettiere was there to add some pep as she rallied the troops to promote the upcoming season. She didn’t tell us anything new when she noted that the spotlight will be on the villains this year. “I think that will make everything amazingly interesting,” she smiled. But before the new season of shows gets underway, there’s an informative and fun “clip show” airing September 22.

The “grand dame” of the epic Cristine Rose will also show new layers to her mysterious character. “Not everyone is as good or as bad as he or she seems,” said Rose.

Still playing her son, Adrian Pasdar, who seemingly met his demise during last season’s finale, was at the party looking very much alive. Does that mean he’s really alive or seen in flash backs? Pasdar said, “It’s going to be very interesting.”

Also at the party were Masi Oka, Jack Coleman, Zachary Quinto and Milo Ventimiglia. Plus Greg Grunberg, who was trying to talk a very happy James Kyson Lee into joining his rock’n’roll band, made up of TV stars who play to raise money for worthwhile charities.

Grunberg revealed that he’s been after Lee to join the band, and wanted to know if he could play the banjo. When Lee joked that he could only play the “cow bell,” Greg whipped out his iPhone and pulled up a picture of a “cow bell,” and challenged Lee to impress him with his musical talent.

Lee was awesome and started banging away on the iPhone “cow bell” as if he played with the Rolling Stones. Lee and Grunberg started shouting “Rock on!” as they headed into the NBC party.

But before Lee disappeared into the star-studded mob, he talked about a great little movie he did, and where his character is going this season.

Lee said, “Heroes is going places you’ve never seen before. The new season is called ‘Villains,’ and it’s going to be about who is truly good and who is truly bad. We find out there’s really a dark side to everybody”

Of course Lee agreed that it would be really shocking to find out that his character has an evil side, “but we’ll have to wait and see, because evil touches everyone.”

Oh my! James Kyson Lee is such a nice guy in real life, that’s hard to imagine. He has a great new independent movie out called Asian Stories that shows a romantic and comical side to him.

Lee said, “It’s a movie for anyone who likes quirky comedies and laughing out loud when ‘love happens’ on a really interesting road trip.” It also stars Kirt Kishita, Kathy Uyen and Lauren Mary Kim, and will be playing at the ImaginAsian Center in Los Angeles.

 

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Asian Stories starring James Kyson Lee

 

Asian Stories is the story of Jim (James Kyson Lee), who finds himself heartbroken and in deep financial debt when his fiancé leaves him. So Jim asks his best friend, a hitman, to kill him before Valentine’s Day. “And comedy ensues,” Lee insisted. “If you enjoyed Eternal Sunshine, that kind of quirky romantic comedy, this is for you.”

It’s sort of a buddy road trip too, although not like the time-traveling “road trips” Lee and Masi Oka have had on Heroes, just a lot of fun.

Back to Heroes, what does Lee enjoy about being part of the show? “I guess the fact that so many people have access to nowadays. And it’s cool to be part of a show where people from everywhere, Germany, Spain, Australia, and throughout Asia, can watch and talk about it. It sort of brings the world together, which is a big theme of the show.”

Lee explained, “It is huge that the show is in hundreds of countries. There are not many times in your life that you get an opportunity to be part of something like this. And as a guy, it’s sort of cool to see toys, video games and comic books created just for your show and characters. We have some action figures coming out, the kind of stuff I used to fantasize about as a boy. It’s amazing to see this all become a big part of the current pop culture.”

Thanks to the success of Heroes, Lee hopes to do more movie projects. “I really appreciate the success of the show, and what it has done for me. But nobody wants to have a career just based on one character. So that’s why it’s always fun to go out and work on other projects during the hiatus, and take advantage of the opportunities to step into other interesting characters.”

Go to www.asianstoriesmovie.com and check out Asian Stories starring James Kyson Lee.


Margie Barron has written for a wide variety of outlets including Gannett newspapers, Nickelodeon, Tiger Beat and 16 Magazine, Fresh!, Senior Life, Production Update, airline magazines, etc. Margie is also proud to have been half of the husband & wife writing team Frank & Margie Barron, who had written together for various entertainment and travel publications for more than 38 years.

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