Hanging out with Hayden

Q: What's it like doing the scenes when Claire has been mutilated and hasn't recovered yet, like when she's on the autopsy table?

Hayden Panettiere: Oh, yeah. I had to go do body scanning afterwards and it took about five or six hours to put on. The [fake] blood would run down. Can you imagine what blood starts to look like on your body after 10-and-a-half hours?

Q: What are your fellow Heroes actors like?

Hayden Panettiere: Adrian [Pasdar], we've always said, is like the big brother. He always wants to take you here, take you there - he's the leader when [cast-members are on tour together]. Greg [Grunberg] is a goofball, Milo [Ventimiglia] is more of a flirt, Sendhil [Ramamurthy] and Masi [Oka] are great.

Ali [Larter] and I are girls, we stick together. Jack Coleman I'm very close to. I get to work with him a lot, and he's so much fun. He's so funny and he's such a bright man. It's fun to be around somebody like that who is bright, but funny at the same time.

Zach [Quinto], who plays Sylar, is funny as anything, and he's a good friend, too. And Ashley Crow, who plays my mom - they all have their own personalities, and it's a hoot when we get together.

Everyone has a crush on either Milo or Sendhil, but then I look at Greg and Adrian and Masi, and I see that everyone has crushes on them, too. We have a cast full of heartthrobs, what can I say? It's not only a large cast, but it's a large cast of really good actors.

When you're around such good actors, you want to bring yourself up to their level and strive to do your best. At the same time, in this show, we don't always get the chance to work with each other, so it's almost like showing off every time you get to work with [any cast-mate]. You're so excited, because it's like, 'Ooh, I've got to be really good, because I'm working with so-and-so today.'

Q: How do you feel about the ardent fan reaction to Heroes?

Hayden Panettiere: It's very cool that they like it so much - it's like a pat on our backs every time they say something about it and love it. We're filming in the studio and it doesn't always click that 15 million people are watching the show, so it's cool to hear from them.

Q: What can you tell us about the in-the-works Heroes videogame?

Hayden Panettiere: I don't know anything about the layout. I'm ecstatic. My cousin actually made me my first action figure - it's not 'real', obviously, but he did a really cool job. It's sitting on my shelf.

It's always fun to see what they do with your characters [in terms of merchandising, comics, etc.] and in the videogame, to see what kind of animation they use. I would love to be involved with it. Other than that, I have no idea.

Q: Is there anything else you'd like to say about Heroes?

Hayden Panettiere: I'm just really excited about it.

Taken from the Official Heroes Magazine on sale now