One would think that starring in “Lost” would give an actor an advantage in knowing what the heck is going on.
But Emilie de Ravin, who plays Claire on the baffling drama, had the same questions as many fans did this season when an episode revealed that, in the future, Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is raising Claire’s son Aaron.
“I guess I just sort of wondered where Claire’s at,” de Ravin said. “Is she still on the island? Did she die? What happened to her?”
The Australia native said viewers won’t find out in Thursday night’s two-hour season finale
“No, you don’t know what happens to Claire,” she said. “That’s not one of the things that comes to a conclusion. The finale has more questions than answers. I have to be tight-lipped about the finale. What can I ever say? It’s big. There’s a lot going on. It’s sort of interesting what you see in the future.”
When viewers last saw Claire, she had been separated from Aaron and was calmly sitting in Jacob’s cabin. What was that about?
“She is not evil, but there is something going on that I don’t know about. I kind of stopped asking too many questions a long time ago. You are not going to know everything. There are always things you are going to find out.”
She promises that viewers will see Claire in the season-ender.
“Claire sort of pops up in an unexpected place,” she said cryptically.
The actress, who can be seen in the upcoming movie “Public Enemies” opposite Johnny Depp, said she has stopped worrying about whether she will be written off the series like so many of her former co-stars.
“I’ve been around this long, so that’s a good thing,” she said. “I connect with Claire being sort of a strong, driven character who goes through a lot. She has sort of come through with such a graceful way about her. She’s very strong and very focused on getting off the island.”
But de Ravin still struggles to adjust to the cast changes, especially the departure of Dominic Monaghan, who played Claire’s love interest Charlie.
“It really has made it difficult. You get used to working with someone and it’s sad. But it’s interesting emotions to work with. Dealing with death and something like that has a big impact on your character. It’s interesting having that in the back of your mind.”
Source: news.bostonherald.com
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The 15 best moments of Lost's fourth season (so far)
The 15 best moments of Lost's fourth season (so far)
With the big finale coming, Daniel gathers up the most treasured moments of series 4...
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy
Goddammit, I can’t believe it’s nearly over already – oh Darlton, you giveth, then you taketh away. In preparation for this week’s second and third parts to season finale “There’s No Place Like Home”, I decided it’s high time to browse back over what may have been the best season of Lost thus far… and prepare ourselves for the traditional two-hour blow-out of Mystery Freakin’ Island manna the episode promises to deliver. (The Orchid, anyone?) If you guys disagree over these being the best moments of the season – I’m notoriously picky when it comes to neat little character stuff, in all honesty – or agree with me, feel free to fire off in the comments section below. Namaste!
WARNING: IF YOU’RE NOT CAUGHT UP AND READ AHEAD, FACE THE WRATH OF SPOILAGE. WRATH!!
15. “You heard me.” (Matthew Abaddon, from “The Beginning of the End”)
When Lance Reddick first appeared in Lost, I found it hard to break myself away from his Cedric Daniels character on The Wire – matter of fact, I had to stop myself from squealing “Daniels!” when he showed up on screen. Yet through rewatching the episodes for the recaps, I enjoyed watching one of my favourite TV actors sink into a completely different role, making the mysterious Abaddon his own. Who is the man? Where do his allegiances lie? How has Reddick’s trademark million mile stare turned into something completely terrifying? (Example: when he asks Hurley if the non-O6 survivors are still alive. Creepy.)
14. “ Manhattan , huh?” (Tom, from “Meet Kevin Johnson”)
True story: I was watching “Through The Looking Glass” for what must have been the twelfth time with a bunch of friends last year, when it came to Sawyer’s killing of Tom a.k.a. Mr Friendly. The gunshot goes out and one of my friends yells, “No! Gainey!” Let’s admit it, in the end we really did like M.C. Gainey’s Tom, even though he was one of the baddies. (But then again, Lost makes you continually question what terms such as “good” and “bad” really mean. Does evil really exist in the show’s universe? That’s another question for another time, though.) That’s why it was such a joy to see Tom back on the show, pressurising Michael to head back to the island, dropping the bomb that the island won’t let certain people die, getting it together with a tall young thing in his penthouse suite and basically lording it over the entire episode in a short period of time. If there’s any casting directors out there wanting to make Gainey the next sitcom hero or the new Danny Huston (who, IMO, he shares a grizzled resemblance to), either would be lovely.
13. “I dunno Miles… how stupid are ya?” (Jack, from “Confirmed Dead”)
The tables turn on freighter folk Miles and Daniel in a second here – Miles has threatened Jack and Kate to take him to Naomi’s body with the help of a trusty handgun, when suddenly, at the site of death, Jack warns him that Juliet and Sayid are amongst the surrounding greenery with guns in their hands and them in their targets. A very Other-esque move, I noticed, but one that Miles, stupidly enough, did not take heed to. It’s a pretty Indiana Jones moment for Jack with him barely suppressing a smirk under his anger the freighter folk may not be all they say they are. Wink for the camera, Foxy.
12. “I made… dinner.” (Jin, from “Ji Yeon”)
It’s a given rule that whenever ridiculously underused Jin starts speaking pidgin English to his ridiculously gorgeous wife Sun, my little emo heart breaks and I stumble wildly on the verge of tears. (Past examples are to be found in “Through The Looking Glass” and, taking the grand prize, “The Whole Truth”. Le sob.) This was no different, as he accepted Sun’s past infidelity as punishment for his past sins, vowing to stay with her no matter what. The cincher: Yunjin Kim’s tearful, voice-breaking line-reading of “I swear the baby is yours”, swiftly followed by Jin promising she will never lose him. Thanks to the flash-forward/flashback twist, now with added heart-shattering poignancy!
11. “What do you mean - instead of his wife?” (Ben, from “The Other Woman”)
The Goodwin Affair, as it shall be capitalised from here on in, was a controversial storyline amongst fans (despite being explicitly referred to in “One of Us”) and probably helped this Juliet-centric episode to be considered the weak point of the season. That’s arguable. In my opinion, the tragic romantic melodrama of Juliet’s flashbacks held some pretty meaty character stuff, most of which exploded on-screen in the final flashback. Over Goodwin’s Ana-Lucia’d corpse, Ben finally, chillingly loses his cool, throwing a tantrum over the heartbroken fertility doctor not returning his advances: “After everything I did to get you here… after everything I’ve done to keep you here, how can you possibly not understand you’re mine?!” Go on and call it his “quite frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” moment.
10. “They need you, Hugo. You know they need you!” (Charlie, from “The Beginning of the End”)
As anybody who watches Lost knows, death is not the end. (Look at Mikhail. Dude died, like, twelve times in season three.) So when Charlie drowned in the Looking Glass at the end of season three, after all the angst had peeled off, we were left to wonder if we’d ever see the Driveshafter ever again. Lo and behold, THERE HE IS TALKING TO HURLEY IN THE FUTURE. He’s cut his hair, bought some new clothes and seems to have driven to the Santa Rosa Mental Institute in a newish car to see his friend, which is odd, because he’s most definitely dead. “I am dead,” he reassured Hurley, “but I’m also here.” I’m sticking to my theory that Hurley, like a lesser Miles, can see the dead, hence why Charlie seems to come back to him, passing out warnings from beyond the grave and such (see “Somewhere Nice Back Home”). But theorising aside, this scene allows both emotional release (Hurley asking Charlie if he knew he was going to die in the Looking Glass) and the beginning of some very puzzling questions. “They” need him? There’s folk left on the island?
9. An awkward silence. Some crumpling. (Hurley and Ben, from “Cabin Fever”)
Some people probably hate this scene. I think it’s hilarious. Here we have a BIG reveal within Jacob’s shack that Christian Shephard is his spokesperson, Claire is there and completely untroubled when it comes to Aaron’s whereabouts, and John is finally grabbing hold of his destiny. Then we have a scene (consisting of one long take and entirely free of dialogue) in which Hurley, to offset the awkwardness of being left along with uber-Other Ben, takes out an Apollo bar from his backpack. Ben looks at it like he’s never seen a chocolate bar in his life, and suddenly Hurley notices, and reluctantly extends a very chocotastic olive branch. They sit and chew. I have a theory about this scene: the Whispers are being controlled by Ben’s supposed telepathic abilities (see “The Other Woman”) and it’s just a test to see if Hurley can be turned around. Maybe Hurley believes the dude just deserves a chocolate, what with his home attacked and daughter slain. Maybe this is the most important scene in Lost mythology ever and we just didn’t notice. Maybe. But at the same time, preferably not.
8. “I’m so glad that you’re here.” (Kate, from “Something Nice Back Home”)
Don’t get me wrong, it’s been great, but this season has also been a pretty depressing experience. The Oceanic Six get off the island, but a lot of bad stuff went down between them; the other castaways may or may not be alive, seemingly stuck in Craphole Island purgatory; Michael returns to face his demons only to be ostracised and hated even more; to top it off, nobody’s seen Vincent for a while. So the scene where Jack reads Alice in Wonderland to Aaron is here on this list because it’s one of the very few flash-forward scenes this season that doesn’t carry great amounts of emotional baggage behind it. (Ignoring the potentially tragic Aaron subtext, as well as the rest of the episode’s flash forwards…) It carries a great poignancy as we know there’s a good chance we may never see these characters this happy ever again – when Kate shares how grateful she is Jack’s with her and Aaron, it’s a necessary ray of sunshine in a dark hour of television. Oh, and they make out and more than likely frak afterwards, which never hurts matters.
