Brea Grant Talks Heroes and Other Projects

Brea Grant's departure from "Heroes" did not stop her creative flow. She's continued to work in film ("Halloween 2") and in television (an upcoming episode of "The Whole Truth"), in addition to her joint comic project "We Will Bury You" (from IDW Publishing) with her brother Zane Grant."

Not only did Brea work on her comic creation, she has been flexing her acting biceps in some new film projects!

If you have missed our Part 1 of the interview, check it out here!

Here's what charming, sassy Brea shared with us in Part 2 of the interview with Erik http://twitter.com/ebrown2112 on Twitter) from NYCC 2010.

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Erik: What did you like most about working on “Heroes?”
Brea: For me, it was my first really big show, and there's something really magical about that. It's just very exciting, and everybody was so nice and so welcoming and so excited to have me there, which is a really nice feeling. Because you work on other sets sometimes and people are not excited, people are kinda over it, and it's the worst feeling.

Because you put so much time and effort into working on shows and movies, you have to be really passionate about what you're doing. And I feel like people there were very passionate about it. Particularly the writers, the producers, and the directors. A lot of people behind the scenes were some of the driving forces of that show.

Erik: Who did you enjoy working with most?
Brea: You know, I liked everybody. I've stayed really close to Masi and Greg since the show. They've been really good to me, and really helped me out as an actor and given me advice.

Erik: Did you ever have any particularly funny or interesting things happen on the set?
Brea: You know, people always ask me that and I don't have anything! I don't have anything in particular. One thing that I always loved: I did a lot of interviews with Greg Grunberg, and people always asked us, “if you could have any superpower, what would it be?” That was the standard question, and his standard answer was he wanted super-metabolism, which I thought was hilarious. He's a funny guy. I think just being there, day in and day out, was really fun.

I worked with one of the makeup artists who did the back piece on me when I got burned, and he reminded me that we had to be there that day at three in the morning, because the call time was six and they needed three hours to put the whole piece on. Stuff like that I didn't even remember, because I was so excited just to be there that having to get up at two-thirty in the morning to be somewhere didn't even cross my mind, you know?

Erik: You made a short recently called “Lost/Loved” that was kind of a departure.
Brea: Yeah, it was a little bit different. That was with Henry Jacobson, a photographer I've worked with a lot in the past. It was probably our fourth project together.

Photo by by Henry Jacobson

I approached him about doing a new project, and he and I had both been going through some weird personal things, so we came to a conclusion to do something about a breakup.

It ended up coming out super-experimental. It's very Henry - far more Henry than, I think, Brea - but I really liked doing it. You know, occasionally, I like to do stuff that's not the same. One of the movies I did this year is not genre, it's very different than what I normally get to do. So it's kinda fun to get to do other stuff.
Erik: I noticed he mentioned [Bernardo] Bertolucci as one of his influences.
Brea: Right.
Erik: I really saw that it had a European sensibility. Sometimes, American films approach sexuality like a teenager looking through a keyhole.
Zane: [Laughs.]
Brea: Right, yeah.
Erik: And this was more like a part of life.
Brea: Yeah, and his whole idea was that it would be two lovers in a hotel room, away for the weekend at the beginning of the relationship. And then we have all this stuff of me walking, which is supposed to be like the breakup.
Erik: The main thing I felt was sadness.
Brea: Good! I mean, that was what we were going for! Yeah, I think there's definitely a fear of women's sexuality in America. It's really weird, because I told people I was doing it and they're like, “Well, that's crazy.” And I'm, like, I am almost thirty! It's okay for me to be attractive or hot or sexual. It's fine. People need to calm down about it.
Erik: I saw what your friend wrote: “My pal Brea Grant--”
Brea: --made a porno?
Erik: Yeah.
Brea: Right. [Laughs.]
Erik: I love that guy.
Brea: Oh, Chioke [Nassor]? Yeah, he's great. And let me just say that his web series is way dirtier than anything I've ever done. If you ever watch his web series, which is called [“Titsburg”]...
Erik: Yeah, I know what you're talking about...
Brea: It's really dirty, so he can't say anything. And that's why I think he wrote that.
Erik: We were tweeting the other day, and he was talking about doing a Morgan Freeman sex line.
Brea: I believe that. [Laughs.]

View the sexy "Lost/Loved" film short starring Brea Grant:
(@syzzlyn's practical warning: some nudity.. so if you are prudish, I suggest covering your eyes with your hands/ fingers/ handkerchief ;) )




Erik: You also made a film called “Off-Road?”
Brea: Yeah.
Erik: What's that about?
Brea: It's a disaster thriller. Essentially, a guy is driving, his car wrecks, and he gets buried under an avalanche and he's stuck in there. So almost the entire movie takes place in the car, similar to “Buried” or something, but I'm in all the flashbacks. I play his wife, so I'm the only other character in the movie. And the flashbacks are sequences that he watches on his phone.

It's going to be really interesting. Zane actually went with me to look at the set, and it's pretty interesting how they did all the dirt and being buried in the car. Neil Hopkins is the main actor and he's brilliant. I wouldn't trust many people to carry an entire movie by themselves in a car, but I would trust him to do it.



Erik: You seem pretty excited about “Homecoming.”
Brea: I am! Yeah, that's about a soldier that comes home from Afghanistan to see how her family and friends have sort of changed and moved on. It's a totally different movie for me, but I read the script and I just thought it was amazing.

I went to Florida to do it earlier this year. We shot in Celebration, Florida where the movie was set, which is pretty fascinating. It's great, I think it'll be really different. I don't know how people will react to see me doing something like that, but I'm excited for everybody to see it.
Erik: I'd watch you in anything.
Brea: Oh, thank you. [Laughs.] It's pretty different, though. And John Robinson and Colleen Camp are both in it. Colleen is brilliant and John's also great, so it was pretty exciting to work with the both of them. We'll see how it does. I'm also in a SyFy Channel movie that comes out next year.
Erik: Oh right, what's that called?
Brea: “Ice Road Terror.”
Zane: That's gonna be awesome.
Brea: [Laughs.]

Erik: Thank you both so much.
Brea: Thank you!
Zane: Thanks!

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Keep checking into Brea's official website for updates on her current and future projects. She often posts interesting on-set photos. You can also follow her on Twitter.

Her brother, Zane has a Twitter account as well, and his own official website.

The graphic novel series "We Will Bury You" is available online for sale at IDW Publishing's website!

Thanks to both Brea and Zane for taking the time with us!

And again, THANKS to Erik (@ebrown2112) for doing a great job with this interview at NYCC!