90210 Interview with Matt Lanter
Bio    Photos    Movies / reviews    Credentials    Hot Pics    Goals    Cool Links    90210 Update    90210 Interview    90210 Trailer    Matt Summary    Survey    War Games Trailer    Cutting Edge Trailer    Disaster Trailer	Back to Home Page '90210' Welcomes a New Guy to West Beverly High /  read more  / TV Guide Interview >    watch now
Matt Lanter Interview PopStar:  You are a busy actor these days.  What's been going on? Matt Lanter:  I just found out that I will be around for the rest of the season and next season as well; I will be a regular.  I will be doing that for a while plus I'm also doing the Clone Wars, the Star Wars cartoon.   PopStar:  Have you heard you are being hailed as the new Dylan McKay? Matt Lanter:  Yeah, that is what I read. PopStar:  That is a lot of pressure, what are your thoughts? Matt Lanter:  I mean, it is huge shoes to have to fill so me personally I am not going into it thinking I have to be the new Luke Perry.  If they want to use that, it is fine with me because he is an extremely likable character; Dylan was a fun character, he was an intelligent guy much like Liam.  I think that it is kind of cool. PopStar:  Tell us about your character Liam.  What is his back story?  Matt Lanter:  Honestly, I do not know a lot about my back story yet.  I am kind of waiting to sit down and have conservations with some of the producers about where he comes from.  I've got my own ideas as an actor; I will find out pretty soon.  Plain and simple, he is the new guy that comes in, he's the bad boy, I think one of the biggest things about Liam is that he is already past that stage of High School in life.  He is off to more meaningful things than high school dances and girlfriends and stuff.  He is very fun to play, he encourages people to think. PopStar:  Did you watch the original 90210? Matt Lanter:  It's funny, I never got into them too much but after I booked this job, I went and got season one to see what it was all about.  I have been watching season one, it is a great show; I hear it gets even better as the seasons go on so I might end up watching the whole series. PopStar:  Do you see similarities and differences between your character Liam and yourself? Matt Lanter:  I think there are similarities and differences.  You know Liam is over the high school thing and he is a little more mature than the other students there.  Sometimes honestly, I kind of felt the same way.  As far as being a bad boy and stirring things up like Liam, I think we all got into a fair share of trouble but mostly I steered clear. PopStar:  Do you enjoy playing Liam? Matt Lanter:  Yes, definitely.  Liam is a very smart guy; it is nice to play a character that has substance. PopStar:  When you booked the role as Anakin Skywalker, we hear that you couldn't even tell your mom that you were working on the project!  Explain.  Matt Lanter:  We were working on that project for two years before it was even announced that it was coming out as a series and a movie.  It was one of those things because we knew what it was going to be and how popular it would be but we could not tell anyone.  I could not even tell my mom, I told her I was working on a project but I could not tell her anything about it.  When I auditioned for the role they would not tell me it was for the character of Anakin; they are very secretive. PopStar:  How are things going with Clone Wars? Matt Lanter: Great! It got announced this week that it got picked up for a second season.  PopStar:  Do you enjoy doing voice over work? Matt Lanter: Yeah, I love doing voice over.  It is definitely something that I look to expand into something even more.  I love Star Wars, the group of people over there and I love the character.  It is just fun.  The voice over industry is just plain fun.  All the people are so cool, really laid back and all have a really good time.  I actually love to experiment with different voices and recently I have been playing a couple auxiliary characters for Clone Wars. PopStar:  Can you give us any spoilers on the remaining episodes of Clone Wars? Matt Lanter:  Number 1: I really can't talk about it.  Number 2:  I honestly don't remember what these episodes are about because we record so far in advance and we record out of order, they air them in a different order then we record them.  We are already 10-12 episodes into the second season.  We are a pretty big step ahead! PopStar:  You recently starred in the comedy spoof Disaster Movie.  Do you enjoy doing comedies? Matt Lanter:  I love comedy!  I honestly feel more comfortable doing comedy than I do drama.  I just ironically have booked a lot of drama over the last several years.  I grew up watching Naked Guns and Hot Shots so to be able to do one of those was just amazing.  We had a great time, shooting was everything I thought it was going to be, we got on set and basically goofed off about 10 hours a day.  It was a blast and I am glad that I did it. PopStar:  We read that you were once a bat boy for the Atlanta Braves. Matt Lanter:  Yeah, I was a Braves bat boy for two years.  Baseball has been one of my passions since I was young.  I grew up in Atlanta and the Braves were my team so when I came on, I got to be in the clubhouse with Chipper Jones and John Smoltz; it was pretty amazing.  Those are some great memories that I will have for the rest of my life.  PopStar:  Do you have a message for all the 90210 and Clone Wars fans? Matt Lanter:  Keep watching both shows.  We got some really cool stuff in store and things are getting better! Make sure to check out Matt Lanter is Clone Wars every Friday night on the Cartoon Network.  90210 is on a break for the next weeks but when it returns expect to see Matt Lanter front and center shaking things up at West Beverly!