7. “We are in shock, Jack.” (Sun, from “There’s No Place Like Home, Part One”)
I was unable to analyse this episode for a recap last week due to the episode unwilling to play a second time for me, so indulge me here. The unease between the Oceanic Six in the plane’s hanger is something you can tell gets worse over time, but let’s not focus on the sadness of all that. My focus has to go towards the incredibly touching reunion scene in Hawaii of the Oceanic Six with their families. Sun heads straight for her mother yet sent reeling from Jin’s death (?), shuts her father out completely; Hurley, always the most familial of men, rolls into the arms of his parents (probably the most underrated characters on the show); Jack smiles at his not-glimpsed-since-season-one mother, Margot, before embracing her; Sayid looks around uneasily before being introduced to Hurley’s family (so sweet!); Kate, holding on to Aaron for dear life, looks lost already with no-one to comfort her. I’ve always been a fan of the group reunions in Lost (see “One of Us”, for example) but this one is something else – exhilaration (did you ever think one of these scenes was possible a mere season ago?) mixed with understated poignancy over everything unspoken that went down in… well, this week’s season finale.
6. “Enjoy your breakfast.” (Locke, from “Eggtown”)
Played by Ken Leung with a sly intensity, Miles made his mark as probably the best of the new characters this season, and in “Eggtown” he really got to let loose, stealing practically every scene he’s in, even with a grenade in his mouth, which is what happens here. Unfairly overlooked in my recap at the time, the scene is a number of things: it’s a horrifying example of Locke flying totally off the handle, but it’s somehow hilarious. It’s detestable that somebody could go to such measures, but with Terry O’Quinn, you believe that, yes, rules broken do deserve punishments – but to what extent can might make right? It’s a troubling, daring scene – it’s also utterly ridiculous, to be honest – but what makes it an instant classic Lost moment is Miles’ bulging, terrified eyes and mumbled screeching. One problem, though: how the hell did they get the grenade out of the guy’s mouth without it blowing up?
5. “Now tell me John, which of these things belong to you?” (Richard, from “Cabin Fever”)
Not only did “Cabin Fever” allow for the return of fan-favourite Other Richard Alpert, but it showed us that he’s known John a lot longer than any of us previously thought. In possibly the season’s most cryptic scene, he appeared at Locke’s house some time in the late 50s and, posing as a teacher at a school for “extremely special” children, put a young John to a test. Because I was away when I was hoping to cover this episode, I didn’t get the chance to theorise, but here’s some quick stuff: baseball mitt (life outside of the island); Book of Laws (gospel of Jacob); sand (the ashes that previously surrounded Jacob’s cabin); a compass (marked 305 to the island?); a knife (hunting rather than science - John’s chosen path compared to his destiny); Mystery Tales comic book to do with a “Hidden Land” (telekinesis, a la Walt). Put to this the scribble of what looks like the smoke monster smiting somebody and, well… we have this odd, delicious scene to analyse relentlessly over the hiatus. (Kudos to the young actor playing Locke, he really makes the scene what it is with his big ol’ eyes.)
4. “It’s a rocket!” (Daniel, from “The Economist”)
AKA the moment the show finally shows us real world time isn’t really the same as island time. This, if you need reminding, is a bombshell. Even if Lapidus doesn’t pay much mind to Daniel and his experiment, it’s still damn important. Also, you have to love Daniel’s almost childish glee when the rocket finally reaches the beacon.
3. “She’s a pawn, nothing more. She means nothing to me.” (Ben, from “The Shape of Things to Come”)
Entertainment Weekly columnist Jeff Jensen (or “Doc Jensen” as he’s more widely known to us, his students) has compared this scene to the “bastard in a basket” scene near the end of There Will Be Blood, which is a pretty fair comparison to make. Ben, no longer in control, fights to use his regular manipulative abilities on Keamy to save Alex’s life. “She’s not my daughter,” he says, throwing away one of the things closest to him and going headfirst into the abyss, with spectacular results. The execution of Alex is, by far, the most upsetting thing to happen in the show’s history yet is also one of its biggest triumphs. A triumph of acting, direction, lighting, scoring… and it’s capped off by director Jack Bender panning the camera across to show a shocked and stunned Ben, the perfect touch. Ooft.
2. “I love you, Penny. I’ve always loved you… I’m so sorry. I love you.” (Desmond, from “The Constant”)
When Desmond finally – finally! – makes contact with his true love Penny in the all-round-amazing-shoulda-been-nominated-for-a-Hugo-Award-episode “The Constant”, it’s enough to make grown men cry. There’s so much I could say, but really, it’s just worth it to watch the scene again instead:
1. “I know who you are, boy, what you are. I know that everything you have, you took from me.” (Charles Widmore, from “The Shape of Things to Come”)
For a long, long time, Charles Widmore has stood as an important name in the massive Lost mythology – Widmore Industries comes under the Hanso Foundation umbrella, which founded the Dharma Initiative etc etc etc – but never quite as important as in this scene: on one hand a massive download of series arcana, on the other a scene allowing two superb actors to bite their teeth into some excellent conflict-fuelling dialogue. As Ben breaks into his hotel suite to lay the death of Alex at his feet, we learn their relationship spans a number of years. Were they friends at any point? Was one mentor to the other? (I guess Widmore was Yoda to Ben’s Luke.) The scene raises a lot – A LOT – of questions but amongst them all, seemingly sets the stage and the stakes for the big endgame come 2010: Widmore vs. Linus. “I suppose the hunt is on,” Widmore says. Indeed.
Well, if you disagree, want to say what you think is better, or think I’ve got it mostly spot on, then leave a comment below. Until the finale recaps next week, namaste!
Source: denofgeek.com
With the big finale coming, Daniel gathers up the most treasured moments of series 4...
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy
Goddammit, I can’t believe it’s nearly over already – oh Darlton, you giveth, then you taketh away. In preparation for this week’s second and third parts to season finale “There’s No Place Like Home”, I decided it’s high time to browse back over what may have been the best season of Lost thus far… and prepare ourselves for the traditional two-hour blow-out of Mystery Freakin’ Island manna the episode promises to deliver. (The Orchid, anyone?) If you guys disagree over these being the best moments of the season – I’m notoriously picky when it comes to neat little character stuff, in all honesty – or agree with me, feel free to fire off in the comments section below. Namaste!
WARNING: IF YOU’RE NOT CAUGHT UP AND READ AHEAD, FACE THE WRATH OF SPOILAGE. WRATH!!
15. “You heard me.” (Matthew Abaddon, from “The Beginning of the End”)
When Lance Reddick first appeared in Lost, I found it hard to break myself away from his Cedric Daniels character on The Wire – matter of fact, I had to stop myself from squealing “Daniels!” when he showed up on screen. Yet through rewatching the episodes for the recaps, I enjoyed watching one of my favourite TV actors sink into a completely different role, making the mysterious Abaddon his own. Who is the man? Where do his allegiances lie? How has Reddick’s trademark million mile stare turned into something completely terrifying? (Example: when he asks Hurley if the non-O6 survivors are still alive. Creepy.)
14. “ Manhattan , huh?” (Tom, from “Meet Kevin Johnson”)
True story: I was watching “Through The Looking Glass” for what must have been the twelfth time with a bunch of friends last year, when it came to Sawyer’s killing of Tom a.k.a. Mr Friendly. The gunshot goes out and one of my friends yells, “No! Gainey!” Let’s admit it, in the end we really did like M.C. Gainey’s Tom, even though he was one of the baddies. (But then again, Lost makes you continually question what terms such as “good” and “bad” really mean. Does evil really exist in the show’s universe? That’s another question for another time, though.) That’s why it was such a joy to see Tom back on the show, pressurising Michael to head back to the island, dropping the bomb that the island won’t let certain people die, getting it together with a tall young thing in his penthouse suite and basically lording it over the entire episode in a short period of time. If there’s any casting directors out there wanting to make Gainey the next sitcom hero or the new Danny Huston (who, IMO, he shares a grizzled resemblance to), either would be lovely.
13. “I dunno Miles… how stupid are ya?” (Jack, from “Confirmed Dead”)
The tables turn on freighter folk Miles and Daniel in a second here – Miles has threatened Jack and Kate to take him to Naomi’s body with the help of a trusty handgun, when suddenly, at the site of death, Jack warns him that Juliet and Sayid are amongst the surrounding greenery with guns in their hands and them in their targets. A very Other-esque move, I noticed, but one that Miles, stupidly enough, did not take heed to. It’s a pretty Indiana Jones moment for Jack with him barely suppressing a smirk under his anger the freighter folk may not be all they say they are. Wink for the camera, Foxy.
12. “I made… dinner.” (Jin, from “Ji Yeon”)
It’s a given rule that whenever ridiculously underused Jin starts speaking pidgin English to his ridiculously gorgeous wife Sun, my little emo heart breaks and I stumble wildly on the verge of tears. (Past examples are to be found in “Through The Looking Glass” and, taking the grand prize, “The Whole Truth”. Le sob.) This was no different, as he accepted Sun’s past infidelity as punishment for his past sins, vowing to stay with her no matter what. The cincher: Yunjin Kim’s tearful, voice-breaking line-reading of “I swear the baby is yours”, swiftly followed by Jin promising she will never lose him. Thanks to the flash-forward/flashback twist, now with added heart-shattering poignancy!
11. “What do you mean - instead of his wife?” (Ben, from “The Other Woman”)
The Goodwin Affair, as it shall be capitalised from here on in, was a controversial storyline amongst fans (despite being explicitly referred to in “One of Us”) and probably helped this Juliet-centric episode to be considered the weak point of the season. That’s arguable. In my opinion, the tragic romantic melodrama of Juliet’s flashbacks held some pretty meaty character stuff, most of which exploded on-screen in the final flashback. Over Goodwin’s Ana-Lucia’d corpse, Ben finally, chillingly loses his cool, throwing a tantrum over the heartbroken fertility doctor not returning his advances: “After everything I did to get you here… after everything I’ve done to keep you here, how can you possibly not understand you’re mine?!” Go on and call it his “quite frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” moment.
