90210 interview: Michael Steger on wigs, the back nine of 90210 and getting staked
Everyone has a friend like 90210's Navid: That book-smart person that seems to make social and common-sense snafus, much to the enjoyment or consternation of their pals. Fortunately, we're not Teddy, Dixon or Ade, so we can sit back an indulge in the former emotion.
We chatted with Michael Steger about what the spring semester holds for Navid, including the overhaul of his pornographer dad's business, the coming out of a close friend and an extracurricular activity that Michael undertook with HBO.
Navid has been getting himself into a compromising situation with the two women in his life, Silver and Adrianna. How long can we expect to see him drag his feet in breaking up with Ade for good, or will things change with Ade's career troubles?
He wants to break up with Ade, but he's still at that reluctant stage because of the fear of Ade going back to drugs or just bottling further and further down more than she has. He's just trying to maintain their friendship and he doesn't want to hurt her. There does come a point when he says "Ade, we're finally done."
Silver has been a little reluctant to hurt her friend too. Will she be on board with the relationship when that day comes?
Silver's not necessarily on board right away. Silver is a very loyal friend to Ade and she'll need some convincing.
We saw Navid kind of put his foot in his mouth in front of Teddy last week regarding Teddy's sexuality. Will Navid eventually have a supporting role in helping his friend come out?
Oh, Navid. (Laughs) He really did put his foot in his mouth. He will definitely play a supporting role with Teddy when he does come out. He never expected Teddy to be gay, it comes as a surprise. Like, oh, wow, this is something new. Mr. All-Star Athlete and womanizer, he turns out to be gay. But Navid understands that Teddy is still a great guy, and he eventually comes out of the closet and Navid is very supportive. I can't say too much about the upcoming episodes, but there is a time in a future episode where the guys go to a gay bar.
Sounds interesting.
Oh yeah.
Read on for more about Navid's family troubles, the joy of Twitpics and Nelly.
There was a lot of speculation a few months ago about which character would be coming out. Did the cast know who it would be?
I knew it wasn't me, and it was funny because we were very confused for a long time. The press kept asking me, "If Navid was gay, who would he date?" They came up with a lot of creative questions, but we didn't know which character it would be yet. The writers are really good about not telling us what's going to happen. But it seemed like everyone was very supportive of the story.
Before the winter break, Navid was having a lot of trouble at home with his father before he left the country. Can we expect his father to return or there to be significant changes to Navid's home life?
There's going to be a lot of adjusting for Navid. He's having to deal with his father's business, he has to keep the doors open, he can't just sell the business. He has to pay the bills and keep everything together. He re-vamps the whole business and turns it into a production company. He gets good advice from Dixon, and they decide to produce music videos. It's really impressive actually, how he balances work and a social life and school and applying to colleges.
You personally worked on a music video for The Killers. Did you get to relate any of that experience to Navid's in the re-vamped production company?
I totally get what it's like to shoot a music video. Navid's starting off doing pick-up shots. It takes a lot of work and it's very stressful.
I've read that Snoop Dogg and Nelly will be heading to the '90210' set and your character will be involved in a video shoot for one of the artists. Will they be clients at Navid's company?
It's his first job to do a pick-up shot for Nelly. He's working with a producer that doesn't like Navid or Dixon and it seems like things aren't going well, but they pull it off. They're just high school kids and they're in way over their heads, but they somehow end up doing a really good job in an unexpected way. And working with Nelly was great.
I also saw a featuring some wigs. Does that have anything to do with the video?
What happened was Matt, Tristan and I were on set all day and there was waaaayyy too much free time. The makeup department was a little bored and we were just having some fun. But it was all Matt, he's the instigator.
Well, blond looks good on you.
(Laughs) Thanks!
Getting back to Navid's father, the show dealt with the very serious issue of child pornography. Have you or anyone else on '90210' seen a response from activist groups
or anyone concerned with the issue?
Not that I know of. I did a lot of research on it and it is a serious issue, especially in California. We just knew coming into it that it would be controversial and I know some people were shocked.
Getting outside of '90210,' you also had a role on 'True Blood' with vampire king Russell. What was it like working on such a different, and I'd definitely say raunchier show?
It was exciting. I went in for the audition and was immediately thrilled to be working with the writers and producers, and working with Dennis O'Hare was the icing on the cake.
I didn't see the end of that episode, but someone gets staked. Was it you or Dennis O'Hare?
It was me. Russell never saw his lover of 700 years die and he wanted to be there to experience it. My character resembled his lover, so he used me to experience what his death would have been like. So, yeah, it was a little twisted.