Topher Grace on Take Me Home Tonight and Almost Dying Inside of a Gigantic Metal Ball

Dan Fogler had some of the most hilarious lines and scenes in the movie. How did you meet him?

I met him through this film but I had seen him in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Broadway, which he won the Tony for, and I thought, "Man, this guy." He's not a comedian. He's an actor -- he just happens to be really, really funny. I think that's a problem when a lot of people kind of fancy themselves as comedians and then that's their responsibility. But Dan will go anywhere you want him to go. It just happened that we took him to a place where he could really crank up the funny. I mean, you're saying what you said because you saw the movie, right?

I did.

Well, that's just a beautiful thing. It was going to happen no matter what for Dan but to be able to be there with him when that is transpiring, that's amazing.

In the movie, your character ends up jumping into this huge metal ball that is legendary in the neighborhood, careening at a high speed down a hill and then falling -- while still in the ball -- into someone's pool. How was it shooting those scenes? It looked like you were really in there and not enjoying that ride.

Right, well that ball was a huge scary metal thing. I wasn't in it when they rolled it down the hill obviously. But after that scene, the put a seat inside for me, raised the ball onto this rotisserie and spun me around so that they could get the interior shots of me just getting sick inside that thing. I almost did get really sick.

And then they dropped the ball into a pool and you had to escape. It was like a magic trick.

Yeah, that was the most scared I've ever been during a stunt. There was no way out. It was just me and a camera. No one else was in there with me. That camera could have just been filming me die basically if they didn't get me out fast enough.

Was there someone on hand there to dive in and rescue you just in case?

No. I had an oxygen tank under my seat just in case but that's it.

Aside from the ball, did you enjoy your first gig as executive producer? Are you anxious to executive produce another project?

No. But that's not to say that it wasn't amazing and I didn't learn a lot. I'm ready to be an actor for a little bit. I'm doing a movie with Richard Gere now that is kind of the opposite of this. It's a CIA drama. What I loved the most is that when the director and producers started dealing with a problem, I'd just go off to my dressing room and relax.

Unlike a lot of actors, you've managed to play villains and then also super sensitive characters, both convincingly. What do you think makes you able to pull off both?

I don't know. I'm a really evil person. No, I don't know. Thank you. That's a good question.

You've done That '70s Show and now an '80s movie. When are we going to see a

'90s project from you?

There will be a '90s movie one day but it won't be from me. I think these times only come back into focus for the first time after 20 years. I mean, I don't think you could make a '90s movie right now.

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