1.02 Crisp

NYU grad Bryan Greenberg, 31, has worked his way up from bit parts on TV shows to star in the Wall Street movie “The Good Guy.” But his sexiest role is playing an up-and-coming fashion designer in HBO’s hot new show “How to Make It in America” – so he’s our go-to guy for pointers on making it in New York City.

1. Make sure the deli guy knows you.

Once the guy at the deli below your apartment starts knowing your sandwich before you’ve even ordered it, then you’re no longer a stranger in New York City. That’s a major accomplishment.

2. Know what you want to do.

I’ve been kind of fortunate to know that I always wanted to be an actor and a musician. So I never really strayed from that because I was like, “All right, that’s what I came here to do.”

3. Put yourself out there.

When it comes to making money, you can’t stick with one thing. Sure, I was an actor, but I was also working as a mortgage broker, a waiter, a caterer, a bartender. You’ve got to move around and be shifty and hustle. I was hustling on all ends and going to school at the same time — and auditioning. I didn’t do a whole lot of sleeping.

4. But don’t have a plan B.

If you give yourself an out, you’ll take it. The acting world is so competitive that I knew if I gave myself some sort of backup plan I would never follow through. I would take it because there’s so much rejection and hardship. You’ve just got to convince yourself to go for it if you want to succeed.

5. Find a roommate.

After NYU, I had loans to pay off and rent to pay. It was all about raising funds, getting a roommate, and then getting your girlfriend to move in. It was three people in a small, converted two-bedroom in the East Village, but that’s what we could afford.

6. Work hard, get lucky.

Success doesn’t just happen. I worked really hard to get where I am today. At the same time, I’ve been fortunate to be presented with opportunities. But I wouldn’t say that’s complete luck, because that would discredit all the years of studying and working and going for it.

7. Fall down, get back up.

I remember auditioning during the final round of a Broadway show. I actually got to go on the stage and the bright lights were hitting me on the face. I was ready and all of a sudden I had an out-of-body experience and I was just watching myself audition and screwing it all up. I just tucked my tail between my legs and walked out of there. It was pouring outside and I walked like all the way down to the East Village from Times Square. The whole time, I was thinking, “What am I doing?” That was my lowest point, but I just picked myself back up the next day and started looking for more auditions.

8. Take advantage of New York City.

I feel like there’s a rhythm to the city that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. Fall into that rhythm and things just happen. I love running into people on the street and just seeing crazy interactions between strangers. As an artist, you’ve got to be a sponge and there’s no better place to be a sponge than in New York. There are so many crazy stories that unfold every day that you’ll see just by walking the streets.

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For the most part, Wall Street has been glorified as the destination for the elite, a place where multi-million dollar deals and lunches at Masa happen before the closing bells chime. In the new film, by first time director Julio DePietro and former investment banker, The Good Guy takes a raw and honest look at life on Wall Street for young twenty-something Manhattanites.

The Good Guy examines the relationships of Beth (Alexis Bledel), her boyfriend Tommy (Scott Porter), and their new friend Daniel (Bryan Greenberg). The film goes beyond being about a torrid love triangle; it observes the life of a young adult working and living in Manhattan. Like any relationship, these characters are dealt endearingly beautiful moments that are soon forgotten by betrayal and dishonesty.

Trapped in a NYC blizzard, PopStar spoke with Bryan Greenberg over the phone about his role as Daniel, the newbie to the Wall Street world. Greenberg, who is currently starring in the hit HBO show How to Make It in America, was thrilled to talk about the role in this film. Nursing a broken wrist, the musician/actor jumps into the interview and talks about his unique character study of Daniel for this role.

For many of us, Bryan Greenberg caught our attention as Jake Jagielski, the hardworking young father on One Tree Hill. When Greenberg left the show in 2006, many fans held on hoping that Jake and Peyton reunite, but sadly that never happened. The good news for fans was that in 2007, Greenberg was starring on another primetime hit October Road alongside That 70’s Show (TV) star Laura Prepon. After a two season run, the show ended and Greenberg moved to the big screen, starring in 20th Century Fox’s Bride Wars as the onscreen brother of Kate Hudson and husband of Anne Hathaway.