10. “They need you, Hugo. You know they need you!” (Charlie, from “The Beginning of the End”)
As anybody who watches Lost knows, death is not the end. (Look at Mikhail. Dude died, like, twelve times in season three.) So when Charlie drowned in the Looking Glass at the end of season three, after all the angst had peeled off, we were left to wonder if we’d ever see the Driveshafter ever again. Lo and behold, THERE HE IS TALKING TO HURLEY IN THE FUTURE. He’s cut his hair, bought some new clothes and seems to have driven to the Santa Rosa Mental Institute in a newish car to see his friend, which is odd, because he’s most definitely dead. “I am dead,” he reassured Hurley, “but I’m also here.” I’m sticking to my theory that Hurley, like a lesser Miles, can see the dead, hence why Charlie seems to come back to him, passing out warnings from beyond the grave and such (see “Somewhere Nice Back Home”). But theorising aside, this scene allows both emotional release (Hurley asking Charlie if he knew he was going to die in the Looking Glass) and the beginning of some very puzzling questions. “They” need him? There’s folk left on the island?
9. An awkward silence. Some crumpling. (Hurley and Ben, from “Cabin Fever”)
Some people probably hate this scene. I think it’s hilarious. Here we have a BIG reveal within Jacob’s shack that Christian Shephard is his spokesperson, Claire is there and completely untroubled when it comes to Aaron’s whereabouts, and John is finally grabbing hold of his destiny. Then we have a scene (consisting of one long take and entirely free of dialogue) in which Hurley, to offset the awkwardness of being left along with uber-Other Ben, takes out an Apollo bar from his backpack. Ben looks at it like he’s never seen a chocolate bar in his life, and suddenly Hurley notices, and reluctantly extends a very chocotastic olive branch. They sit and chew. I have a theory about this scene: the Whispers are being controlled by Ben’s supposed telepathic abilities (see “The Other Woman”) and it’s just a test to see if Hurley can be turned around. Maybe Hurley believes the dude just deserves a chocolate, what with his home attacked and daughter slain. Maybe this is the most important scene in Lost mythology ever and we just didn’t notice. Maybe. But at the same time, preferably not.
8. “I’m so glad that you’re here.” (Kate, from “Something Nice Back Home”)
Don’t get me wrong, it’s been great, but this season has also been a pretty depressing experience. The Oceanic Six get off the island, but a lot of bad stuff went down between them; the other castaways may or may not be alive, seemingly stuck in Craphole Island purgatory; Michael returns to face his demons only to be ostracised and hated even more; to top it off, nobody’s seen Vincent for a while. So the scene where Jack reads Alice in Wonderland to Aaron is here on this list because it’s one of the very few flash-forward scenes this season that doesn’t carry great amounts of emotional baggage behind it. (Ignoring the potentially tragic Aaron subtext, as well as the rest of the episode’s flash forwards…) It carries a great poignancy as we know there’s a good chance we may never see these characters this happy ever again – when Kate shares how grateful she is Jack’s with her and Aaron, it’s a necessary ray of sunshine in a dark hour of television. Oh, and they make out and more than likely frak afterwards, which never hurts matters.
7. “We are in shock, Jack.” (Sun, from “There’s No Place Like Home, Part One”)
I was unable to analyse this episode for a recap last week due to the episode unwilling to play a second time for me, so indulge me here. The unease between the Oceanic Six in the plane’s hanger is something you can tell gets worse over time, but let’s not focus on the sadness of all that. My focus has to go towards the incredibly touching reunion scene in Hawaii of the Oceanic Six with their families. Sun heads straight for her mother yet sent reeling from Jin’s death (?), shuts her father out completely; Hurley, always the most familial of men, rolls into the arms of his parents (probably the most underrated characters on the show); Jack smiles at his not-glimpsed-since-season-one mother, Margot, before embracing her; Sayid looks around uneasily before being introduced to Hurley’s family (so sweet!); Kate, holding on to Aaron for dear life, looks lost already with no-one to comfort her. I’ve always been a fan of the group reunions in Lost (see “One of Us”, for example) but this one is something else – exhilaration (did you ever think one of these scenes was possible a mere season ago?) mixed with understated poignancy over everything unspoken that went down in… well, this week’s season finale.
6. “Enjoy your breakfast.” (Locke, from “Eggtown”)
Played by Ken Leung with a sly intensity, Miles made his mark as probably the best of the new characters this season, and in “Eggtown” he really got to let loose, stealing practically every scene he’s in, even with a grenade in his mouth, which is what happens here. Unfairly overlooked in my recap at the time, the scene is a number of things: it’s a horrifying example of Locke flying totally off the handle, but it’s somehow hilarious. It’s detestable that somebody could go to such measures, but with Terry O’Quinn, you believe that, yes, rules broken do deserve punishments – but to what extent can might make right? It’s a troubling, daring scene – it’s also utterly ridiculous, to be honest – but what makes it an instant classic Lost moment is Miles’ bulging, terrified eyes and mumbled screeching. One problem, though: how the hell did they get the grenade out of the guy’s mouth without it blowing up?
5. “Now tell me John, which of these things belong to you?” (Richard, from “Cabin Fever”)
Not only did “Cabin Fever” allow for the return of fan-favourite Other Richard Alpert, but it showed us that he’s known John a lot longer than any of us previously thought. In possibly the season’s most cryptic scene, he appeared at Locke’s house some time in the late 50s and, posing as a teacher at a school for “extremely special” children, put a young John to a test. Because I was away when I was hoping to cover this episode, I didn’t get the chance to theorise, but here’s some quick stuff: baseball mitt (life outside of the island); Book of Laws (gospel of Jacob); sand (the ashes that previously surrounded Jacob’s cabin); a compass (marked 305 to the island?); a knife (hunting rather than science - John’s chosen path compared to his destiny); Mystery Tales comic book to do with a “Hidden Land” (telekinesis, a la Walt). Put to this the scribble of what looks like the smoke monster smiting somebody and, well… we have this odd, delicious scene to analyse relentlessly over the hiatus. (Kudos to the young actor playing Locke, he really makes the scene what it is with his big ol’ eyes.)
4. “It’s a rocket!” (Daniel, from “The Economist”)
AKA the moment the show finally shows us real world time isn’t really the same as island time. This, if you need reminding, is a bombshell. Even if Lapidus doesn’t pay much mind to Daniel and his experiment, it’s still damn important. Also, you have to love Daniel’s almost childish glee when the rocket finally reaches the beacon.
3. “She’s a pawn, nothing more. She means nothing to me.” (Ben, from “The Shape of Things to Come”)
Entertainment Weekly columnist Jeff Jensen (or “Doc Jensen” as he’s more widely known to us, his students) has compared this scene to the “bastard in a basket” scene near the end of There Will Be Blood, which is a pretty fair comparison to make. Ben, no longer in control, fights to use his regular manipulative abilities on Keamy to save Alex’s life. “She’s not my daughter,” he says, throwing away one of the things closest to him and going headfirst into the abyss, with spectacular results. The execution of Alex is, by far, the most upsetting thing to happen in the show’s history yet is also one of its biggest triumphs. A triumph of acting, direction, lighting, scoring… and it’s capped off by director Jack Bender panning the camera across to show a shocked and stunned Ben, the perfect touch. Ooft.
2. “I love you, Penny. I’ve always loved you… I’m so sorry. I love you.” (Desmond, from “The Constant”)
When Desmond finally – finally! – makes contact with his true love Penny in the all-round-amazing-shoulda-been-nominated-for-a-Hugo-Award-episode “The Constant”, it’s enough to make grown men cry. There’s so much I could say, but really, it’s just worth it to watch the scene again instead:
1. “I know who you are, boy, what you are. I know that everything you have, you took from me.” (Charles Widmore, from “The Shape of Things to Come”)
For a long, long time, Charles Widmore has stood as an important name in the massive Lost mythology – Widmore Industries comes under the Hanso Foundation umbrella, which founded the Dharma Initiative etc etc etc – but never quite as important as in this scene: on one hand a massive download of series arcana, on the other a scene allowing two superb actors to bite their teeth into some excellent conflict-fuelling dialogue. As Ben breaks into his hotel suite to lay the death of Alex at his feet, we learn their relationship spans a number of years. Were they friends at any point? Was one mentor to the other? (I guess Widmore was Yoda to Ben’s Luke.) The scene raises a lot – A LOT – of questions but amongst them all, seemingly sets the stage and the stakes for the big endgame come 2010: Widmore vs. Linus. “I suppose the hunt is on,” Widmore says. Indeed.
Well, if you disagree, want to say what you think is better, or think I’ve got it mostly spot on, then leave a comment below. Until the finale recaps next week, namaste!
Source: denofgeek.com
Monday, May 19, 2008
LOST - HOLLOWAY STOLE HIS DAD'S UNDERWEAR FOR SEXY ENCOUNTERS
LOST hunk JOSH HOLLOWAY used to steal his father's underwear whenever he was on a hot date - because his dad had the most amazing "banana hammocks".
The actor admits his father's pants gave him an air of confidence when he started dating as a teenager.
Holloway recalls, "When I thought I might have an interesting date, I would sneak into my father's room and poach his underwear because he was like Mr Speedo pattern - he had, like, paisleys and some leopard skins (designs) and they were all, like, banana hammocks - really nice.
"For some reason I thought that might be sexy."
But he accepts his penchant for his father's underwear must have confused his mother: "She would suddenly see this underwear that dad hadn't been sporting show up in (my) laundry.
Source: www.contactmusic.com
The actor admits his father's pants gave him an air of confidence when he started dating as a teenager.
Holloway recalls, "When I thought I might have an interesting date, I would sneak into my father's room and poach his underwear because he was like Mr Speedo pattern - he had, like, paisleys and some leopard skins (designs) and they were all, like, banana hammocks - really nice.
"For some reason I thought that might be sexy."
But he accepts his penchant for his father's underwear must have confused his mother: "She would suddenly see this underwear that dad hadn't been sporting show up in (my) laundry.
