High-flyer hits heroic heights
3rd July 2007, 6:45 WST
Playing Nathan Petrelli, the flying politician in the hit series Heroes, has given 42-year-old Adrian Pasdar a kind of celebrity status somewhat alien to him.
Yet through his marriage to 32-year-old Nathalie Maines, the outspoken singer from The Dixie Chicks, he had already learnt to take fame by association in his stride.
“She’s an international figure in so many ways for reasons, musically and otherwise, and she’s adept at handing all that really well,” he says.
“I don’t consider myself to be a celebrity. If anything I’m a minor celebrity or a TV star or whatever.”
Pasdar considers himself a character actor. Instantly recognisable, even if you can’t quite recall from where, he started out in high-profile movies like Top Gun and Carlito’s Way.
In his younger, wilder days, he used to hang out with the likes of the late Chris Penn, brother of Sean.
“I carried him a lot of places and I never thought I’d carry him into the ground,” says Pasdar. “I was a pallbearer at his funeral. He was a dear friend and died far too early.”
Like so many actors whose talents were going to waste, Pasdar has finally come into his own on television (he was ADA David McLaren in Judging Amy and Gabrielle’s lawyer David Bradley in Desperate Housewives) at a time when he has settled down to family life.
“My life has taken on a different course,” he says.
“I’ve got a responsibility now not just as a husband but as a father. It’s exciting to have two little boys and the older one really enjoys the show (Heroes).
“I mean, mommy’s a rock star and daddy flies. I can see therapy in his future.”
We’re talking at the Monte Carlo Television Festival with Pasdar dressed in suit, sitting up straight and possessing a strange formality; as if he is inhabiting his political alter-ego from Heroes.
On set Pasdar says he assumes the role of the elder statesman among the cast.
“It’s nice to be respected that way, to be a stabilising force. They’re a great young cast.”
Pasdar has developed a special paternal bond with Hayden Panettiere, who is being groomed as the next hot young blonde in Hollywood. She plays cheerleader Claire in the series and, in one of the season’s surprise twists, discovered Pasdar’s New York politician was her long-lost biological father.
“Hayden’s got a good head on her shoulders and I don’t think she’s going to be falling into the trap that Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears have,” Pasdar says.
“My advice to her was to always keep to your under-shorts on, don’t shave your head and no sex in a movie unless it’s for an Oscar. Sex is so unnecessary in movies.”
Pasdar says it’s not a bad time for a show about heroes but the show at its core is about humanity.
“If you strip away the fantastic elements, you’re left with a dynamic story about family, about love and about how far we’re willing to go to protect the people we love,” he says.
“I mean, the things we do are somewhat self-serving, but at the end, in the last episode . . . it’s a personal concern that motivates the character.
“At first Nathan Petrelli is somewhat of a selfish individual but it’s a selfless act at the end, which I think is noble in some ways.”
Pasdar’s personal heroes are his family: his mother was a German immigrant and his Iranian-born surgeon father fought for medical accreditation in the US and can never return to Iran.
Then there’s his wife, whose comments against President George Bush caused such an international furore that the couple had to endure the world media and FBI agents out on their front lawn.
“For a little blonde-haired, blue-eyed barefoot girl from Texas to have inspired so much emotion in so many people and to have come through with such class,” he says admiringly.
“She’s just a little girl who spoke her mind and got into trouble and I’m proud of her that she managed to stick to her guns. And now we’re all embarrassed, we’re all ashamed of the President. What she said was prophetic.”
It’s interesting that Pasdar is now playing a congressman with presidential hopes in Heroes. How those aspirations play out in series two, we’ll have to wait and see.
In Monte Carlo:As for actor Adrian Pasdar and wife, Dixie Chick frontwoman Natalie Maines, they told Tim about some bad luck they’ve been having.“We heard that you’ve lost a couple things along the way – a mobile phone,” Tim asked.“How did that get out,” Adrian asked.“Front page of the Monte Carlo news today,” Tim replied.“Is that right? Whoever finds it there’s a $5 reward in it for you,” Adrian said. Adrian and Maines also wound up sharing a common wall with Playboy icon, 81-year-old Hugh Hefner and his three girl friends.“We heard a lot of giggling at like 4am and then what sounded suspicious like a defberator and then some more giggling. So I don’t know,” Adrian revealed.
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