Greg Grunberg, I’m going to go out on a limb here, is one of the great everymen. Good looking but not a superhunk, charming without being smug about it, down to earth but interesting regardless, you put Greg Grunberg in an unusual situation and he makes it feel like you’re the star instead, whether he’s turning telepathic on “Heroes” or fighting big ass spiders in, well, Big Ass Spider, now available on DVD and Blu-ray. He was even cool enough to give us an interview for CraveOnline, where he talks about why that low budget sci-fi comedy was such a hoot to work on, what he bugs J.J. Abrams about on the phone every day (hint: it’s Star Wars), and share his thoughts on his earlier films, TV series and video games like BASEketball, Witchcraft V: Dance with the Devil, “Felicity” and Condemned: Criminal Origins.
Plus, did you know Greg Grunberg has an app? And it’s not what you’d think! It’s called Yowza and it actually sounds pretty useful. I’ll let Greg Grunberg describe it further at the end of the interview.
CraveOnline: I really love Big Ass Spider.
Greg Grunberg: Oh, man! Thank you so much!
Well, thank you.
I never get tired of hearing that. [laughs] I appreciate you watching it and supporting it. This is really the kind of film that I love to watch. I have three boys. This is the genre that we love. For me, being able to make a movie like this, let alone star in it, or I guess I should say be part of it, was exciting. So I love when someone says that, because you just get it. We set out to do something and I think we achieved it.
So it was an easy decision to make? They sent you the script, and you were like, “I’m there?”
Well, I read the script and it was pretty straightforward. It was well written as far as the story goes, and I was like, “Okay, there are a few twists here and interesting stuff, but the character is not as fleshed out as I would want it to be, and not as funny.” I liked the idea of these two guys who are everymen getting wrapped up in a story, but I knew that there was probably going to be hundreds of effects shots and I knew that there was no budget. [Laughs] So I was like, okay, this is not something I want to jump on. I’ve got to look out for myself, I want to do movies that are great.
But they said, “Please meet Mike Mendez.” So I had lunch with Mike. He showed me one effects that this company that we used actually did, prior to doing the movie, and it was fucking crazy cool. I could not believe it. And he had it on his iPhone and he was showing it to me. I’ve been fortunate enough to do stuff that had big [budgets]: Hollow Man, “Heroes.” We had big budget effects stuff. But this looked as good as anything. I was like, “This is amazing. If we haven’t even started shooting yet and this what you’re showing me…”
And then Mike also is a really, really talented filmmaker, and if he has a vision for something, if he’s given the ability to do what he wants to do… He led me to believe right there at that lunch that he was in control, and that he really had a singular vision for this. We were on the same page. He said, “Look, when we get on the set dude, as long as we go over stuff right before we shoot it, I don’t care. Yes, let’s improv. Let’s have fun.”
And Bardo and I… I brought Lombardo Boyar in. I’ve known him for a long time. I cast him in a movie that I wrote and starred in called Group Sex, which is on Netflix and iTunes and stuff. We had a great time with that romantic comedy, and [Mike Mendez] trusted me to bring Lombardo in, and look what happened! I mean, Lombardo steals the movie. It really turned out great. It was a bunch of people who really to make something special and wanted do it in an unselfish way. Every single department gave their all and it really shows.
I was listening to the commentary track and it sounded like you took your part seriously. You said you did a ride along with real exterminators. Is that true?
Yeah. I’ve been a customer of this exterminator, Western Exterminator, for years and years. They’re the biggest in LA. They came on board and helped us and gave us a truck and some other things. I asked my exterminator, I said, “Hey, can I ride along with you?” It’s not like a cop ride along. You’re walking through people’s backyards and spraying their houses.
But what I wanted to see more than anything was just how he handled the chemicals and how he handled the customers. You know, you have access to their houses. You have their security codes. You know these people. You spend at least ten minutes talking to them. “So what are the issues?” “Oh, there’s a thing up in the attic and my daughter got scared.” You’re dealing with people’s personal lives! So you have to be social and a likable person. I’ve always liked these guys, so that was just fun.
As far as taking it seriously, I try to take every role I do seriously, but this was one where I just wanted to respect what they were doing because I don’t care if you’re parking cars or whatever your job is. You have to know how to do it, so there was a lot more to it than I expected, but it was fun to ride along with these guys.
