HSM Star Lucas Grabeel Tells All Pt 2 || 2 Nov 2006
With starring roles in the hit movies Halloweentown III: Halloweentown High, High School Musical and Return to Halloweentown behind him, and the eagerly anticipated High School Musical 2 coming up next year, Lucas Grabeel is now one of the most popular young actors on the Disney Channel. But he is becoming known for his guest starring roles on more grown-up fare, as well, including Boston Legal, Veronica Mars and Smallville. He's also branching out as a musical performer (he'll be part of the two-month, nationwide High School Musical concert tour that kicks off at the end of November) and in movies. In fact, Grabeel called to do an interview with MediaVillage reporter Maya Motavalli from St. Louis, Missouri, where he is currently filming the independent feature Alice, co-starring Alyson Stoner, Luke Perry and Penny Marshall. Grabeel had just returned to St. Louis after a drive to his hometown of Springfield, Missouri, for a "real quick" visit with his parents. After the interview he was heading to a local studio to record songs for Alice. The movie isn't a musical, Grabeel says, "but there are songs in it… my character in the movie has a garage band."
An edited transcript of Maya's interview with Lucas follows.
MediaVillage: How has High School Musical changed your life?
Lucas Grabeel: It has changed my life in a lot of ways. High School Musical has given me a platform for being a lot of different things that a lot of people get to see. We've gotten to do a lot of photo shoots and interviews and that kind of thing, which is completely different from what I ever expected [my life] to be like in Los Angeles. It's been a wild ride, a roller coaster. It's been great, you know?
MV: My friends really want to know if you did your own singing or not.
LG: (laughs) Yes, I did! I've been singing for a long time. MV: Do you think an album might be in your future?
LG: Yeah, maybe on down the line. I just want to focus on one thing at a time right now. Once I've got this whole acting thing rolling I'll think about switching over. But I write music all the time. I've got tons of songs that are on my computer in my apartment and that's probably where they will stay for at least a couple of years.
MV: Did you ever in your wildest dreams think that High School Musical would do so well?
LG: You know, I didn't. I thought when I first heard about it that it was going to be really bad, actually. But it turned out to be quite the phenomenon.
MV: What was it like to be there when High School Musical won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program?
LG: It was really great. I was extremely happy being there and being with all the kids and the guys that made the movie. I'm most happy for [the creators, producers and choreographers]. They were the people behind it all who made it happen and stuff. They deserved that. I'm really happy for them to get that.
MV: What can you tell me about the High School Musical tour?
LG: It's going to be a 40-show major arena national tour in December and January. It's gonna be a rock-pop concert with a couple of songs from High School Musical and other performance numbers. There's going to be dancing and lights and fireworks and crazy effects. It's going to be an hour and a half packed with entertainment and that's all I really know. I talked to [HSM choreographer] Kenny [Ortega] and that's all he'll tell me. [Editor's note: The tour kicks off on November 30 in San Diego.]
MV: That's going to be two really busy months for you guys.
LG: Yes, and then we go straight into rehearsals for High School Musical 2. MV: Wow! What's going to happen in the sequel?
LG: I don't know. They had an idea that they kinda told everybody. But when they wrote the script they changed it a whole bunch of times. Who knows what it is now? Disney hasn't given anything to us so we don't know.
MV: Have you seen a script or any of the music yet?
LG: No. No script at all. Disney hasn't given us the script. MV: Where have you traveled to promote High School Musical?
LG: We started off in New York, then we went to Orlando and Atlanta, then back to New York. Also Palm Springs, Disneyland and London. This summer a bunch of the kids went to Australia, but I didn't get to go because I was doing Return to Halloweentown. We're going back to New York for a third time this year to do the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving [Nov. 23]. That's my birthday this year, actually.
MV: You were on Veronica Mars. Are you still involved with the show?
LG: I played a guy who was part of a group of gays and lesbians who were banded together in secret so nobody else at school would know about it and ridicule them and they were being blackmailed. I did two episodes. I haven't heard from them in a really long time so I wonder if I'm going to be back on the show. They shoot down in San Diego and it's always great to go down there. The crew down there is very efficient. They work very hard, so that's cool.
MV: You recently appeared as a young Lex Luthor on Smallville and had to shave your head for the part. How was that?
LG: It was awesome. I was actually growing my hair out. My hair was like the longest it had ever been in London when we were doing the premiere for High School Musical there. I auditioned for another part on Smallville and they said they wanted me to play Lex Luthor, but I would have to shave my head. You don't really get that opportunity very often so I took it and shaved it all off.
LG: Did they say anything about having you play Lex again?
LG: They did not say anything about it, so I doubt it. But you never know. Lex Luthor isn't going anywhere on the show. He could have a dream or a flashback again, I suppose.
MV: Do you have anything else going on? What's next for you?
LG: Even though I'm really busy, I'm working really hard to get more work all the time, trying to come up with my own stuff, trying to send in tapes, auditioning for different roles and things. So I don't know. We'll see.
