Star-Crossed actor Greg Finley guest stars in tonight’s (November 18) episode of The Flash as Tony Woodward, a character from Barry Allen/The Flash’s past who now has powers and goes by the code name of “Girder.”
The episode airs on The CW at 8PM tonight, and to get us all ready for tonight’s show, Finley did a phone interview with KSiteTV with some clues on what to expect. Enjoy:
KSITETV’s CRAIG BYRNE: What is Tony Woodward’s past with Barry Allen?
GREG FINLEY: He was his childhood bully growing up. He was probably kind of a hot shot in high school, and then after high school, he was kind of a nobody, and that obviously made him angry. He started working at the steel mill, and the big accident happened, and he turned into Girder.
Was he working at the steel mill when the particle accelerator explosion happened?
Yes. That’s the research that I did, and that’s what I found, and that’s what the writers told me, but we don’t see that in that episode.
In what ways is Girder a formidable foe for The Flash?
He’s just a beast, man. Of course, he turns into solid steel, and he’s basically just an animal. I mean, he’s so angry, and he hates The Flash, and he wants to be the guy that everyone’s talking about. He wants to be – not necessarily a hero, but I think he wants to be famous or infamous, and with that strength and that anger, it turns out to be a pretty fun fight.
What was your reaction upon seeing the finished visual effects for Girder?
So happy. When I first saw it on the preview, I was hyped, man. I just can’t wait to see it. He looks pretty cool. I was happy with what they did with it, for sure.
How familiar were you with the Girder character before getting the role?
I was completely unfamiliar. I was a comic book fan as a kid, and I was really into DC and Marvel. I loved Batman, and X-Men, and all of it, but I used to collect the comics, and I used to collect the Marvel and DC comic book baseball cards, and I was hoping I would have a Girder card from back in the day, but then I found out that Girder became a character in 2001. So, obviously, I wouldn’t have that card, because I was collecting as a kid. I was kind of bummed about that, because that would have been full circle, pretty funny; but I had no clue who the heck Girder was.
Did anyone buy you a copy of Flash: Iron Heights once you got the role?
They did, but I also did a bunch of research, and read up on him, and found it for myself.
Beyond Grant Gustin, who else did you get to work with?
I worked with Candice [Patton], which was awesome. A lot of my stuff was with her, and I’m just manhandling her in the hallways, as you probably saw in the photos, and she was great. She’s so talented, and very fun to work with.
The whole team was great.
Does acting opposite a guy in a Flash costume help get you to get in the mood of the role?
Oh, absolutely. I mean, when I first saw Grant in that costume, I kid you not… they did such a great job on the costume. It doesn’t look cheesy at all. He looks so cool in that costume. I was like “Damn! I want to be the Flash!” It was definitely kind of like a fanboy moment. It’s hard not to when you see him in the costume. It was really cool.
Is there a chance you might appear on the series again after this episode?
I hope. Tony’s a metahuman, so you never know.
Obviously there are a lot of fans who are still mourning Star-Crossed. Do you think you’ll ever revisit those characters again?
Oh, I wish, bro. Probably not. We were all pretty heartbroken when we found the news it was getting cancelled. We were a Monday night at 8:00 show, man. We were going against some big shows, and we didn’t have a whole heck of a lot of promotion behind us… but the way I see it now, is it was a great one season, it was a great year of my life. I got to play a character that I loved. It was hard to say goodbye to, but chances are that we’re not going to see that again.
What projects do you have coming up after this?
I’m actually working on CSI as we speak. I’m doing CSI: Las Vegas, and it’s funny: It’s a cool role. I’m playing a vigilante! So it’s kind of ironic that we’re talking about superhero stuff.
Going back to superhero stuff, if there is to be a Girder return appearance, would you like to see a costume for him?
I’m always down for a costume, but I like the sleeveless, and just turning into steel. That’s pretty bad ass. I like that.
Are there any moments from your episode that really stood out for you?
There were a few. I think what you see in the preview, when he touches me, and basically his hand just cracks and I kind of just stay there and do my best Bruce Lee. [laughs] That was pretty fun. But it was all fun.
In your opinion, why should people tune in tonight?
They put a lot of work into every episode, but we put a lot of work into this one. There were some late nights, and the fight scenes, and the special effects in this episode… everybody kind of knew that this episode was a little special. You kind of know when it’s going to be pretty cool, and seeing what I’ve seen, I think the fans are going to be very happy with this episode. I mean, “The Flash Is Born.” This is the episode where The Flash is born, and even when I went in for the table read, during the table read, seeing all of the words and hearing everybody… I was just like, “Damn. This is a good episode.”
Is there anything else that you’d like to say to the fans who will be reading this?
I just want to say thank you for supporting The Flash, and supporting my career. You guys will not be disappointed tonight.
“The Flash Is Born” airs tonight at 8PM on The CW. Take a look at some preview images here!
