Fate conspires on actor Scott Michael Foster's behalf

By David Martindale

Special to the Star-Telegram

Scott Michael Foster is a sucker for a good conspiracy theory.

Not that he believes every crackpot idea he hears. He's not Mr. Gullible.

But if you whip up a juicy yarn involving a cover-up, shadowy villains and stakes so high that the fate of the world hangs in the balance, you'll have Foster's rapt attention.

That's why the actor, a native North Texan, leaped at the opportunity to star in Zero Hour, an over-the-top, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink conspiracy thriller that premieres Thursday.

"I love a good conspiracy theory. Who doesn't?" says Foster, who grew up in Highland Village. "A good conspiracy theory, whether it's true or not, it's always entertaining. It fuels the imagination."

Zero Hour stars Anthony Edwards as Hank Galliston, publisher of Modern Skeptic Magazine, a publication that debunks tall tales, urban myths and conspiracy theories of all shapes and sizes.

Foster plays Aaron, one of Hank's conspiracy-buff assistants.

When Hank's wife is kidnapped, the Modern Skeptic team gets tangled in a web of treachery that involves an antique clock, a mysterious map, genetic experiments conducted by Nazis, a secret order of Christian mystics and a desperate race to save all of humanity from disaster.

"And I love how every episode ends with a 'what's going on?' kind of cliffhanger," Foster says.

Truth be told, however, we suspect that Foster, formerly of such TV series as Greek and The River, had another reason for enlisting with Zero Hour.

When Foster was a kid, he was obsessed with movies. "I would sit down and watch my favorite films over and over again," he says. "Like Top Gun. I loved that movie. I wanted to BE in that movie."

That can't happen, of course, but working alongside Edwards, aka "Goose" in Top Gun, sort of fulfills the dream.

"Goose was one of the best characters in my childhood," says Foster, who went to Marcus High School in Flower Mound (class of 2003). "I was very excited to meet him and I'm very proud to be working with him."

In fact, he's still a little bit in awe of Edwards.

"To work with him, to be in a scene with him, is awesome," Foster says. "Just the other day, we were shooting a scene and I was just watching him act and I had a line and I dropped it.

"I was like, 'Sorry, dude. I was just mesmerized by your acting!'"

Foster is perhaps best-known to those who watched ABC Family's Greek (2007-11). He played Cappie, president of the Kappa Tau fraternity and Casey's crazy/cool ex-boyfriend.

He fell in love with the craft of acting when he took theater as an elective in middle school.

"Now, what I strive for is to be in movies and TV shows that affect people the same way I was affected by movies as a kid," he says. "It's what keeps me going.

"I want to be doing those films that really stay with you."

Even though he's no longer based here, Foster says he's still a Texan through and through.

"My parents still live in the same house I grew up in," he says. "And my sisters are married and have kids there, so I've got nieces and nephews that I come back to see a few times a year.

"I went back for Christmas and I'm going again in March for my birthday.

"One thing I always miss about Texas is the night sky. Another is the amazing Texas barbecue. I'm always craving some of that."

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