Source: www.contactmusic.com
LOST - EVANGELINE LILLY: 'I'M A MISER'
LOST star EVANGELINE LILLY only moved from a mouldy Hawaiian hovel after it made her ill - because she was too cheap to relocate.
The actress purchased a new home last year (07), after her previous house on the islands - where she shoots Lost - burned down.
But the new pad was similarly cursed; it was riddled with a fungus that started to affect her health.
And Lilly only moved out when she started to fear for her wellbeing.
She says, "I bought a house last summer and I ended up finding out that it was completely mould-infested, and I was being poisoned by the mould and was therefore very ill for the first four months of the (Lost) shooting season.
"But I didn't find out for four months and I didn't move from the house, even though I knew something was wrong and I was probably not well, because I'm just really cheap and if I have to pay a mortgage and rent, I'm not a happy person.
"Eventually my illness overrided (sic) my thriftiness. I really wasn't well. The pipes were contaminated. It was a cheap house."
Lilly adds her thriftiness isn't isolated to real-estate. She adds, "For the first three years of being on Lost I refused to valet, because I didn't want to tip."
Source: www.contactmusic.com
The actress purchased a new home last year (07), after her previous house on the islands - where she shoots Lost - burned down.
But the new pad was similarly cursed; it was riddled with a fungus that started to affect her health.
And Lilly only moved out when she started to fear for her wellbeing.
She says, "I bought a house last summer and I ended up finding out that it was completely mould-infested, and I was being poisoned by the mould and was therefore very ill for the first four months of the (Lost) shooting season.
"But I didn't find out for four months and I didn't move from the house, even though I knew something was wrong and I was probably not well, because I'm just really cheap and if I have to pay a mortgage and rent, I'm not a happy person.
"Eventually my illness overrided (sic) my thriftiness. I really wasn't well. The pipes were contaminated. It was a cheap house."
Lilly adds her thriftiness isn't isolated to real-estate. She adds, "For the first three years of being on Lost I refused to valet, because I didn't want to tip."
Source: www.contactmusic.com
Lost star Matthew Fox reveals his wife thinks he's sexy in leather
The hunky Lost star, 41, on his heart-throb status, life on the island, getting saucy in leather, being rubbish at romance, and why he has a very big secret to keep.
You are often on ‘Sexiest man alive’ lists. How does that feel?
Matthew Fox: It feels like it’s happening to someone else. I mean I just go to work and I’m doing the thing I love to do.
Are the tattoos (chinese symbols, among other things) on your arms real, or are they make-up?
MF: No, these are all mine. I’ve had them for a while, but they usually cover them up for the show.
You live and work in Hawaii – how lucky are you?
MF: I’ve never really been a beach paradise kinda guy. I’m more of a mountain person, so it’s been amazing and we’re enjoying it. It’s been a welcome change for us to get the kids away from the bigger city. They’re in a really good school and they’re making great friends, but it’s not a place I’d want to live in for the rest of my life. I just need bigger horizons, mountains, and I really miss four seasons of weather.
So what’s happening on Lost?
MF: We’re going to catch up with the flash forwards this year and then it’s going to be really interesting to see how time is structured in season five. But we will have closed on two points – the finale of last year where you had that juxtaposition of Jack on the island feeling like he’d finally accomplished a rescue, and this future where he’s desperate and at the pit of despair and he feels like he has to go back. We will eventually be back in the present.
Apparently, you’re the only actor on Lost who knows how the series will end. Is it tough keeping it a secret from your cast mates?
MF: Yes, it’s true. They understand I can’t talk about it, but sometimes they’ll ask hoping I’ll just blurt it out. Besides, having a secret is fun.
How do you pass the time on set?
MF: I play chess against the computer a lot. When I’m shooting in Hawaii, there’s a coffee shop not far from me and I have friends there now, who I’ve made over the game of chess. I go there a couple of mornings a week and we’ll play chess. It’s the greatest game.
You’re currently in the new flick Speed Racer. Were you a fan of the original cartoon as a kid?
MF: No. I never saw it. I grew up in a household where we didn’t really watch television. So the first step was watching a bunch of the episodes and getting a feel for what made that series so cultish and beloved in the 1960s.
Do you feel sexy wearing Racer X’s leather suit?
MF: Yeah. It’s pretty sexy. I think my wife thought so! The minute the mask dropped over my face people would change around me. It’s amazing because they can’t see your eyes and you can really manipulate that. You can mess with them in a big way.
Do you still have it?
MF: No, that would be really funny wouldn’t it? If I was wearing that around my house on the weekends.
What did your kids Kyle, 11 and Byron, six, think of your costume?
MF: They thought it was cool. They were sitting on the set, which was huge and I’ll never forget their faces when I walked in wearing the full gear. They both turned and did this double-take and went: ‘Daddy?’ So I’m like, ‘Yeah it’s me, don’t worry, it’s just me.’ When I walked on set to do a scene, my little boy turned to my wife, and said: ‘I want to be Racer X for Halloween next year.’
Have they seen your action figure?
MF: Yes, my sons might have been the first little boys to have a Racer X action figure. I’m cool in their eyes right now which is a pretty great feeling.
How does someone who grew up not watchingTV become such a big TV actor?
MF: My parents weren’t really anti-television. They were just pro-books. That’s the sort of thing my wife and I are trying to do with our kids too. We let them watch a little TV, and we certainly encourage movies. Movies are my favourite thing in the world. Nothing is more exciting than sitting in a cinema, waiting for the lights to dim to watch a movie I can’t wait to see. The kids can watch some shows like the ones on Disney, but I also think it’s really important for them to develop their own imaginations to entertain themselves.
Why do you think you’ve been so successful?
MF: I think luck and timing are, without question, a big part of my success in this business. But I would also say I don’t think there are too many actors in Hollywood who have done three pilots which have all aired on TV, with two of them continuing for six years. There’s a phrase that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. So I’m going to take some of the credit for it.
Are your kids aware their daddy is a big star?
MF: I don’t know what a big star means. I guess people at school make a little bit of a thing about it, but I don’t think they’re really that conscious of it.
Would you like to have more kids?
MF: Every now and then I think about having another one, and then my wife says, ‘Absolutely not’.
Are you a romantic guy?
MF: On a romantic scale of 1 to 10, I’m probably like a 3. I’m not mushy about all of that stuff.
Some of your cast mates in Lost have got in trouble for speeding. Were you ever a speeder?
MF: Yeah, I enjoy driving fast. I’ve just been lucky not to have been caught. That’s the running joke – if you get pulled over by the cops, you get killed off in the show.
Do you ever get road rage?
MF: No. I’ve always really enjoyed driving. I grew up in Wyoming where the roads are really open. There’s not a lot of traffic. There are speed limits, but there’s not a lot of enforcement of those speed limits. It’s always been that sense of freedom which I enjoy.
How are you going to spend your summer?
MF: Well, for me, it’s been two years pretty much nonstop work with no vacation. So, I’m going to spend a lot of time with the kids and my other immediate family members and friends – just people I really love. Basically, I’m going to spend a lot of time doing nothing, just hanging out.
MATTHEW’S REALITY CHECK
Have you ever said ‘Don’t you know who I am?’
No, I don’t believe I have. I don’t want people to know who I am.
When was the last time you ate a Big Mac?
I’m not big on fast food. I eat quite healthy, so probably never.
How much does a pint of milk cost?
Well, I must be a movie star because I have no idea!
What car do you drive?
I just have a little Acura that I zip around the island on.
Do you recycle?
Yes and no. Someone else actually does all of that for me.
Speed Racer is in cinemas now.
Source: www.sundaymirror.co.uk
You are often on ‘Sexiest man alive’ lists. How does that feel?
Matthew Fox: It feels like it’s happening to someone else. I mean I just go to work and I’m doing the thing I love to do.
Are the tattoos (chinese symbols, among other things) on your arms real, or are they make-up?
MF: No, these are all mine. I’ve had them for a while, but they usually cover them up for the show.
You live and work in Hawaii – how lucky are you?
MF: I’ve never really been a beach paradise kinda guy. I’m more of a mountain person, so it’s been amazing and we’re enjoying it. It’s been a welcome change for us to get the kids away from the bigger city. They’re in a really good school and they’re making great friends, but it’s not a place I’d want to live in for the rest of my life. I just need bigger horizons, mountains, and I really miss four seasons of weather.
So what’s happening on Lost?
MF: We’re going to catch up with the flash forwards this year and then it’s going to be really interesting to see how time is structured in season five. But we will have closed on two points – the finale of last year where you had that juxtaposition of Jack on the island feeling like he’d finally accomplished a rescue, and this future where he’s desperate and at the pit of despair and he feels like he has to go back. We will eventually be back in the present.
Apparently, you’re the only actor on Lost who knows how the series will end. Is it tough keeping it a secret from your cast mates?
MF: Yes, it’s true. They understand I can’t talk about it, but sometimes they’ll ask hoping I’ll just blurt it out. Besides, having a secret is fun.
How do you pass the time on set?
MF: I play chess against the computer a lot. When I’m shooting in Hawaii, there’s a coffee shop not far from me and I have friends there now, who I’ve made over the game of chess. I go there a couple of mornings a week and we’ll play chess. It’s the greatest game.
You’re currently in the new flick Speed Racer. Were you a fan of the original cartoon as a kid?
MF: No. I never saw it. I grew up in a household where we didn’t really watch television. So the first step was watching a bunch of the episodes and getting a feel for what made that series so cultish and beloved in the 1960s.
Do you feel sexy wearing Racer X’s leather suit?
MF: Yeah. It’s pretty sexy. I think my wife thought so! The minute the mask dropped over my face people would change around me. It’s amazing because they can’t see your eyes and you can really manipulate that. You can mess with them in a big way.
Do you still have it?
MF: No, that would be really funny wouldn’t it? If I was wearing that around my house on the weekends.
What did your kids Kyle, 11 and Byron, six, think of your costume?
