By: Amrie Cunningham [My Take on TV]
In anticipation of the return of GREEK tonight on ABC Family, actor Scott Michael Foster was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to talk about what it’s like playing everybody’s favorite frat boy Cappie.
Why did you want to play Cappie and why do you like playing Cappie and what about this role is good for you to want to play it, to be it?
Scott Michael Foster: Cappie is a fun loving party animal. I would like to think of myself as a person who can get parties started, but I’m not. I will enjoy parties and attend them, but I’m never the guy who can get them going. So playing a character like that is a lot fun, to be the person in charge of a fun party atmosphere. It was kind of cool to live in those shoes for a moment, that’s why it’s a lot of fun for me to play him.
My question is about Cappie and Casey. I was wondering how their relationship is going to evolve now.
In season two, Cappie and Casey, they sort of have busy lives apart from each other. Cappie is involved with Rebecca, as you see at the end of season one, and their relationship blooms in season two. Casey is busy with becoming interim president at Theta Beta, so they don’t ever get a chance to sort of talk or assess their situation. So you won’t see much in season two with them, but their time will come.
Are you surprised with the success of Greek and how do you think a show like Greek fits into the overall theme of the Family Channel?
When I first read the pilot, I knew the show was going to great. You never know what’s going to happen with a show these days because they’re so hit or miss. But we really believed in the project, so I guess I’m just sort of grateful when the success happens because you know that the show deserves it. ABC Family is ready to get a new image for themselves and I think Greek really kind of started that change. I think you’ll see more programming like Greek in the future on that channel. I kind of think of ourselves as sort of stepping stone for change in the network. It’s kind of exciting to be on the first step, the first of a new network, sort of, you know what I mean?
We have a question from one of your fans. They asked if you were in a fraternity.
No, I went to college for a matter of months when I got out of high school and it was a small community college in Texas. There wasn’t even a fraternity/sorority system there. I didn’t really have any interest at that time either. It was sort of all theatre and performance for me, so I did not attend. Although, looking back, it looks like it would be kind of a fun thing to be a part of after doing the show.
In season one, it looks like it covered about a semester. Is that going to follow the same kind of sequence for next season?
I’m not entirely sure how it’s going to happen. But I know they’re kind of doing it in chapters, at least, I think that’s how they’re doing it. I believe the first ten episodes are sort of the first semester and the second ten will be sort of like nine weeks, like up to spring break, I believe. And then it will go on like that, but they don’t keep me in the loop on the sequencing of the episodes according to the school year.
You said that you did not go to a four year school, but I was wondering if you could tell your fans, if you could go back in time and if you weren’t an actor, what would be your dream four year school to attend and what would be your major?
Wow! I didn’t actually ever think about going to a university as much as I do now. When I got out of high school, it wasn’t even a thing that I wanted to do. Seeing some of the beautiful campuses out here in southern California, I sort of changed my mind a little bit. If I did want to go back to school, I’d want to go to Loyola Marymount University over in, I believe, Morina, or Pepperdine. Those are just beautiful campuses. I know that’s probably not the right reason to go school. The campuses are just stunning. I can’t imagine myself not being an actor, so I would take theatre or film acting or something like that.
I was wondering if you had any upcoming projects?
No, actually, I have nothing else in line right now. I’m just done with a stint on Bravo with a show called Quarter Life, but Greek is my upcoming project.
I have a question from our music blogger. He wants to know what’s the best live concert that you’ve ever been to.
Oh, man. It’s funny. I wish I could go to more, but I would say that probably the best one that I went to was the Raconteurs, which is Jack White’s side project band. I saw them there a couple of years ago and it was just amazing. People think that since I’m in a band, that I probably see a lot of shows. I really don’t. I wish I did. I would love to see more shows, but out of the few that I’ve seen, The Raconteurs… rocked.
Since we’re kind of on the subject of music, I was reading about your band, Siren’s Eye. I just was wondering if you could tell us what kind of music you play and if any of the music is available on a My Space page or iTunes or anything like that.
It’s evolved over the years. We play pretty much the standard rock and roll. We do anything from AC/DC type music, to new rock, like Radio Head. All the members of the band like different types of music and that’s what helps influence our sound. Yes, we cover a lot of genres. You can go to MySpace.com/Sirenseye and you see a few songs, a couple videos from our last show. Yes, we’ll some to be able download in the next few months that we’re working on an EP.
If there was dream role you could play on film, what would it be, like a dream character type?
That’s already been done or?
That’s just out there in the stratosphere, super hero, any type of crazy killer, serial killer type character.
You know what would be awesome, I know this is kind of weird, not that I think that I wouldn’t want Harvey … to have done this role, but his role in No Country for Old Men was amazing. I know that’s not anywhere near me or anything like that, but I remember just watching that movie, thinking, man, it would be so awesome to be that crazy in a film, to have that sort of freedom.
I was wondering as an actor, how you prepare for the parts you play.
It’s so interesting. I think the writing and the casting and all of that has so much to do with actors becoming their characters. I think if an actor is right for a role, casting sees that and the words that are on the page, depending on how it’s written, can really help your character develop. Once that’s all in place, it’s sort of a really natural process, where if the character is anything like me at all, it’s sort of like I find situations in my own life to relate. If it’s not, then I have to find situations in own life that can come close to that. Its sort of just looking at what this character is doing and then finding a situation in my life to remember or relate to somehow. So it’s all about relation to yourself, I guess.
