Interview: Ray Park and Robert Knepper

So obviously, you know, in the past couple years you guys have both

played some really great really iconic characters. Does that help you

or does that hurt you when you enter a new project like this?

Ray Park: Sometimes it sort of helps for like fan base for other things

that I've done but also at the same time it can sort of be - there’s a lot

more expectation for certain things that I've done in the past. But this

role is great because it’s - I'm a big fan of the show myself so it’s a really

sort of transfers - the things I've done in the past it really is all, you know, transfers over the same sort of fans that sort of genre if that makes sense.

Robert Knepper: Yeah I would agree with that. I think look it’s nice to be on the map; it’s nice that people know you. And it’s nice to feel that they have trust in an actor’s ability to, you know, even though I guess in the same - it'd be the same general category of baddies or bad guys that they’re smart enough to realize the difference between one role to the next. And, you know, a lot of times I get - I don't know about you Ray but I get a lot, you know, asked questions well how do you feel about being, you know, stereotyped now as a bad guy? And I'm like I don't know I just prefer being stereotyped as a working actor. I mean I just work all the time now. And Prison Break definitely helped that for me. So each role is different. This is hopefully different enough from that one where people go wow, the guy's, you know, once again showing, you know, that he can act.

Right. So what can you guys tell us about the appeal of your current characters? What do you guys like about these roles on Heroes?

Robert: Acting 101 lesson I learned years ago is you always play the opposite anyway. And I think Ray is very charming in this part. I think Samuel, my part, is again he’s going to get what he wants by being charming and not, you know, beating people over the head. I like the fact that we’re kind of going with the opposite of what was on paper which is again a stereotypical - could be a stereotypical carnival barker step right up Ray walks, he talks, he really, really walks, you know that kind of clichéd non-human kind of thing. We turned him into a kind of a Keith Richards-esque rock and roller kind of guy. So that’s always kind of fun. And then I sort of threw in this sort of Gallic Celtic Irish-English-Scottish accent a mutt all in one. So that I think is kind of fun to play whether it’s appealing to the audience or not we'll see; hopefully it is.

Ray: Yeah, you know, and it is, it’s - to me to work on Heroes it’s - I'm learning all the time about myself and the difference in pace of what I've been used to the in the past. But as for the character I was really intrigued with the carnival and where my character could extend or where it could go. And so a lot of the unknown is very appealing to me but a little bit frustrating at the same time. Where it’s like even though we’re working but it’s still that uncertainty of where it’s going to head, you know, where my character would be going and where its place. And it’s a lot of fun. I mean Edgar is compassionate and he’s good at what he does but he feels the carnival is his family and so, you know, he'll bend over backwards, do anything to protect and do what’s good for the carnival. And, you know, to have a beard and a Mohawk for a couple of months while everyone thinks I'm a punk rocker it’s a good excuse to cut my hair like that and grow a beard.

Robert, what is the most challenging about your role?

Robert: I'd have to say, you know, I'm a little embarrassed about the fact that I'm working with a dialect - my character has a dialect. I usually have at least a couple weeks to work with my dialect coach and wherever I've played - a character from France or Bobby Kennedy or English or lately I think it was - the latest one was a Russian character, I usually have time and I really invest it in. Prison Break kind of taught me that at least with a Southern accent you don't - you can sort of get by with what Chris Walken told me once called movie talk. But doing a character from one of the British aisles is tricky because unfortunately or fortunately I'm surrounded on the set by people

from that community especially Ray....