MF: They thought it was cool. They were sitting on the set, which was huge and I’ll never forget their faces when I walked in wearing the full gear. They both turned and did this double-take and went: ‘Daddy?’ So I’m like, ‘Yeah it’s me, don’t worry, it’s just me.’ When I walked on set to do a scene, my little boy turned to my wife, and said: ‘I want to be Racer X for Halloween next year.’
Have they seen your action figure?
MF: Yes, my sons might have been the first little boys to have a Racer X action figure. I’m cool in their eyes right now which is a pretty great feeling.
How does someone who grew up not watchingTV become such a big TV actor?
MF: My parents weren’t really anti-television. They were just pro-books. That’s the sort of thing my wife and I are trying to do with our kids too. We let them watch a little TV, and we certainly encourage movies. Movies are my favourite thing in the world. Nothing is more exciting than sitting in a cinema, waiting for the lights to dim to watch a movie I can’t wait to see. The kids can watch some shows like the ones on Disney, but I also think it’s really important for them to develop their own imaginations to entertain themselves.
Why do you think you’ve been so successful?
MF: I think luck and timing are, without question, a big part of my success in this business. But I would also say I don’t think there are too many actors in Hollywood who have done three pilots which have all aired on TV, with two of them continuing for six years. There’s a phrase that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. So I’m going to take some of the credit for it.
Are your kids aware their daddy is a big star?
MF: I don’t know what a big star means. I guess people at school make a little bit of a thing about it, but I don’t think they’re really that conscious of it.
Would you like to have more kids?
MF: Every now and then I think about having another one, and then my wife says, ‘Absolutely not’.
Are you a romantic guy?
MF: On a romantic scale of 1 to 10, I’m probably like a 3. I’m not mushy about all of that stuff.
Some of your cast mates in Lost have got in trouble for speeding. Were you ever a speeder?
MF: Yeah, I enjoy driving fast. I’ve just been lucky not to have been caught. That’s the running joke – if you get pulled over by the cops, you get killed off in the show.
Do you ever get road rage?
MF: No. I’ve always really enjoyed driving. I grew up in Wyoming where the roads are really open. There’s not a lot of traffic. There are speed limits, but there’s not a lot of enforcement of those speed limits. It’s always been that sense of freedom which I enjoy.
How are you going to spend your summer?
MF: Well, for me, it’s been two years pretty much nonstop work with no vacation. So, I’m going to spend a lot of time with the kids and my other immediate family members and friends – just people I really love. Basically, I’m going to spend a lot of time doing nothing, just hanging out.
MATTHEW’S REALITY CHECK
Have you ever said ‘Don’t you know who I am?’
No, I don’t believe I have. I don’t want people to know who I am.
When was the last time you ate a Big Mac?
I’m not big on fast food. I eat quite healthy, so probably never.
How much does a pint of milk cost?
Well, I must be a movie star because I have no idea!
What car do you drive?
I just have a little Acura that I zip around the island on.
Do you recycle?
Yes and no. Someone else actually does all of that for me.
Speed Racer is in cinemas now.
Source: www.sundaymirror.co.uk
LOST - FOX KEEPS LOST SECRET
LOST star MATTHEW FOX has been sworn to secrecy about the hit show's plot - as he's the only castmember who knows how the series will end.
The actor, who plays Dr. Jack Shephard in the show, admits his fellow stars hope he'll tell them what happens in the final episodes, which are set to be aired on TV in 2010.
But Fox insists he will never reveal the plot - because he enjoys keeping his special secret.
He says, "Yes, it's true. They understand I can't talk about it, but sometimes they'll ask, just hoping I'll blurt it out.
"Besides, having a secret is fun."
Source: www.contactmusic.com
The actor, who plays Dr. Jack Shephard in the show, admits his fellow stars hope he'll tell them what happens in the final episodes, which are set to be aired on TV in 2010.
But Fox insists he will never reveal the plot - because he enjoys keeping his special secret.
He says, "Yes, it's true. They understand I can't talk about it, but sometimes they'll ask, just hoping I'll blurt it out.
"Besides, having a secret is fun."
Source: www.contactmusic.com
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Lost's big question: why is this man so scary?
As the long-running plane-crash drama returns to the small screen, its sinister star, Michael Emerson, tells Michael Deacon he's as surprised by the plot twists as viewers are
In 2004, an American study suggested that watching a lot of television could reduce a child's attention span. Parents, help is at hand. Sit your offspring in front of Sky One at 9pm tomorrow. Because if there's a television drama that actually increases the attention span, it's Lost.
Michael Emerson
'I think it's the imaginations of viewers that make Ben scary', says Michael Emerson
The American thriller serial about plane-crash survivors stranded on a remote tropical island is about to reach its 80th episode. And still its mysteries are multiplying, getting ever more complex and strange. At first, viewers were asking, "Why did the plane crash? How will the survivors get home?" Now they're asking, "Who or what is the invisible and presumably malevolent spirit that lives in the hut in the jungle and answers (occasionally) to the name of Jacob?"
Keeping up with this tangle of riddles, exciting though it is, requires stamina. Happily for its producers, millions have it. In the US, Lost is watched by about 13 million people per episode; here, it's more than a million, which isn't bad for a programme available only on digital.
Tomorrow, the second half of season four begins. (The split was caused by the American television writers' strike.) Faithful viewers will tune in because they yearn for answers. But they'll also tune in for something else: television's scariest villain.
Michael Emerson plays Ben Linus. So scary is Ben that, when fans bump into Emerson in the street, they're scared of him, too.
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"People are guarded with me," says Emerson, who was nominated for an Emmy last year for his work on Lost; he won one in 2001 for his guest role in a legal drama called The Practice, in which he played a serial killer. "They tend to be not too chummy, and they don't invade my physical space much. 'Hello, Mr Emerson,' they say. And when they shake hands, they hold themselves at a slight distance. I think they're afraid I'm going to whip something out on them. What that might be, I don't know…"
Ben leads a ruthless gang called The Others, who lived on the island before the plane crashed; at present he's a captive of Locke (played by Terry Quinn), the most enigmatic of the plane-crash survivors. Yet even as a captive Ben seems threatening. Impressive, given his build: he's short, scrawny, rat-like. He looks as if he lost his eyebrows in a small explosion. He talks quietly, in a menacingly measured drawl… with lots of pauses and emphases… which make him sound as if he knows… everything.
Remarkably, Ben was originally written as a minor character. Emerson was hired to appear for only a few episodes, in season two. But so skin-tinglingly sinister was he during those episodes that the producers had a rethink and turned Ben into perhaps Lost's most important character.
"I think it's the imaginations of viewers that make Ben scary," says Emerson (who isn't at all scary himself; polite, precise and elegantly suited, he comes across like a nicer version of Frasier's Niles Crane).
"He's not an imposing figure, not an overwhelming personality - he runs in neutral gear a lot. We fear the things we don't know or can't figure out, so maybe he falls into that category." We'll be seeing plenty of this seemingly unknowable creature in the new episodes. Particularly in a setting new to Lost: London. Previously, all Lost's scenes have been shot on Hawaii or mainland America.
The reasons for shooting in London, I'm afraid, will remain unclear until we see the new episodes; the most Emerson will say is that "I don't know if it's a quality of light [the producers] are looking for, or maybe the weather…" But then, it's almost always impossible to squeeze upcoming storylines out of Lost's stars.
For one thing, they don't know much more about what's going to happen next than we do. Emerson says he's only one script ahead of the viewers, and that sometimes an actor will open the latest script and find that their character is dead. That's it; the first they know of it. Indeed, so secretive are Lost's producers that they don't even let their cleaners have keys to their office in Los Angeles. When the cleaners come in, the producers stand by watchfully to ensure that there's no sneaking a peek at their scripts.
There are critics, though, who no longer want to know what secrets those scripts contain. Their attention spans have been stretched further than they can bear. Too many mysteries, they grumble; not enough answers. And they're not prepared to wait until 2010 - when Lost will conclude - to find out what it all means.
Emerson says he sympathises, a little. "It has always been thus on Lost - more questions than answers. But if they're worried that it's a great tease, then I guess most yarns are a tease - Homer is a tease, Dickens is a tease. Hang on in there. There must be something pleasant about the journey along the way, and I think Lost offers some of those pleasures - at the same time as it strings us along. I don't think [the producers] are any more guilty of that now than they were three years ago."
(One of Lost's teases-in-chief, executive producer Damon Lindelof, promises that, by the end of the final season, all the plot's loose ends will be tied up. Hope we can trust him on that.)
Emerson is unsure how long he himself could survive on a remote island: "Are we talking hours or minutes?" He doesn't have many Boy Scout skills; in the Iowa town where he grew up, "the Boy Scouts were juvenile delinquents, so I didn't last long. I think there was such bad misbehaviour that the troop was broken up." Also, being in the Hawaiian jungle at night unnerves him; while filming there a few weeks ago, he was startled mid-scene by a rush of wild pigs, "large and crazy and semi-dangerous-looking".
Still, he's steeling himself. Only two more years of sudden pig attacks - and other, grander mysteries - to go.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
In 2004, an American study suggested that watching a lot of television could reduce a child's attention span. Parents, help is at hand. Sit your offspring in front of Sky One at 9pm tomorrow. Because if there's a television drama that actually increases the attention span, it's Lost.
Michael Emerson
'I think it's the imaginations of viewers that make Ben scary', says Michael Emerson
The American thriller serial about plane-crash survivors stranded on a remote tropical island is about to reach its 80th episode. And still its mysteries are multiplying, getting ever more complex and strange. At first, viewers were asking, "Why did the plane crash? How will the survivors get home?" Now they're asking, "Who or what is the invisible and presumably malevolent spirit that lives in the hut in the jungle and answers (occasionally) to the name of Jacob?"
