Interview: Billy Unger – Lab Rats

Tommy2: What’s up, it’s Tommy2 and checkin’ in with us today, we’ve got Billy Unger from the new Disney XD show, Lab Rats.

Billy Unger: Hey, how you doin’?

Tommy2: Doing great, just got back from a nice run so I’m feeling refreshed and a bit healthy.

Billy Unger: Yeah.

Tommy2: So lets start off and find out about the new show, Lab Rats. What’s the basic premise of the show?

Billy Unger: Well, Lab Rats is basically… it’s a Disney XD, new original series and it’s about three bionic super human children who are being raised in a laboratory. And their inventor, the guy who created them is very much like a Tony Stark from Iron Man. And he gets married and his wife’s son moves in with him, into his multi-million dollar mansion and discovers us three super human children in this underground laboratory. And basically, we hit it off. We become best friends, all four of us. And he starts talking about all these wonderful things that we’re missing out on by never having left this laboratory. He starts talking about school, texting, you know… girls, going to the mall. All this really cool stuff that we’ve never experienced before and we decided that, okay, we’re going to sneak out of this laboratory and we’re going to see what this is all about. And so we go to school for the first time, and it’s really funny cause we each have our own unique abilities, but at the same time we also have our own unique glitches, so whenever we get to happy or to sad we tend to glitch. And we’re trying to hide the fact that we have these super abilities from all the other students in school. But it’s hard to do when we’re glitching out.

Tommy2: Now are you nervous or excited for the premiere on February 27th?

Billy Unger: Yes, I couldn’t be more excited.

Tommy2: And why don’t tell us a little bit more about the cast that you work with, and what its like working them.

Billy Unger: Well, I play the youngest character so there… I’m actually, the middle age and there’s a young girl, her name is Kelli, then there’s me, and then there’s my older brother Spencer. But in the show, it usually goes Spencer, Kelly, and then me, cause I play the youngest one. We get along so well, it’s like we’re a family. You know we’ve been doing this for almost an entire season now, so, I think we all know each other pretty well and we hang out even in between takes and during lunch. And we hang out in each others dressing rooms and we talk, just kind of like we’re really brother and sister. We’ve really become really close

Tommy2: You actually said there, a series, but what does that mean in terms of the timeline. Like actually when did you guys start working on this show for the first time?

Billy Unger: We started working on this show around the end of September, beginning of October.

Tommy2: Now what was it that drew you to the script when you auditioned for it.

Billy Unger: Definitley, I actually… this show, when it turned into Lab Rats, I was already attached to the project along with guy that plays my older brother and then the boy who moves in with our inventor, because we had done a pilot just before that called, The Billion Dollar Freshman. And then Billion Dollar Freshman later on turned into Lab Rats. So I think when I was auditioning for Billion Dollar Freshman, I saw the breakdowns and I immediately fell in love with it because my characters name was originally Brad, it was Adam and Brad. And now it’s Adam, Bree, Chase. I play Chase now, Brad was such a cool character, super intelligent, super bionic senses, very athletic, he could flip. He could run up walls, he could kick, he could punch. He was just one of the coolest characters that I had ever played or that I had ever seen come across the breakdowns and stuff. It was a character that I really enjoyed auditioning for and then when I found out that I booked the role, I couldn’t have been more excited. Cause it was a character that I would get the chance to play every single day. And when it turned into Lab Rats, the character only became even more cool.

Tommy2: Now I couldn’t help but notice from the promos that you guys have some crazy bionic suits you wear. Are those actually comfortable, or do they come off the moment you are done shooting?

Billy Unger: Well, they’re both. They do come off the second we’re done shooting because wardrobe is constantly making sure we don’t spill anything. But they are comfortable, they’re very comfortable.

Tommy2: So they’re one of a kind.

Billy Unger: They are one of a kind, they fit each of us perfectly, uniquely. The first suit we had was more of a military looking suit, and that one wasn’t as comfortable as the new ones. The new spandex ones are so comfortable.

Tommy2: And why don’t you tell us all about the commando mode?

Billy Unger: Well commando mode is actually a glitch. My special skill is that I’m super intelligent. Commando mode is a glitch, so whenever I get to angry I tend to glitch into command mode which basically means I turn into a commando who’s – his name is Spike. Why it’s so funny is because it’s such a little guy who turns into this huge warrior basically. And he fears absolutely nothing, and he gets in your face and he tells you how it’s going to be, and unfortunately Chase gets into a lot of trouble because he tends to turn into commando mode at all the wrong times. It would be perfect if he turned into commando mode when he was being bullied, but he turns into commando mode when he was being bullied. But no, he turns into commando mode when he’s having a conversation with the principal, which is the wrong time.

Tommy2: I see where the comedy is coming in here.

Billy Unger: Yeah… you see that.

Tommy2: Now for people that want to find out more about your show, Lab Rats, I’ve noticed there’s some great content online at Disney.com under the Disney XD tab. There’s even a game out there that I was playing earlier. Have you seen anyone playing that game so far?

Billy Unger: Oh yeah! Yeah, it’s great. I’ve seen videos of kids playing the game and it’s so much fun to watch. You know there reactions to playing, not only the game, but my character Chase. Ot’s a lot of fun just being able to be a playable character like that and for kids to be able to play Chase is so much fun to watch.

Tommy2: So far what has been the best thing been about working for Disney?

Billy Unger: Honestly, I could say it’s the craft service. No… no, I’m just kidding!

Tommy2: You’re definitely a guy there.

