I took it as motivation. I was reading pilots, and I read Jason Street and I said "This is a character who is not going to be a throwaway. This guy is the heart and soul of a portion of this show. That is the type of role I want to do." I went into the audition room, and I said "Look, I want to do these scenes. Not the ones that you guys have picked out for me. I think these two scenes would be better." Thank God the casting director said: "Lets' do it." And thank God [the show’s creator] Peter [Berg] didn’t think I was doing it out of cockiness or confidence. He just saw somebody who just really cared about the role. I got to test and that was it. I never thought I would be here, and I wouldn’t be here without Friday Night Lights. I was spoiled on that show.

CinemaSpy: I recently saw Music and Lyrics again on TV. You took the part of the George Michael-type half of that bad '80s duo POP. How much fun was it to appear in your first feature film opposite Hugh Grant and with actors like Drew Barrymore?

Scott Porter: Oh my God, it was amazing to work with Hugh on that video. I was so lucky to work with Mark [Lawrence], our director, somebody who kind of wound me up and then just let me go. That is the world of musical and stage performing [I know]. My parents were in a rock band in the 80s together, and I grew up around music and performing. Hugh was just amazing to work with. None of that stuff was choreographed, except for one move, which we called The Motorcycle Thrust. The rest of it was us just ad-libbing. For Hugh to be that open and willing to share the spotlight for that video was amazing. He joked a lot with me, and when I got cast he asked my how old I was. I told him and he was like: "Oh, bugger off!"

CinemaSpy: So what has it been like being part of the film that is responsible for knocking off Avatar after seven weekends in first place? Were you surprised when Dear John debuted as the No. 1 movie with over $30M in its opening weekend?

Scott Porter: I have been in a movie that opened at #1 before, Prom Night. We didn’t expect that one to go [to the top spot]. But I think a lot of us had a certain amount of faith in this project. I think Amanda [Seyfried] and Channing [Tatum] are amazing actors and I think that there had not been much in the way of romance and dramas at the theaters for a while. A lot of it had been really geared towards guys. Coming into it, we all thought we had a shot. That being said, Avatar is a juggernaut, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if we would have come second. I don’t know that we were completely and utterly shocked. I think we were shocked at how much money we made. I think it was great timing.

CinemaSpy: Let’s talk about Caprica. Although ostensibly about the invention of a race of robots, Caprica is really a drama about a booming civilization on the brink of crisis. What attracted you to the role of Nestor?

Scott Porter: It was the general and overall mythology of Battlestar Galactica. How I got that role was very unique and serendipitous. I was presenting an award at the Saturn Awards and I saw the creative team and a lot of the actors from Battlestar Galactica, and I don’t usually do it but I walked up to them and I said "I am the biggest fan of your show, in what you are able to do in space but making it a comment on our world today. What do we do when we have nothing left but each other and we are on the run? How closely does humanity work together then? It is so amazing." And two of them said "Jason Street? We are fans of Friday Night Lights." It was so odd to know that people who are in such a high concept science fiction show like Battlestar Galactica watch Friday Night Lights. Maybe for them, it was visa versa. At the heart of both shows, is people and how they interact with each other, whether it is in a small town or in outer space. We got that in each other.

A week later I got a call and they said "Look, we don’t have anything written for this character. We could tell you his basic arc but we would like to offer it to you." And I said "Of course!" So there was never an audition. It was weird. It wasn’t that I was drawn to the character specifically because we didn’t really know what he was yet. He was kind of nebulous. But the opportunity to work with the pedigree of people that created Battlestar Galactica was what drew me to it.

CinemaSpy: But then when did you realize that you would be the youngest husband in a group marriage with Polly Walker’s character, who also seems to be hooked on smoking something that looks a bit stronger than tobacco?

Scott Porter: Only when I got the script. I had no idea. I knew was going to be part of an organization that is responsible for the Cylons having consciousness and we are kind of the beginning of the end for humanity as we knew it. We are a bit of religious zealots. It is crazy to put yourself in those shoes but it was something I have never been afforded the luxury of playing before. He is definitely a character that has beliefs in something so deep and he is affected by it so much that he is willing to do great deeds of evil to get [things] done. It is a very cool character to play. I don’t want to spoil the plot too much but I think you kind of see the seeds of who the good guys are and who the bad guys are right off the bat. It is not about keeping secrets from the fans. It is more about describing how they got on a [space] ship 60 years from now, and that is a very cool reverse storytelling opportunity. I just want to tell good stories and this is one of the best.

CinemaSpy: You mentioned "Altar Boyz" and "Tarzan". Any desire to return to Broadway with perhaps a role in a musical?

Scott Porter: I would love to but it has to be the right show. I don’t know that I would want to do a revival. I think there are so many great amazing new writers in the theater world like "In the Heights" or Spring Awakening" that kind of buck the trend of what it is to be theater, and what can be a hit. It was years ago but when I was doing "Altar Boys", "Avenue Q" was on and some of these other great shows that took a lot of chances. And if I had my dream come true, I would love to be in a show that is taking a chance like that and that is trying to forward theater and make a mark in this generation of musical theater. I just missed out on "American Idiot" and that is a quality show that I think I definitely would have gone back to New York for. I think it is a matter of time and the right project. But I hope to get back there one day.