Masi Oka Dishes on 'Heroes' and Hiro

The Emmy-Nominee Also Talks About 'Get Smart,' Chick Flicks and Being a 'Sexy' Man

December 3 -- PEOPLE magazine doesn't lie -- 'Heroes' star Masi Oka is one of Hollywood's sexiest geeks, whether he's tooling across country in his Nissan Versa or traveling through time to feudal Japan.

The movie special effects whiz-turned-actor, who earned both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations last season for his breakout role on NBC's superhero drama, talks to AOL TV's Kimberly Potts about the show's second season (which may end Monday night, if the writers strike continues), as well as about being named to the Sexiest Men Alive list, how he "virtually drowned" fellow sexy fella George Clooney, and about what kind of movies a hot sci-fi star likes to watch (hint: you probably have a lot in common with him).

Is tonight's episode really the season finale for 'Heroes'?
If the [writers'] strike does get resolved, the show will resume, hopefully. We won't be able to do our full 24 episodes, but we will have a couple of episodes for volume three. We'll probably be able to shoot some of that.

Was volume two always scheduled to end early on then?
Yes, volume two was planned to end before the winter hiatus.

So how does the finale of volume two measure up to the volume one finale?
Well, we'll find out.

In your opinion, is it as exciting?
I haven't seen the final cut, so you never know how it's going to turn out until you see it. But I think it's primed for a spectacular finish.

What is your feeling about this season, or this season so far, in general?
I thought it was great. The first season was absolutely magical, a phenomenon. And volume two took a different path, and there were some risks that were taken, and some that paid off really well, and some not quite as well. But overall, I think it was a very solid season.

Did you like Hiro's storyline, and the time travel trip to ancient Japan?
Personally, I loved that storyline, because I loved the era. I wanted to go around with my sword. My only thing was, I wished, and, you know, ['Heroes' creator] Tim Kring mentioned this publicly and I do agree with him, that there [should have been] more of a story to support [Hiro] being there that long. There was a long set-up, but it could have been shortened. I would have loved to see a lot more fighting, because that's a great thing about that era.

And what would you like to see happen to Hiro in the future?
I would definitely love to see him interact with the other heroes more. Like Hayden's character, Claire, I haven't gotten to work with her yet, and she's a fantastic actress. So it would be fun to see how they would connect Hiro and Claire sometime in the future.

Which other character's story is most exciting to you?
I like Monica's character [Micah's cousin, played by Dana Davis, who has "adoptive muscle memory"]. There's a lot of hope there, especially for the city [of New Orleans], and I think it's kind of a cool, uplifting story. And I'm always excited to see what the writers come up with to completely wow and dazzle us.

NBC and Sprint are running a contest for viewers to create their own hero. What kind of superhero would you create?
What kind of choice do you have? Like, do they give you outfits and colors?

Yes. They give you a list of options to choose from.
Well, then you're not really creating your own.

True. So if you could create your own hero from scratch, what would you create? What super power would he or she have?
You know, right now with so much happening in the world, it would be nice to have someone who could be a peacemaker. Just in general. And like, in the case of the writers' strike. There's a lot of good a peacemaking superhero could do.



What was your reaction when you found out PEOPLE had put you on its sexiest men of 2007 list?
[Laughing] That was kinda fun. It's very surreal. Not something that I ever would have thought would happen when I was a kid. You read about all the cool guys, like George Clooney and Brad Pitt, and it's like, "Oh, yeah, they are sexy." To be put in that sexy category, too ... let's just say it's not a bad feeling. It's quite a compliment and an honor to be part of that.

But does it work well as kind of a calling card? Is it good for boosting your dating life?
Haha, well, I'm not sure if it boosts it, but it's not a bad thing. You know, you're on a date, and you say, "Hey, I have this magazine, you may want to look through it ... oh, wait, is that me?"

Haha, yes, you might want to look at page 68 ...
"Yes, you might want to turn to page 68, there might be someone you recognize there." Come on, how many guys can actually say that?

Speaking of George Clooney, I read that you "virtually drowned" him. That's from your days at ILM as a special effects whiz, I assume.
Haha, yes, it wasn't because I didn't like him. It was my job, I had to drown him. I worked for ILM and we wrote all the software to create these monster tidal waves for 'The Perfect Storm.' And so we created one that virtually drowned Clooney. Though it wasn't even him, it was his stunt double.

So no one's pinning drowning the two-time sexiest man alive on you.
Yeah, don't blame me for that one.

Are you still working at ILM?
I still kind of do, but definitely nothing productive. I wish I could, I wish I could say I do a lot more for them, but it's just consulting now, maybe one day a week. There just hasn't been time [to do more].

But they're probably still using a lot of the software you created, right? What was the last thing you worked on?
Yes, definitely. And I was supposed to work on 'Transformers,' but that was before I got really busy with 'Heroes.' The last big thing was probably 'Pirates [of the Caribbean].'

Which character are you playing in the 'Get Smart' movie next summer?
I play Bruce, who is kind of the equivalent of Q from the James Bond movies, the gadget guy. He's also one of Maxwell Smart's loyal friends.

And you're also starring in a spin-off movie, right? It's coming out on DVD when the main movie is released into theaters?
Yes, it's the exact same character. Basically, if you think of 'Get Smart,' the feature, as 'Hamlet,' then 'Get Smart: Get Bruce and Lloyd,' the spin-off, is 'Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.' So if you know that Tom Stoppard play, you'll know what I'm talking about.

One last thing, I read you're a big fan of romantic comedies. Really? You're a chick flick fan?
Yes, I love my romantic comedies.

Cool. What are some of your favorites?
Oh, my top five, I guess definitely would include 'The Princess Bride.' 'Big Fish' is another one. 'Life Is Beautiful.' 'When Harry Met Sally' is a classic. Oh, and 'Serendipity.'

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