Big Time Rush -- the story of four friends who move from Minnesota to Los Angeles to become the next big thing in pop music -- officially premieres tonight, Monday, 1/18, on Nickelodeon! J-14 chatted with the four stars of BTR -- Carlos Pena, James Maslow, Logan Henderson, and Kendall Schmidt -- to get the scoop on their characters and some behind-the-scenes secrets!
J-14: What are your Big Time Rush characters all about?
James Maslow: My character, James Diamond, is the lovable narcissist. He's very much into himself, fashion, and fame -- that's what drives him. He really wants to be a pop star. At the same time, he loves his buddies -- if one person wasn't there or if James was on his own, it wouldn't be the same.
Carlos Pena: My character, Carlos Garcia, is the wild one. He is the loveable moron that just wants to have fun. He may not always say the smartest things, but he's always having a good time. He keeps his buddies from being bored, like he's the first one to jump into a pool!
Logan Henderson: My character Logan is the brainy, smart one. Whenever the guys get into trouble, he keeps them from going to jail. He knows he's the one who's very cautious, but he's confident in knowing that's what he's like.
Kendall Schmidt: I play Kendall Knight. He's the fair one out of the group who makes sure everyone is having a good time and being treated fairly. He's like an extreme version of myself.
J-14: Your characters played hockey in Minnesota but sing and dance in Los Angeles - do you have the same backgrounds as your characters?
Kendall: Carlos played street hockey when he was younger, James played a little bit, and Logan went to quite a few hockey games. But I've personally never played hockey in my life -- my first hockey game was [going to a] New York Rangers game. I could consider myself the resident musician. If there's no music coming from me, there's something wrong.
James: We all have a passion for music. Collectively, we've all come together with Kendall being the rocker. Logan and I like the oldies like Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. Carlos listens to a lot of musical theater and acoustic stuff like Jack Johnson. We all have different vocal styles, and we come together to make a really cool mix.
J-14: What do you do for fun when you're not taping?
Carlos: We love singing. There's always music playing somewhere, and Kendall is always with his guitar. I can't tell you how many times we'll walk by and Kendall is just jamming out like crazy.
J-14: Have you guys pulled pranks on each other?
Carlos: I'm the prankster of the group! These soundstages are very enclosed so you smell everything, so I got some fart bombs and lit one off. They had to stop production because it smelled so bad. But the others got me back by putting two of them in my dressing room!
Photo: Courtesy of Stewart Shining/Viacom International