Keeping up with this tangle of riddles, exciting though it is, requires stamina. Happily for its producers, millions have it. In the US, Lost is watched by about 13 million people per episode; here, it's more than a million, which isn't bad for a programme available only on digital.
Tomorrow, the second half of season four begins. (The split was caused by the American television writers' strike.) Faithful viewers will tune in because they yearn for answers. But they'll also tune in for something else: television's scariest villain.
Michael Emerson plays Ben Linus. So scary is Ben that, when fans bump into Emerson in the street, they're scared of him, too.
advertisement
"People are guarded with me," says Emerson, who was nominated for an Emmy last year for his work on Lost; he won one in 2001 for his guest role in a legal drama called The Practice, in which he played a serial killer. "They tend to be not too chummy, and they don't invade my physical space much. 'Hello, Mr Emerson,' they say. And when they shake hands, they hold themselves at a slight distance. I think they're afraid I'm going to whip something out on them. What that might be, I don't know…"
Ben leads a ruthless gang called The Others, who lived on the island before the plane crashed; at present he's a captive of Locke (played by Terry Quinn), the most enigmatic of the plane-crash survivors. Yet even as a captive Ben seems threatening. Impressive, given his build: he's short, scrawny, rat-like. He looks as if he lost his eyebrows in a small explosion. He talks quietly, in a menacingly measured drawl… with lots of pauses and emphases… which make him sound as if he knows… everything.
Remarkably, Ben was originally written as a minor character. Emerson was hired to appear for only a few episodes, in season two. But so skin-tinglingly sinister was he during those episodes that the producers had a rethink and turned Ben into perhaps Lost's most important character.
"I think it's the imaginations of viewers that make Ben scary," says Emerson (who isn't at all scary himself; polite, precise and elegantly suited, he comes across like a nicer version of Frasier's Niles Crane).
"He's not an imposing figure, not an overwhelming personality - he runs in neutral gear a lot. We fear the things we don't know or can't figure out, so maybe he falls into that category." We'll be seeing plenty of this seemingly unknowable creature in the new episodes. Particularly in a setting new to Lost: London. Previously, all Lost's scenes have been shot on Hawaii or mainland America.
The reasons for shooting in London, I'm afraid, will remain unclear until we see the new episodes; the most Emerson will say is that "I don't know if it's a quality of light [the producers] are looking for, or maybe the weather…" But then, it's almost always impossible to squeeze upcoming storylines out of Lost's stars.
For one thing, they don't know much more about what's going to happen next than we do. Emerson says he's only one script ahead of the viewers, and that sometimes an actor will open the latest script and find that their character is dead. That's it; the first they know of it. Indeed, so secretive are Lost's producers that they don't even let their cleaners have keys to their office in Los Angeles. When the cleaners come in, the producers stand by watchfully to ensure that there's no sneaking a peek at their scripts.
There are critics, though, who no longer want to know what secrets those scripts contain. Their attention spans have been stretched further than they can bear. Too many mysteries, they grumble; not enough answers. And they're not prepared to wait until 2010 - when Lost will conclude - to find out what it all means.
Emerson says he sympathises, a little. "It has always been thus on Lost - more questions than answers. But if they're worried that it's a great tease, then I guess most yarns are a tease - Homer is a tease, Dickens is a tease. Hang on in there. There must be something pleasant about the journey along the way, and I think Lost offers some of those pleasures - at the same time as it strings us along. I don't think [the producers] are any more guilty of that now than they were three years ago."
(One of Lost's teases-in-chief, executive producer Damon Lindelof, promises that, by the end of the final season, all the plot's loose ends will be tied up. Hope we can trust him on that.)
Emerson is unsure how long he himself could survive on a remote island: "Are we talking hours or minutes?" He doesn't have many Boy Scout skills; in the Iowa town where he grew up, "the Boy Scouts were juvenile delinquents, so I didn't last long. I think there was such bad misbehaviour that the troop was broken up." Also, being in the Hawaiian jungle at night unnerves him; while filming there a few weeks ago, he was startled mid-scene by a rush of wild pigs, "large and crazy and semi-dangerous-looking".
Still, he's steeling himself. Only two more years of sudden pig attacks - and other, grander mysteries - to go.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Island life
MICHAEL is back, but what has he been up to all this time?
"I wish I could tell you," actor Harold Perrineau says.
The question has nagged viewers of the show Lost, which follows the lives of passengers stranded on a mysterious island after their plane crashes. The tormented single father played by Perrineau sailed away with his son at the end of the second season and did not return at any point during the third.
Although he is listed as a cast member in the present fourth season, Perrineau did not appear until four episodes ago, when Michael was introduced as a deck-swabbing crewman named Kevin Johnson on a strange freighter that has been drifting off the coast and apparently giving those aboard a deadly case of cabin fever.
The subsequent episode revealed what happened after Perrineau's character shockingly gunned down fellow passengers Ana-Lucia and Libby in order to release seemingly evil Ben and retrieve his son Walt from captivity.
"I hope people see Michael's return and think, 'oh, this is gonna be good'," Perrineau says over lunch. "I hope they think this ride is good. We busted our butts doing (the Michael-centric episode). It felt like we were making a movie because there's so much stuff that happens."
Getting the rest of the Michael-related Lost questions out of the way: will his son also return to the show? And was he the man in the coffin during that jaw-dropping flashfoward at the end of season three? According to Perrineau, the answers are maybe and he has no idea.
"Oh, I thought for sure it was Michael in the coffin," he says. "But I still don't know."
Perrineau says the show's writers have kept him just as clueless as the audience. He has not read any scripts for the six episodes that were planned after the writers' strike in the US. However, that does not mean viewers should expect to see less of Michael after his return. Perrineau is scheduled to report to the set in Hawaii after this interview.
"I know I'll be there until the end of the season," he says. "I have no idea if it goes beyond that or not."
The 44-year-old actor from New York tenses up when he talks about the third season. Perrineau is the only one of the 14 original Lost cast members who did not appear in a third-season flashback, mindbending vision or otherwise. He says he "wasn't so happy" about the creative decision to leave Michael and Walt off the island and focus on others.
"I was hurt, really hurt," says Perrineau. "I told myself I had to watch the show, so I at least knew what was going on in case I was brought back, but then I was like, why? I never knew what was going on before. Why should I start trying to figure it out now?"
Instead of waiting by the phone to hear if his character would return to the series, Perrineau moved on to other projects, including a part in the film 28 Weeks Later and a role in the TV pilot Demons. When Demons didn't get picked up, that made room in Perrineau's schedule to get Lost again.
"I started with Lost, so I really want to see Michael until the end," says Perrineau. "I don't know what that means. I guess I won't know what that means until the end. I just know I didn't want Michael and Walt to get on that boat and that be it. That didn't seem so cool."
Perrineau believes Lost masterminds Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof really do have a plan for Michael, and he thinks it may finally come together now that he has returned to the fray. Of all the questions Perrineau has about his character, the one thing he is most interested to know is surprisingly simple.
"It seems like all the other characters on the island have dealt with redemption, in some form or another," Perrineau says. "But not Michael. He's only ever contended with being a father. The thing I want to know is: Why was Michael put on the island in the first place?"
Now that Perrineau's back, maybe he will get his answer.
Source: The Australian
"I wish I could tell you," actor Harold Perrineau says.
The question has nagged viewers of the show Lost, which follows the lives of passengers stranded on a mysterious island after their plane crashes. The tormented single father played by Perrineau sailed away with his son at the end of the second season and did not return at any point during the third.
Although he is listed as a cast member in the present fourth season, Perrineau did not appear until four episodes ago, when Michael was introduced as a deck-swabbing crewman named Kevin Johnson on a strange freighter that has been drifting off the coast and apparently giving those aboard a deadly case of cabin fever.
The subsequent episode revealed what happened after Perrineau's character shockingly gunned down fellow passengers Ana-Lucia and Libby in order to release seemingly evil Ben and retrieve his son Walt from captivity.
"I hope people see Michael's return and think, 'oh, this is gonna be good'," Perrineau says over lunch. "I hope they think this ride is good. We busted our butts doing (the Michael-centric episode). It felt like we were making a movie because there's so much stuff that happens."
Getting the rest of the Michael-related Lost questions out of the way: will his son also return to the show? And was he the man in the coffin during that jaw-dropping flashfoward at the end of season three? According to Perrineau, the answers are maybe and he has no idea.
"Oh, I thought for sure it was Michael in the coffin," he says. "But I still don't know."
Perrineau says the show's writers have kept him just as clueless as the audience. He has not read any scripts for the six episodes that were planned after the writers' strike in the US. However, that does not mean viewers should expect to see less of Michael after his return. Perrineau is scheduled to report to the set in Hawaii after this interview.
"I know I'll be there until the end of the season," he says. "I have no idea if it goes beyond that or not."
The 44-year-old actor from New York tenses up when he talks about the third season. Perrineau is the only one of the 14 original Lost cast members who did not appear in a third-season flashback, mindbending vision or otherwise. He says he "wasn't so happy" about the creative decision to leave Michael and Walt off the island and focus on others.
"I was hurt, really hurt," says Perrineau. "I told myself I had to watch the show, so I at least knew what was going on in case I was brought back, but then I was like, why? I never knew what was going on before. Why should I start trying to figure it out now?"
Instead of waiting by the phone to hear if his character would return to the series, Perrineau moved on to other projects, including a part in the film 28 Weeks Later and a role in the TV pilot Demons. When Demons didn't get picked up, that made room in Perrineau's schedule to get Lost again.
"I started with Lost, so I really want to see Michael until the end," says Perrineau. "I don't know what that means. I guess I won't know what that means until the end. I just know I didn't want Michael and Walt to get on that boat and that be it. That didn't seem so cool."
Perrineau believes Lost masterminds Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof really do have a plan for Michael, and he thinks it may finally come together now that he has returned to the fray. Of all the questions Perrineau has about his character, the one thing he is most interested to know is surprisingly simple.
