Hollywood Q&A
Q: What’s Jim Parsons doing now that “The Big Bang Theory” is over?
A: Actually, Jim Parsons is the only actor on the cast for whom “The Big Bang Theory” is not over, but I understand what you mean.
Parsons, who played Sheldon in all of the billion (actually 12) hit seasons of “The Big Bang Theory,” is also an executive producer and narrator of spinoff “Young Sheldon.” That show will be returning this September.
But Parsons is also lining up work outside the “Big Bang Theory” universe (I’d say “pardon the pun,” but I’m actually pretty proud of that).
In his free time, he’s been appearing on Broadway in the drama “The Boys in the Band,” along with a gang of other notable screen names including Zachary Quinto (Spock in the recent “Star Trek” films) and Matt Bomer (of TV series “White Collar” and “Doom Patrol”). And it was recently announced that the whole cast will reunite for a film adaptation that will be released on Netflix next year.
After that, Parsons seems to have his pick of projects, which isn’t surprising since he was undeniably the breakout star of “Big Bang.”
His resume on the Internet Movie Database lists nine other projects in development, in either the script stage or the pre-script “treatment” stage, and they all seem to reveal an impulse to get far away from his Sheldon character.
They include the Elvis-themed, dragqueen comedy “The Legend of Georgia McBride,” and the lead role in “Spoiler Alert,” a drama based on the memoir by TV journalist Michael Ausiello.
Q: I just watched that Netflix movie about Ted Bundy and thought I recognized the guy who played the cop who arrests him for running a stop sign.Who is he? I didn’t recognize his name in the credits.
A: You might have recognized the name if the credits listed him as “Metallica’s James Hetfield” instead of just “James Hetfield,” but he might not have been very pleased with that for his first big screen break.
Hetfield, lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the legendary heavy metal band Metallica, plays officer Bob Hayward in this year’s “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,” the biopic of serial killer Ted Bundy. It’s a small but crucial role — Hayward really was the person to first arrest Bundy.
It’s Hetfield’s first on-screen acting role. He has previously done voice work for two cartoons — “Metalocalypse” and “Skylanders Academy” — and, of course, appeared on screen frequently in his band’s videos and concert documentaries, but this was his debut as a thespian.
And by most accounts, he pulled it off. Star Zac Efron, who threw off his nice-kid image to play Bundy, said Hetfield “absolutely nailed the part.” In an interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Efron said he was prepared to offer Hetfield an acting tip or two, but instead Hetfield just walked in and “crushed it. It’s like he’s been acting his whole life.”
Credit the film’s director, Joe Berlinger, with spotting Hetfield’s potential. In an interview with Revolver magazine, Berlinger said he’d previously directed a documentary about Metallica (2004’s “Some Kind of Monster”), and afterward told Hetfield that he’d make a good actor. Fast-forward a few years and, when working on “Extremely Wicked,” Berlinger noticed that the real Bob Hayward looked a lot like Hetfield, and so he made the call.