Billy Unger: Yeah, yeah… that’s the teenager coming out of me. I think that the best part about working with Disney has got to be the people that I work with. Even outside of the case, all of the executive producers, our writers, our wonderful director, Victor Gonzalez who directed several episodes of Wizards. He kind of bounces around from television show to television show. Everyone’s just so great. It’s like a huge Lab Rats family, we enjoy each others company on and off set, you know… all of us.

Tommy2: I know you’ve also appeared in several Disney TV shows, why don’t you mention some of the other shows you’ve been in so far so that new fans can know where to look for you.

Billy Unger: Yeah, sure. Well I was in a film last year called You Again, with Betty White, Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, Victor Garber and Kristen Bell. And, I have so many memories from filming that movie… it was a great time. And then also, I was in, the first film I was ever in was actually National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. I got to work with Jon Voight and Nicholas Cage and, I’ve done bunch of episodics as well. I’ve been on shows such as Ghost Whisperer, Cold Case, Mental, Sarah Connor Chronicles… yeah, a bunch of stuff. And I have a film, called The Lost Medallion: The Adventures of Billy Stone which is still, still hasn’t come out yet. But it’s going to come out within the next year or so.

Tommy2: And that’s with Sammi Hannratty right?

Billy Unger: That’s right yeah, it was filmed with Sammi and it was filmed in Thailand. I spent three and a half months in Thailand. It’s about my character, his names is Billy Stone, and that’s just a coincidence – they didn’t name the character after me, he was already called Billy Stone. And it’s basically, the movie’s about adventures through traveling through time and you know searching for this lost medallion that I’ve only heard about and never seen. And everyone keeps telling me that it doesn’t exist, but I don’t believe them cause my mother told me it’s out there somewhere. And the movie’s basically about me searching for the lost medallion.

Tommy2: Okay, we’ll have to look for that. Now one thing I couldn’t help but notice when I was scrolling through IMDB, checking out all of your credits was all the gorgeous ladies you’ve worked with that are a bit out of your age range such as Kristen Bell, Odette (Annable), and Jennifer Love Hewitt. You know you could always give me a call to drop by the set the next time you have a project like that. Think you could do that.

Billy Unger: You know what – wink wink. I will definitely do that. Definitely.

Tommy2: Just recently I started following you on Twitter and noticed you’re quite active with your fans. Has that been a fun outlet for you?

Billy Unger: Oh yeah, I love it – I love it! I love letting fans and all the twitter followers know what it is that I am up to, cause you know they have a right to know. I love letting them know how my day went. I love letting them know all the great projects that I have coming out. I love also hearing about them and what they’re up to. I like keeping in touch with all of them.

Tommy2: And of course your handle on Twitter is just @BillyUnger. Now the other day on Tommy2Net the Twitter account I asked fans if they had questions that they wanted me to ask you, so lets cue them up here.

Isabella: Hi, this is Isabella from Peru and question is, when you were younger did you ever imagine that you would be this famous and have so many fans?

Billy Unger: Well, when I was younger, all I cared about was being Spider Man, but as I grew up… it was a dream of mine when I was younger. And I don’t know if I ever thought that this was going to happen. I think I just dreamt of it happening every night and I ran with it, I ran with what my heart told me to do and thanks to my family, they were very supportive of me and they backed me up throughout everything that we’ve been through. And yeah, I think this was something that I thought could and that I wanted to happen when I was younger.

Tommy2: And you didn’t get to be Spider Man, but you do have super hero skills now.

Billy Unger: That’s right! I went full circle, I went from wearing a Spider Man costume even when it wasn’t Halloween to wearing this really, really cool costume and having super abilities. It’s everything that the 10 year old Billy Unger could ever ask for.

Tommy2: Okay, let’s move on to the next one.

Joe: Hey it’s Joe from Colorado and I was wondering what movie do you like to watch over and over?

Billy Unger: Back To The Future and The Lost Boys.

Tommy2: Cool! Those are… you definitely got the 80′s in there.

Billy Unger: Oh yeah! I love the 80′s. I tell everyone, I was born in the wrong era. I’m supposed to be in the 80′s.

Tommy2: And lets go to this last one?

Nemo: Hi, I’m Nemo from Illinois and Billy I was wondering, when are we getting married?

Billy Unger: I don’t know… when are we getting married? I don’t think I have an answer for that one.

Tommy2: Alright, now one other thing I’ve seen online is that a lot of people want to know about you and your guitar. What’s the story? Have you been playing for awhile, did you just start, and who’s your favorite guitarist.

Billy Unger: Okay, easy easy peasy! Well, I’ve been playing for a little less than a year. It’s really a passion of mine, it’s something that I love to do. It’s probably my number one hobby outside of working on Lab Rats. I do it every chance I get. And also, my favorite guitarist is Slash from Guns N Roses.

Tommy2: Once again, from the 80′s.

Billy Unger: I played guitar when I was younger, I think I just didn’t have the focus to do it back then. All I wanted to do was be a rock star but now, it’s… I’m older and it’s something that I really want to do and so I put a lot of focus and a lot of heart into it.

Tommy2: And what type of gear do you have?

Billy Unger: Oh, I have a Black Beauty, Les Paul – Gibson, and a Marshall amplifier.

Tommy2: In closing here, I want to remind everyone to make sure they’ve blocked off February 27th on their calendar for the premiere of Lab Rats on Disney XD. Billy, we’ll be looking forward to that and thank you so much for your time today.

Billy Unger: No, no. Thank you.