"It seems like all the other characters on the island have dealt with redemption, in some form or another," Perrineau says. "But not Michael. He's only ever contended with being a father. The thing I want to know is: Why was Michael put on the island in the first place?"
Now that Perrineau's back, maybe he will get his answer.
Source: The Australian
Lost's Emilie de Ravin Talks About Baby Aaron and Where Claire Might Appear Next...
I don't know if you noticed, but this season on Lost, Kate totally stole baby Aaron and killed Claire and buried her under a rock!!!
Or something.
Maybe.
The mysteries of Lost are not easily solved, and certainly not easily guessed, but thankfully, the lovely Emilie de Ravin just phoned up and was kind enough to share a few of her insights into Claire's situation. (Yay for clues!)
Click in for Emilie's thoughts and a few teases about what's up with ghost dad, that misplaced infant and her character's big new storyline...
Let's go back to the beginning of the season. I think there was supposed to be a ring and a letter that Charlie left for Claire and Aaron. Did Claire ever get those?
I know! I don't know whatever happened with that, right? Oh God, now you're testing my memory.
Maybe the baby has the ring?
[Laughs.] Yes, the baby is wearing it around his wrist. Or maybe it's a toe ring.
Around "Eggtown," some people asked why Claire didn't seem to be more upset about Charlie. How did you feel about that?
I think she had her time to grieve, and I think she's just got so much going on that she has to survive, basically, and put that behind her as much as she can.
From what I've read, you've always been very, very gracious about the fact that as an actress you have to carry this baby around in almost every scene you do. Have you ever thought, "If only I didn't have that darn kid, I could have so many more adventures!"
It definitely holds Claire back as far as she's not going to be running around with a gun trying to kill people or trying to save people—because she has this child and she has to protect him—but that makes it interesting in another way for me.
Do you think that might change now?
Yeah, if Claire and Aaron are separated, I think for sure.
Interesting. Let's talk about your dear deadbeat dad, who showed up in "Something Nice Back Home." Claire had only met him once, and she presumably doesn't know that she shares a dad with Jack.
No, neither of them know on the Island.
What do you think he said to her when he showed up at the fire? Will we find that out?
He said he wants to show her something.
And we have four more hours of the season left to see. Could we assume you share a few more scenes with your dear old dad?
Possibly.
Do you think he has the same agenda for both his children?
I don't know. It seems he has different agendas, but who knows, he seems to be a very mysterious man.
He seems to be a dirty rotten scoundrel, but that's why we love him so much. Is there anything you can tease to about what happens to Claire in the next four hours of Lost?
You might see Claire in an unexpected environment. There were a couple of scenes that were really cool, actually. Just because they're so different. And maybe not really the Claire you know.
Hmmm...And we've heard you might have new and exciting storyline, which I would guess has to do with your dear daddy.
Yes.
Do you think that storyline twist will continue through seasons five and six, or is it primarily through the end of season four?
I can't see it not continuing, but I guess who knows. They can always come back to things or break the map, you know.
Is it true your contract is being renegotiated so you'll be either be on the show a little more or a little less next season?
No, I haven't heard anything about that.
In terms of what the finale showed you about the characters that are not the Oceanic Six, including Claire, did the answers turn out to be what you expected or something a little different?
It's never what I expected. Rarely do I read a script and I'm like, "Yeah, that's what I thought would happen." But no, there's a lot going on in the finale, a lot.
Do we get Matthew Abbadon's "Are they alive?" question answered?
It's somewhat answered, but somewhat not.
Dammit!
Yes, it's all very cryptic.
Is it ever!
Source: E!Online
Or something.
Maybe.
The mysteries of Lost are not easily solved, and certainly not easily guessed, but thankfully, the lovely Emilie de Ravin just phoned up and was kind enough to share a few of her insights into Claire's situation. (Yay for clues!)
Click in for Emilie's thoughts and a few teases about what's up with ghost dad, that misplaced infant and her character's big new storyline...
Let's go back to the beginning of the season. I think there was supposed to be a ring and a letter that Charlie left for Claire and Aaron. Did Claire ever get those?
I know! I don't know whatever happened with that, right? Oh God, now you're testing my memory.
Maybe the baby has the ring?
[Laughs.] Yes, the baby is wearing it around his wrist. Or maybe it's a toe ring.
Around "Eggtown," some people asked why Claire didn't seem to be more upset about Charlie. How did you feel about that?
I think she had her time to grieve, and I think she's just got so much going on that she has to survive, basically, and put that behind her as much as she can.
From what I've read, you've always been very, very gracious about the fact that as an actress you have to carry this baby around in almost every scene you do. Have you ever thought, "If only I didn't have that darn kid, I could have so many more adventures!"
It definitely holds Claire back as far as she's not going to be running around with a gun trying to kill people or trying to save people—because she has this child and she has to protect him—but that makes it interesting in another way for me.
Do you think that might change now?
Yeah, if Claire and Aaron are separated, I think for sure.
Interesting. Let's talk about your dear deadbeat dad, who showed up in "Something Nice Back Home." Claire had only met him once, and she presumably doesn't know that she shares a dad with Jack.
No, neither of them know on the Island.
What do you think he said to her when he showed up at the fire? Will we find that out?
He said he wants to show her something.
And we have four more hours of the season left to see. Could we assume you share a few more scenes with your dear old dad?
Possibly.
Do you think he has the same agenda for both his children?
I don't know. It seems he has different agendas, but who knows, he seems to be a very mysterious man.
He seems to be a dirty rotten scoundrel, but that's why we love him so much. Is there anything you can tease to about what happens to Claire in the next four hours of Lost?
You might see Claire in an unexpected environment. There were a couple of scenes that were really cool, actually. Just because they're so different. And maybe not really the Claire you know.
Hmmm...And we've heard you might have new and exciting storyline, which I would guess has to do with your dear daddy.
Yes.
Do you think that storyline twist will continue through seasons five and six, or is it primarily through the end of season four?
I can't see it not continuing, but I guess who knows. They can always come back to things or break the map, you know.
Is it true your contract is being renegotiated so you'll be either be on the show a little more or a little less next season?
No, I haven't heard anything about that.
In terms of what the finale showed you about the characters that are not the Oceanic Six, including Claire, did the answers turn out to be what you expected or something a little different?
It's never what I expected. Rarely do I read a script and I'm like, "Yeah, that's what I thought would happen." But no, there's a lot going on in the finale, a lot.
Do we get Matthew Abbadon's "Are they alive?" question answered?
It's somewhat answered, but somewhat not.
Dammit!
Yes, it's all very cryptic.
Is it ever!
Source: E!Online
Jorge Garcia Reveals Show Secret
Los Angeles, CA (CNS) - One of the best things about the hit ABC show "Lost" is that it always keeps you guessing. It leaves fans wondering if something a character says has a hidden meaning and most episodes leave fans buzzing with theories that are hashed out over and over on the Internet.
So it is always fun to find out that sometimes "Lost" fans are running round in circles over nothing, like a dog chasing its tail. One of those occasions would be the episode where Hurley, played by Jorge Garcia, ends up in a mental institution after he sees dead Charlie.
While in the mental institution, we see Hurley working on a water color painting. While fan sites buzzed after seeing the picture, the simple truth is Garcia painted the picture himself. He told TV Guide that he not only painted the picture himself, but he got to decide what would be in the painting. Garcia painted an Eskimo fishing outside an igloo.
"I was like, 'I hope people think this means something,'" he said. "I hoped people might think it had something to do with the guys [in the Season 2 finale] speaking Portuguese in the snow."
Good one Garcia, you got us.
Source: allheadlinenews
So it is always fun to find out that sometimes "Lost" fans are running round in circles over nothing, like a dog chasing its tail. One of those occasions would be the episode where Hurley, played by Jorge Garcia, ends up in a mental institution after he sees dead Charlie.
While in the mental institution, we see Hurley working on a water color painting. While fan sites buzzed after seeing the picture, the simple truth is Garcia painted the picture himself. He told TV Guide that he not only painted the picture himself, but he got to decide what would be in the painting. Garcia painted an Eskimo fishing outside an igloo.
"I was like, 'I hope people think this means something,'" he said. "I hoped people might think it had something to do with the guys [in the Season 2 finale] speaking Portuguese in the snow."
Good one Garcia, you got us.
Source: allheadlinenews
'Lost's' Dr. Juliet Burke shares the scoop
HONOLULU, Hawaii -- 'Lost' fans know her as Dr. Juliet Burke. But no one -- not even the 'Lost' castaways -- really know her. She's as mysterious as the island itself, but we got some answers out of Lost's Juliet.
The moment I met Elizabeth Mitchell, I knew one thing for certain. The 37-year-old actor and mother is nothing like the character she plays on the ABC's mega hit.
"This is your office (beach)," I remind Mitchell as we walk out on the balcony of an oceanfront suite at the luxurious Kahala Hotel and Resort in Honolulu. It's where members of the cast are shooting the Season 4 DVD. "This is my office, can you imagine?" asked Mitchell. No, Elizabeth! I really can't!
Even more confounding? What to think of her character, the gentle but cold Juliet.
"I think what we've seen over season 4, we'll continue to see a kind of more confused and messier Juliet," said Mitchell.
Juliet is a femme fatale with shifty loyalty.
"My husband read this thing on the Internet in huge capital letters, 'I HATE HER! Of course, I mean the character not the actress,' " confessed Mitchell. "I'm the one people hate, it's fascinating to me 'cause I've always been a fairly benign presence."
Benign no more. Mitchell admitted what makes Juliet so appealing is that no one knows what she's capable of and that she has to be a bit 'insane.'
"Obviously she'd do anything," said Mitchell. Anything to get off the island.
Like what? We'll have to wait on that. But Mitchell does offer a prediction for this season's finale: "I've been told two scenes, I don't know, probably someone is going to die, but I don't know who."
