Brian Austin Green talks about Megan Fox’s guest spot on “Wedding Band”

Seeing Megan Fox pop up on a show fronted by her hubby, Brian Austin Green, might seem natural, but in truth it was something neither ever thought would happen. Despite the couple’s highly visible status, neither of them crave the spotlight when it comes to their personal lives, and they figured that viewers seeing them onscreen together would distract from the story they were trying to tell.

Still, Fox does turn up on Saturday’s episode of Wedding Band — airing at 10pm ET — playing an actress on a popular sci-fi show who has a fling with Tommy (Green), the hunky lead singer of Mother of the Bride, a wedding band made up four guys not ready to give up their dreams of being rock stars. There’s Tommy, who still lives for good times and pretty girls; Eddie (Peter Cambor), the sometimes responsible husband, father and businessman; Stevie (Harold Perrineau), the longtime studio musician looking for something different; and Barry (Derek Miller), the loose cannon drummer whose energy level puts Jack Black to shame.

The former Beverly Hills, 90210 heartthrob talked about working with his wife, with whom he just welcomed a baby boy, and how he and his costars have become a real band:

Megan Fox guest stars on hubby Brian Austin Green's new TBS comedy, "Wedding Band"Channel Guide Magazine: How was it working with Megan?

Brian Austin Green: It was really fun. She actually kind of stepped in at the last minute and saved us. … I was shocked. I wasn’t expecting that it would happen because we’ve always had a thing about not working together. It always seems distracting to me when people do it, and I never wanted to make an episode where people were so distracted by the fact that we were both in it that they didn’t actually watch the episode and just enjoy that. But I think the part was good enough and funny enough and the characters were opposite enough that it was interesting. I think people immediately will get away from the fact that we’re married just by watching what it is we’re doing. Once you get past that initial, “Holy shit, we’re on the same set running lines. This is weird,” then it was fun. We trust each other, we know each other enough to put ourselves out there and not feel embarrassed or awkward or anything.

RELATED: “7 Questions” With Brian Austin Green

CGM: Your character, Tommy, is at a very different place in his life than you are. How was it going back to being that hard-partying single guy?

BAG: You mean regressing? (laughs) Going back to being 17? It’s fun, it’s definitely different. I get to the end of an episode and think, “Thank God I’m not this guy anymore, because it’s so draining.” I don’t drink anymore, I don’t go out to places anymore, I live a pretty easygoing life. I just don’t think my brain and my body could take it if I did anything other than this. I don’t know how people at 35, 40 still party as hard as Tommy does. It’s impressive, for sure. He’s perpetually hung over, is my take on him. … He’s out of his mind, but he’s a good guy. That’s the endearing thing. He’s a drunk and he’s a partier, but at the end of the day he works his ass off to do his job to the best of his ability and really make special days for people, and he’d kill himself trying.

CGM: Is that you guys playing the instruments and singing?

BAG: For the most part. We have an amazing producer, Adam Schlesinger [from the band Fountains of Wayne], who’s done music for us and he’s fantastic. It took some time in the studio making sense of it. I’d never sung before, playing a character that believes he’s a really strong singer and does it to make a living. It took a little bit of time to build confidence with all of that, but we’ve all just had a really good time. In our off time, we get together and we play and go have lunch and dinner, and spend a lot of time together. We all get along really well as a group.

CGM: So everyone had some kind of music background before they were cast?

BAG: Yeah, most did. The person that had the least was Derek Miller, he plays the drummer. He actually had come from a musical theater-slash-sketch comedy show, so there was some improv-ing, using a lot of music. We all have a serious appreciation for music and love it, but we’ve all had to adapt a little bit. Derek has had to learn to play drums from scratch, from the pilot to now. He’s working really hard. I had never played guitar before. I grew up playing drums and piano, and the guitar is an instrument I always wanted to learn how to play. But it always seemed so complicated that I didn’t really have enough of an excuse to sit down and do all the work to learn it, but once we started shooting I was forced to. I had no choice really in the matter and, thank God, because I picked it up pretty quick. Pete is actually an amazing guitar player, so he stepped in and was ready to go, and then Harold is a guitar player and singer as well, so for him he just crossed over to bass. It was actually pretty easy for him, and fun. I think he actually really enjoys playing the bass now.

CGM: You don’t see a whole lot of hourlong comedies. What is it that makes this one work for you?

BAG: It’s just in the writing. One of the things I really loved about the show when I sat down and talked with [creators Josh Lobis and Darren Moiselle] about it is that every episode is stand-alone. I had just come from doing Sarah Connor, which was so story- and episodic-heavy that if you missed one episode, you really felt lost. Television has just changed so much. People don’t really watch live television that much anymore. So I loved the idea that at any point someone could come in and watch an episode and not feel like they’re lost. It’s a great opportunity for guest stars also to be able to come in. The guest stars are really the stars of the episodes every week. Everything that we do is centered around them, and what their relationship or marriage or friendships are like, so it’s all about taking care of them. We were lucky this season, we had amazing guest stars come in and play really fun characters. They had a great time, because at the end of the day they’re kind of the star of that episode. We just sort of run around and trying to make them happy, and make their event a great one.

CGM: So, now that you’ve had Megan on, are there any other guest stars you can tell us about?

BAG: Gary Cole came in and played my dad. He’s the man. He’s so funny. I got to sing a duet with him, which was really cool. The coolest part was that we would have guest stars come in who I’d never seen on any show, but they’d been in my top five commercials I’d seen in the last year and a half. So I’d see them and go, “Holy shit! You’re awesome! I love you! I can’t believe we brought you in.” And the guys would be like, “What the hell? Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it.” … I’d rather leave it as a surprise. … I’ll tally it up to like having Flo from the Progressive commercials all of a sudden pop up in something. (Note: Flo from Progressive, aka Stephanie Courtney, is NOT currently scheduled to appear in Wedding Band.)

Photo: TM & © Turner Entertainment  Networks, Inc. A Time Warner Company. Credit: Darren Michaels, SMPSP

 

1 Trackback / Pingback

  1. FresnoBeehive | Observations from a grumpy old man

Comments are closed.