by Steven Bryan

Created on: April 10, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

It's not uncommon for performers on popular television shows to make movies during the summertime "hiatus", but it's definitely rare to find an actor or actress who will work on a separate project while their show is still in production.

Character actor John C. McGinley definitely was up to the task, however, playing both Dr. Perry Cox on television's "Scrubs" and a demented contractor in the new comedy "Are We Done Yet?", but doing double-duty became even more challenging for the actor thanks to events occurring overseas.

"I was living' at the Burbank airport and it was right about the time some British guy got arrested for carrying something that he got arrested for, some liquid. So none of us were allowed to bring anything (liquid) on airplanes," McGinley said during a recent roundtable interview in Los Angeles.

In this sequel to the popular 2005 film "Are We There Yet?", confirmed bachelor Nick Persons (Ice Cube) now is married to Suzanne (Nia Long) and trying to be a good dad to her two kids. Unfortunately, after he buys a new house for his family, it turns out to need a lot more work than he expected.

Despite the long lines at airport security, McGinley commuted between Burbank and Vancouver, the city where "Are We Done Yet?" was shot, to play Chuck Mitchell, Jr., a building contractor who makes Nick's repair work more difficult than it already is.

"The number one thing that I didn't want to do was make Chuck psychotic. He's this guy who keeps overcompensating for everything; he's the person we all know who's always doing something," he said.

"It's like John Candy's character at the end of Planes, Trains and Automobiles," when Steve (Martin) finally invites him in to join his family for Christmas because we find out he has no place else to go. Chuck doesn't have a family and it's this huge missing piece."

Though he's best known these days as a comedic actor with memorable roles in films like "Office Space," McGinley has played more serious characters in several of director Oliver Stone's projects, including "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Nixon."

McGinley said he was able to sprinkle in some self-deprecating humor into these early roles

"Oliver has given me a lot of rope to hang myself with in his movies, to kind of be the guy that brings maybe a sense of relief. The guy in Platoon' is a bit of jackass bully that becomes a little funny. The guy in Wall Street' is kind of funny; he's the comic relief playing Charlie Sheen's buddy," he said.

"When you get in full-blown comedies, like Office Space' and Scrubs,' you get to bring what your sense of what the funny is."

"Are We Done Yet?" is rated PG for some innuendos and some brief language.

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