Seth's on chicken run

BY CATH BENNETT

AUSTIN Powers star Seth Green is in New Zealand this weekend and he has one clear mission – to throw himself off Auckland's SkyTower.

The actor, who found fame in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Italian Job and That '70s Show, is in the country to promote his TV project Robot Chicken at the Armageddon expo.

And while here, he is adamant he will take a leap from the tallest manmade structure in the country along with actress girlfriend Clare Grant, who starred in Walk the Line.

"We are jumping off that tower," he announced to The Buzz on Friday.

"Clare will be first in line for that. She loves leaping from things."

The 35-year-old is no stranger to our shores after spending three months here shooting the 2004 comedy Without A Paddle in Wellington and the central North Island.

And he was enchanted by our landscapes.

"I'm blown away by the variety of the topography," he said. "You go from a very metropolitan city to sheep paddocks, to out and out desert, to rushing rapids, to redwoods to like a winter plateau – all within a span of a four-hour drive. It's mind blowing."

While he has had dozens of roles in his 25-year career, the project which means the most to Green is Robot Chicken, which is screening on Sky channel Comedy Central.

A stop-motion animated comedy series, it uses action figures and dolls to parody popular culture – drawing on Star Wars, James Bond and Law and Order.

It was created by Green and his co-executive producer Matt Seinreich, along with writers Tom Root and Douglas Goldstein.

"It comes from stuff we grew up with or conversations we'd be having about pop culture, anyway, so this was just finding a sketch format to tell those same jokes as opposed to relating them to one another around the bar," Green said. "This was never intended as a mass public entertainment piece, this was conceived as something to entertain the four of us. The fact it has caught on, not just in our own country but internationally, is baffling."

Green, Root and Seinreich voice many of the characters in the show along with a core teams of actors.

But they have also enlisted the help of celebrity fans, many of whom Green has worked with in the past.

Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Charlize Theron, Hugh Hefner, Ethan Hawke and George Lucas are just some of those who have got involved.

"Zac Efron blew us away. We knew he was talented but it was almost offensive," Green said.

"Really professional, amazing to the crew, game for anything," Seinreich added. "I think we all have a crush on him now."

But not every screen star has agreed to take part and Harrison Ford and Meryl Streep are still on the wish list.

"Julia Roberts passed, George Clooney passed, but we expect with those big-ticket performers their agents will turn us down. It doesn't add value to their career, but it is fun," Green said.

Four series of Robot Chicken have been screened in the US, and having scored international acclaim as well as a couple of Emmys, the boys are optimistic they'll get commissioned for a fifth and aren't ruling out a movie.

While hailed as kings of US comedy, they enjoy Kiwi humour, especially Flight of the Conchords.

"It's really funny. We like it a lot and I learned all about the rivalry between Australia and New Zealand from that show," Root said.

Robot Chicken is on Comedy Central on Tuesdays at 10pm and Saturdays at 12.30pm and 11.00pm.

- © Fairfax NZ News