TVSquad Talks To Nick Jonas about his "Mr. Sunshine" Role

[JamesG]

Nick Jonas Talks "Mr. Sunshine"
by Maggie Furlong
posted Feb 15th 2011


Matthew perry is no dummy. After over three decades in this business -- 10 years of that on "Friends", one of the most popular shows in TV history -- "Mr. Sunshine's" leading man is pulling out all the stops to make his new show a success (Wednesdays, 9:30PM ET on ABC).



This week's big draw? Guest star Nick Jonas as Eli White, a teen rock star playing at the Sunshine Center who is moody, demanding and hell-bent on making Perry's Ben Donovan miserable.

I caught up with Jonas, who is genuinely funny in this episode and shows off some serious acting chops, to talk about his inspiration for Eli and his own celebrity demands.






I loved this episode. You're playing a rock star -- NOT a pop star -- but it's not Nick Jonas.

Tell us a bit about Eli White.

Eli is kind of an interesting character because he pushes out that he's a jerk, and he feels like he needs to be that way to kind of fit in with the crowd that he wants to fit in with, and be perceived the way he wants to be perceived.

I kind of feel like, at the core, he's just full of insecurities and, more than anything, just wants to be accepted by the people he's with in that moment. I think it's similar to what most people go through in their real, normal lives.

But yeah, he is a jerk, for sure. [Laughs] It was fun to kind of play someone completely opposite to myself for a day.





So, Eli is nothing like the real Nick Jonas?

He is not like me in any way.
But you know what? It's alright. That's what you have to do sometimes.





It's acting! But you wouldn't know anyone in the business who's that much of a jerk, right?

[Laughs] It's very easy to kind of pull inspiration from previous moments in my career up until this point for this character. There are plenty of people who have similar character traits to Eli that I've met along the way.

So I just look back at those moments and try to pull what I can from them.





Eli has a lot of demands. What's the one essential thing on your tour rider you can't live without?

Ooh, one thing ... for me, it's pineapple juice. I love pineapple juice. It's not that big a deal, like Eli's demands would be.

When I was doing a show in London -- I was doing 'Les Mis' -- I met a lot of classically trained singers. They were all sharing with me that pineapple juice is really good for your voice ... it soothes your vocal chords.

I started drinking it and I love it. It's my jam now.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/02/15/ni...w-mr-sunshine/