Greenberg is back on the big screen, playing Daniel, a young guy who has left the army and moved to NYC to begin his life in the film The Good Guy. Upon meeting Tommy (Scott Porter), the high-powered Wall Street consultant, Daniel quickly gets sucked into the world of power and greed. Enter Beth, played by Alexis Bledel. Beth is Tommy’s girlfriend, but has a strong connection with Daniel, but the question is, how strong? Last week, PopStar spoke with Bryan about life on location in NYC, similarities between him and his introverted character and Bryan even provided very good reasons on why you should get out and go see The Good Guy!

In the upcoming film, The Good Guy, you play Daniel, the newcomer to the fast-paced, high-flying Wall Street scene. Can you tell us a little bit more about Daniel?

He is very serious in the beginning and you are not sure if he has an angle or not. He is one of those too good to be true characters; he has a strong moral compass but is very awkward socially. He is an introverted guy who would rather spend his night reading a Jane Austen novel instead of being out on the town mixing it with Wall Street characters. He is old school.

Sounds all good, something has to go wrong; can you give us a sneak peek into Daniel’s life as a Wall Street maven?

Daniel gets emerged into the Wall Street world and is taken in by his boss Tommy who is trying to groom him into being a better salesman. That entails taking out clients, picking up girls, and embracing the whole lifestyle. Daniel is having a tough time adjusting. He meets Tommy’s girlfriend Beth who is played by Alexis Bledel and they have a connection. I would say it causes some problems.

Do you see any similarities between you and your character Daniel?

Not really. I think that Daniel is much more of a character than I have played in the past. I am a lot more outgoing, I am a social guy and Daniel is very uncomfortable in his own skin.

You guys shot the film on location in New York City; can you give us a look behind the scenes of what happens while on set?

We shot this over a year and half ago. I remember how smooth it was and what a pleasure it was to be at work every day. We were always on time, and it was easy. Everyone hung out together, it is such a cool young cast, and everyone was always going out and having fun. I usually do that when filming, I like to be on location, get to know the cast and everything.

However on this one, I felt that I had to remove myself from that. I didn’t want anyone to get too comfortable and didn’t want anyone to get too comfortable with me because I didn’t think it would work for the character. So I stayed uptown on the Upper West Side and didn’t really participate socially with everyone else.

That was the first time I had done that, so it wasn’t like a blast [laugh] for me ’cause I was in character the whole time. I remember it was a pleasure to work on the movie and Julio [DePietro] was a great director. For a first time director, I think he did a great job.

The name of the film is The Good Guy; would you consider yourself a good guy?

Yeah, I consider myself a good guy. I come from a good family and I try to be honest and treat people with respect. It is not really for me to say, anyone who says that they are a good guy probably isn’t or has an angle; you have to ask other people. Everyone thinks they are a good guy, s**t, I bet Hitler thought he was a good guy.

We heard some exciting news that in 2010, you were going to have a new album coming out, tell us more!

I was supposed to be in the studio in January. I have all these new songs but I broke my wrist, and everything got delayed. I don’t know when it will happen, but I am itching to get back into the studio once my wrist heals up.

Sorry to hear that, how did you break it?

I was mountain biking in Puerto Rico.

Message to the fans.

It is important now more than ever to support indie film makers because it is a dying bread and there are a lot of talented voices that need to be heard. This movie gives viewers a cool look at the Wall Street culture and the love life in New York City.

Usually every character I have played has an arch and what I found really interesting about this role was it didn’t. This one made me think a lot as a viewer because the character doesn’t change; however, as an audience member, your perspective changes. This movie is all about perception and how you feel about the characters in this world. I thought that was a really interesting journey to go on as an audience member.

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Bryan Greenberg laughs ruefully at the question of who’s the better kisser: Alexis Bledel or Uma Thurman?

But he’s one of the few actors around who can answer it, so it needs to be brought up.

“Don’t make me choose,” he pleads by telephone from a Los Angeles press day for the film “The Good Guy,” the film in which his character poaches Bledel from his best friend, which opens in limited release Friday (2/19/10).