For the first season, the show pretty much started out with that pretty care free mood and things go more complicated. I’m wondering how you think that will expand and continue for season two…how will the mood evolve for season two versus season one.
In Season one, everyone is being established and you see the existing problems and things like that. The problems change in Season two, everyone is kind of being busted for parties and drinking and all that stuff. So all the characters are trying to keep on the down-low with the school, so that they don’t get in trouble. Everyone is still trying to figure things out, compared to the end of the first season. There a lot of confusion and resentment towards certain people. It will still be as carefree on certain parts, but at the same time, they’re all trying to still figure things out.
My question was how does the cast of Greek get along with each other? Do you guys hang out together off the set? Who, if anyone, would you say that you’re the closest to from the rest of the cast?
It’s amazing because, from what we understand, it’s very rare for a cast who have now nine regular characters to all hang out. We all get along very well. But the people that I hang out with most are the recurring characters, Zack Lively who plays Heath, and Daniel Weaver who play Ben Bennett, we’re all very close. Jake McDorman, Paul James and Jacob Zachar, we all hang out on a regular basis. It’s a lot of fun and I have to be grateful to say that because it doesn’t happen all that often.
I was wondering who your favorite character on Greek is apart from Cappie.
Oh man. I was going to say me, but you said besides Cappie. Dang. Honestly, I really love Clark Duke’s character, Dale. I really can’t sit next to him at a table read without just cracking up, he makes me laugh so much. When I watch it on TV, he leaves me in stitches. It’s really funny.
Hello, again. It’s another music question. Who are your musical influences?
Well, a lot of people. I can tell you who I have in my CD changer right now and that’s Radiohead. I have Muse in there. I have The Strokes. I have, I think I have another Radiohead CD, the Raconteurs, who I mentioned earlier. That doesn’t even sum up nearly the amount of people, the amount of bands that I’ve listened to over the years that have influenced me in some way, so there’s just a taste.
With your involvement with Quarterlife, which was really kind of an Internet show that became a network TV show and then with ABC Family, which spawned the virtual rush stuff, which was an online show, do you see the distinction between Internet shows and network shows changing as time goes forward and maybe becoming less and less?
Marshall Herkovitz, the creator of Quarterlife said this in interview that one day, it’s all going to be the same and we’re all going to surf the Net and watch TV from the same television in our room and there will be no distinction. I think we’re just at the forefront of that change. It’s exciting to say that you’ve been a part of it and then just witness if happen. So I think one day, it will all be the same and I can’t wait for that day.
This might sound like a weird question. On ABC Family, we’re starting a show called America’s Prom Queen, so we all just sort of have the prom on our brains. We wanted to know if you went to your prom and if you had a good time.
Yes, I went twice, actually. I went my sophomore year and my junior year and I had a great time. They were both with friends of mine and we all went in a huge group and we took limos and went out to dinner and partied at someone’s house afterward and it’s prom. We had a great time.
I was wondering what the hardest part about being on Greek is.
The hardest part of being on Greek, gosh. I mean maybe the drive over the hill everyday? I don’t know. It’s pretty carefree, easy and fun loving job. Everybody on the show I believe loves to do this so much, that we can’t really find anything bad about it. It’s our dream job.
I have kind of a silly one here. I have a lot of family in Texas in the Dallas area. When I talk to them, I certainly hear the accent. I can’t even really detect even a trace of it with you. I was wondering, was that something you worked on with a dialect coach?
No. I lived in Chicago until I was about 12 and then I moved to Dallas until I was 19. So I think both were probably the time right when I was about to get an accent or I lost it right when I moved. When I moved to LA, I lost the Texas. When I moved to Texas, I lost the Chicago, so now I’m just sort of American neutral.
You have a lot of very funny lines on Greek. I was curious if you had any input into your lines or the script in general.
Everyone on the show gets to ad lib a bit and it’s sort of up to the producers and editors if they get to keep it or not. The lines that you see for the most part are written as is, but every now and then, they let us ad lib and have fun. Some of those lines get to stay in. It’s actually funny. I said earlier, Clark Duke, the guy who plays Dale almost all of his lines are him ad libbing and it’s hysterical. If anybody has the chance to watch him do his job on set, I think you’d be cracking up because he’s hysterical.
How would you like Cappie to evolve in the future in future seasons?
How would I like Cappie to evolve in the future seasons? I would love for eventually to see Cappie and Casey. I want to see their storyline get back together because I know that’s what a lot of people want to see and it’s what I want to see. Not that the Cappie and Rebecca relationship isn’t fun to do, but when we came into this, it was Cappie and Casey and they’re going to get back together at some point and when is that going to be. I want to see that happen and that’s what I’m curious about.
I apologize if this has been asked already. I hopped on a couple minutes late, but I wanted to ask you about the differences between working on Greek and working on Quarterlife, if there was anything that you noticed working TV show versus a show that was online at first, anything like that.
The great thing is that they’re both really amazing projects with scripts that I both really admire. Production wise, it’s totally different. In Quarterlife, when we shot them, it was guerilla style, very shoot and go. We got a lot done in a day. We had to bring some of our own articles of clothing and things like that and everyone wanted to be in it. It was like an indie film and it was really cool. And then Greek, it’s like big production, big sets, big lights. We take our time to shoot a scene. It was very different production wise, but they both great shows and looking back, I can’t really tell a difference any more. But being on set, they both had different feelings.
Where do you think Cappie will end up after college?
He’ll probably open up a surfboard shop on the West Coast somewhere, driving some sort of van and wearing flip flops and shorts all the time.