Lost bloggers think it's John Locke. "Oh, oh, it's amazing what can happen," laughed Mitchell. If you're a Lost fan and a little lost - the wait is over. The creators promise all the island's secrets will be revealed by 2010. But we want answers now.
Those flash forwards - do we believe them?
"I don't know, good question, I really don't know," insisted Mitchell. Hmmm. But she thinks she may be in the know with regard to the "Oceanic 6."
"I don't think everybody NOT on the 'Oceanic 6' is dead," she said. "Especially because Josh Holloway, the most popular 'Lost' character; I have a hard time believing they're going to kill him off and not show him again." And she also doubts baby Aaron counts towards the Oceanic total.
But would anyone mind if Benjamin Linus doesn't make it?
"Oh Ben, Ben," said an exasperated Mitchell. "She looked up to him, he took her out of a not-so-great-life. She was the prized possession, he knows everything about her, how enticing would that be?" said Mitchell, "That's why it's even worse, the betrayal is the ultimate and then he's so creepy!" In the same breath she paid homage to his acting gift. "He's brilliant."
Is Ben part of the "Oceanic 6"? Mitchell says no. She insists Ben can't be because he wasn't on the plane. Besides, if she gets her way, it's possible he won't get off the island (unless we're to believe those flash-forwards.): "I would very much like a huge fight with Ben where we both end up bruised and blooded soul and body."
That's Mitchell's theory - not the creators'.
More scoop? "She does love Jack...Juliet loves this man, she's not playing any games about it," admitted Mitchell. "I'd like to see something passionate happen with Jack."
Yeah, why would Jack want Kate, when he can have the vulnerable and viscous Juliet? Because, "I personally think Sawyer and Kate have this insane chemistry," Mitchell said.
And then there's that recent kiss between the two doctors.
"The kiss was fun," she said.
Mitchell praises all the cast, but singled out Matthew Fox who plays Dr. Jack Shepard.
"He's a wonderful actor, a really giving actor," she said.
She told me playing Juliet is a "role of a lifetime".
"She's my favorite, my favorite I've ever played, she's massively fun for me," said Mitchell. "She captivated me, everything they wrote captivated me. It has nothing to do with my performance, had I read it in a book I would have been captivated."
Playing Juliet may be the role of a lifetime, but, Mitchell's big break may have come when she played Angelina Jolie's lover in 'Gia', a made-for-TV movie in 1998.
Fans may remember her character on 'ER', but the star was really born in Dallas, Texas the day she took the stage in 'Alice Thru the Looking Glass.' She was just 7 years old.
"I was like 'Hey Mom, I got the part!' and she was like,' Oh, Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum? What are you doing?' I was like, 'I'm Alice!' And she was like 'Alice! What???' "
We won't even count how many lines she had to memorize.
"The first time you get a laugh on stage or you have a moment where you're with the audience, that's where it's truly a gift," insisted Mitchell.
But no gift trumps the role of motherhood - being CJ's mom. Her sweet, 2 1/2-year-old son ended our interview. I met him as he traded Dad's arms for Mom's hip all the while waving a prized stick he found on the beach.
As I quickly found out, he's all boy and very territorial about his mother. Thanks CJ for letting me meet your parents!
Elizabeth and husband Chris, an acting teacher are -- well -- Chris is the real Dr. Jack Shepard in her life.
"Chris and I are very much in love," said Mitchell. She gives him a squeeze and a kiss before we settle in for our chat.
The family lives on Oahu while shooting 'Lost', then retreats to their home in Seattle. The couple used to live in L.A., but wanted a more family-friendly place to raise their son. Seattle was an easy choice.
"I really fell in love with it from the sky for the most part, looking down I was like, 'What an incredibly gorgeous place,' " she said.
"It fits both of us so perfectly, 'cause we're such huge readers, we love music and art," Mitchell added. "All the things Seattle is rich with, we love."
When in Seattle, Mitchell told me she's a nerd. She loves to stay at home, garden, watch movies and read. And yes, she's a 'Lost' fan.
I asked her what she thinks makes the show so special. She knew instantly: "Oh, I have to say it's the writing." Mitchell thinks the writers are as good at story arc as they are at keeping secrets.
That, says Mitchell, is one of the secrets to 'Lost's success -- it's like life, we don't know what's going to happen.
"If we did, we'd be disappointed," said Mitchell.
Source: komotv.com
The moment I met Elizabeth Mitchell, I knew one thing for certain. The 37-year-old actor and mother is nothing like the character she plays on the ABC's mega hit.
"This is your office (beach)," I remind Mitchell as we walk out on the balcony of an oceanfront suite at the luxurious Kahala Hotel and Resort in Honolulu. It's where members of the cast are shooting the Season 4 DVD. "This is my office, can you imagine?" asked Mitchell. No, Elizabeth! I really can't!
Even more confounding? What to think of her character, the gentle but cold Juliet.
"I think what we've seen over season 4, we'll continue to see a kind of more confused and messier Juliet," said Mitchell.
Juliet is a femme fatale with shifty loyalty.
"My husband read this thing on the Internet in huge capital letters, 'I HATE HER! Of course, I mean the character not the actress,' " confessed Mitchell. "I'm the one people hate, it's fascinating to me 'cause I've always been a fairly benign presence."
Benign no more. Mitchell admitted what makes Juliet so appealing is that no one knows what she's capable of and that she has to be a bit 'insane.'
"Obviously she'd do anything," said Mitchell. Anything to get off the island.
Like what? We'll have to wait on that. But Mitchell does offer a prediction for this season's finale: "I've been told two scenes, I don't know, probably someone is going to die, but I don't know who."
Lost bloggers think it's John Locke. "Oh, oh, it's amazing what can happen," laughed Mitchell. If you're a Lost fan and a little lost - the wait is over. The creators promise all the island's secrets will be revealed by 2010. But we want answers now.
Those flash forwards - do we believe them?
"I don't know, good question, I really don't know," insisted Mitchell. Hmmm. But she thinks she may be in the know with regard to the "Oceanic 6."
"I don't think everybody NOT on the 'Oceanic 6' is dead," she said. "Especially because Josh Holloway, the most popular 'Lost' character; I have a hard time believing they're going to kill him off and not show him again." And she also doubts baby Aaron counts towards the Oceanic total.
But would anyone mind if Benjamin Linus doesn't make it?
"Oh Ben, Ben," said an exasperated Mitchell. "She looked up to him, he took her out of a not-so-great-life. She was the prized possession, he knows everything about her, how enticing would that be?" said Mitchell, "That's why it's even worse, the betrayal is the ultimate and then he's so creepy!" In the same breath she paid homage to his acting gift. "He's brilliant."
Is Ben part of the "Oceanic 6"? Mitchell says no. She insists Ben can't be because he wasn't on the plane. Besides, if she gets her way, it's possible he won't get off the island (unless we're to believe those flash-forwards.): "I would very much like a huge fight with Ben where we both end up bruised and blooded soul and body."
That's Mitchell's theory - not the creators'.
More scoop? "She does love Jack...Juliet loves this man, she's not playing any games about it," admitted Mitchell. "I'd like to see something passionate happen with Jack."
Yeah, why would Jack want Kate, when he can have the vulnerable and viscous Juliet? Because, "I personally think Sawyer and Kate have this insane chemistry," Mitchell said.
And then there's that recent kiss between the two doctors.
"The kiss was fun," she said.
Mitchell praises all the cast, but singled out Matthew Fox who plays Dr. Jack Shepard.
"He's a wonderful actor, a really giving actor," she said.
She told me playing Juliet is a "role of a lifetime".
"She's my favorite, my favorite I've ever played, she's massively fun for me," said Mitchell. "She captivated me, everything they wrote captivated me. It has nothing to do with my performance, had I read it in a book I would have been captivated."
Playing Juliet may be the role of a lifetime, but, Mitchell's big break may have come when she played Angelina Jolie's lover in 'Gia', a made-for-TV movie in 1998.
Fans may remember her character on 'ER', but the star was really born in Dallas, Texas the day she took the stage in 'Alice Thru the Looking Glass.' She was just 7 years old.
"I was like 'Hey Mom, I got the part!' and she was like,' Oh, Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum? What are you doing?' I was like, 'I'm Alice!' And she was like 'Alice! What???' "
We won't even count how many lines she had to memorize.
"The first time you get a laugh on stage or you have a moment where you're with the audience, that's where it's truly a gift," insisted Mitchell.
But no gift trumps the role of motherhood - being CJ's mom. Her sweet, 2 1/2-year-old son ended our interview. I met him as he traded Dad's arms for Mom's hip all the while waving a prized stick he found on the beach.
As I quickly found out, he's all boy and very territorial about his mother. Thanks CJ for letting me meet your parents!
Elizabeth and husband Chris, an acting teacher are -- well -- Chris is the real Dr. Jack Shepard in her life.
"Chris and I are very much in love," said Mitchell. She gives him a squeeze and a kiss before we settle in for our chat.
The family lives on Oahu while shooting 'Lost', then retreats to their home in Seattle. The couple used to live in L.A., but wanted a more family-friendly place to raise their son. Seattle was an easy choice.
"I really fell in love with it from the sky for the most part, looking down I was like, 'What an incredibly gorgeous place,' " she said.
"It fits both of us so perfectly, 'cause we're such huge readers, we love music and art," Mitchell added. "All the things Seattle is rich with, we love."
When in Seattle, Mitchell told me she's a nerd. She loves to stay at home, garden, watch movies and read. And yes, she's a 'Lost' fan.
I asked her what she thinks makes the show so special. She knew instantly: "Oh, I have to say it's the writing." Mitchell thinks the writers are as good at story arc as they are at keeping secrets.
That, says Mitchell, is one of the secrets to 'Lost's success -- it's like life, we don't know what's going to happen.
"If we did, we'd be disappointed," said Mitchell.
Source: komotv.com
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