He chuckles again and says, “What a tough life I live. I guess it’s a perk of the job. No, really, it’s cool but it’s weird. It’s not as glamorous as you think it would be. It’s a job. It’s technical. People touching you up with makeup, watching: It’s awkward.”

He pauses, then adds cheerfully, “I’ve had worse jobs.”

Such as? “I was a bartender. I worked at Chik-Fil-A. I was a mortgage banker’s assistant.”

None of which prepared him for “The Good Guy,” in which he plays a straight-arrow tech guy at a Wall Street firm in training to be a stockbroker. He did research for the role with writer-director Julio DiPietro, a former stock trader, who took him to watch deals being made.

“I knew nothing about Wall Street,” says Greenberg, 31. “It was a cool look at a whole culture. I was fascinated by how they talk on the phone: They’ve got two phones, one at each ear, with mute buttons, and they’re having multiple conversations and doing deals and playing with a golf club at the same time. And they’re jacked up on Red Bull.

“What they were saying was like a foreign language; Julio had to interpret the jargon for me. It was like I was looking at another species, watching how they physically acted. I couldn’t understand what they were talking about. It’s a very convoluted industry if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Which, he added, explains a lot about the financial crisis that shook the country in late 2008: “We shot this pre-meltdown. Just seeing the life these guys live, the value system they have, it’s no wonder why we are where we are. There are some good people, but there’s a lot of greed involved. It’s one of those things where there are too many people in the industry and not enough commodities to go around. That’s what brought us here.”

Greenberg’s character, Daniel, is the antithesis of the Wall Street hard-chargers: a guy with a moral code who is uncomfortable with the idea of getting over on anyone, whether it’s a customer on the line or a woman in a bar. It’s the first Boy Scout-type that Greenberg has played.

“My character doesn’t vibe with that culture,” he says. “He’s a socially awkward character. He’d rather read a Jane Austen novel than go out to a club. He’s old school, for sure. I’m definitely not that much of a straight arrow. That was what attracted me to the part. I haven’t played a role like this.”

Daniel is also a military veteran, an avionics engineer and pilot, something else Greenberg barely considered for himself: “I thought about the military for a quick second when I was 15. I was in Israel and participated in an Israeli boot camp and thought about joining up. That went away a month later. No way was I joining the Israeli army.”

Born in Omaha and reared in St. Louis, Greenberg moved to Manhattan to go to New York University, working odd jobs and the occasional bit part after graduation, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career.

He got his break in “The Perfect Score,” a 2004 teen comedy that led to the role opposite Thurman in “Prime” (with Meryl Streep playing his psychiatrist mother), as well as a regular role on the TV series, “One Tree Hill.” Since then he’s moved back and forth between TV (“October Road,” “Unscripted”) and films (“Nobel Son,” “Bride Wars”), working regularly enough not to have to hold a day job.

“I feel like every job is my big break,” he says. “Was it the Pizza Hut commercial I did in college? ‘Unscripted’ was a big break. Then doing ‘Prime’ with Meryl Streep – that was my first romantic leading-man role. It’s hard to pinpoint a moment but I guess I’d say ‘Perfect Score.’ I haven’t had another job outside acting since then.”

Since making “The Good Guy,” he’s launched a new TV series: “How to Make It in America,” which had its debut on HBO his past weekend and which, he hopes, has a longer run than “October Road,” which lasted a single season on ABC.

“HBO is different,” Greenberg says. “’October Road’ was an awesome project. It didn’t do well critically, but millions of people watched it. Being on ABC is a totally different beast than HBO. HBO isn’t ratings-based. This is all about word of mouth. HBO doesn’t have to answer to advertisers. If people are talking about it, it’s a success. It’s not so cutthroat as network TV. I love HBO.”

He’s already finished filming the first season of “How to Make It” episodes and so is at loose ends for the moment. But he feels no desperation to find another job.

“I’m at a place in my career where I don’t need to work all the time,” he says. “Rather than work for the sake of working, I’d rather be doing good projects.”

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