Lost's breathtaking finale will no doubt have fans feverishly dissecting its innumerable puzzles until the show returns in early 2009. (Read our recap and weigh in with your thoughts!) Locke (aka Jeremy Bentham) is in the coffin?! What "very bad things" happened after the Oceanic 6 left the island?? How in Jacob's name is Ben gonna help all of them — plus Locke! — get back there??? And exactly where did the former Others ringleader and that wacky frozen device move the island to?
But at least one major character's fate was definitively sealed with the close of Season 4 when Michael (Harold Perrineau), the suicidal castaway — and father to "real big" mystery boy Walt — perished aboard the fiery freighter. "Michael had an incredibly heroic, noble death," says executive producer Damon Lindelof. "He sacrificed his own life to redeem himself for past mistakes and to help the Oceanic 6 get off the island." Sound familiar? It was this time last year that we were mourning the loss of the similarly selfless Charlie. Though Michael got a little something special that the ex-junkie rock star did not: a surprise send-off from Christian Shephard.
Shortly after he wrapped filming, an emotional Perrineau — who made a much-hyped return to the series in March after leaving in Season 2 — called to chat about his explosive second exit, the mad dash home to be with pregnant wife Brittany and why he feels the lack of a Michael-Walt reunion was "not cool."
TV Guide: Did you know Michael was being killed off when you returned?
Harold Perrineau: I had no idea. It's like, what the hell? I came back for that?
TV Guide: You're laughing as you say that, but you don't sound particularly pleased.
Perrineau: I'm disappointed, mostly because I wanted Michael and Walt to have a happy ending. I was hoping Michael would get it together and actually want to be a father to his kid and try to figure out a way to get back [home]. But this is [the producers'] story. If I were writing it, I would write it differently.
TV Guide:: So when did you get the news?
Perrineau: [Lindelof and fellow executive producer Carlton Cuse] called before the finale scripts were out. They said they weren't going to continue with Michael.
TV Guide:: And what did you say to that?
Perrineau: At this point, I've been on the island, off the island, back on the island — so I just went, "Oh, ok." [Laughs] This is their show and they know what they can or cannot write. I thought it was disappointing and a waste to come back, only to get beat up a few times and then killed. I felt like it was sort of pandering to some fans who wanted to see Michael punished because he betrayed people.
TV Guide: Are you referring to when he shot and killed Ana Lucia and Libby in Season 2?
Perrineau: Exactly. I honestly feel like Michael's death served a really weird bloodlust for the fans.
TV Guide: Were you disappointed Michael and Walt didn't reconnect before your character died?
Perrineau: Listen, if I'm being really candid, there are all these questions about how they respond to black people on the show. Sayid gets to meet Nadia again, and Desmond and Penny hook up again, but a little black boy and his father hooking up, that wasn't interesting? Instead, Walt just winds up being another fatherless child. It plays into a really big, weird stereotype and, being a black person myself, that wasn't so interesting. [Responds Cuse: "We pride ourselves on having a very racially diverse cast. It's painful when any actor's storyline ends on the show. Harold is a fantastic actor whose presence added enormously to Lost."]
TV Guide: Take me back to your last day of shooting.
Perrineau: My last day was kind of hectic. [Production] was trying to get me out because, at the time, my wife was a centimeter dilated.
TV Guide: Was she in labor at the hospital when you got back to L.A.?
Perrineau: No, I got home and then for another week, the baby would not come! We were like, "Seriously, dude, I was in Hawaii rushing like a madman!” I was talking to the baby, my wife was walking around, practically hiking, but the baby just would not come out! [Laughs] So we went to the hospital a week later and induced. A beautiful little girl came on May 7. Wynter Aria — I thought it was a nice name. It's poetic, and she's a little poetry in our life.
TV Guide: Let's talk highlights. Surely, you had some positive experiences on Lost.
Perrineau: Doing the job in Hawaii was cool. Getting to meet and work with [co-creator] JJ Abrams was very cool. The day we found out the show [premiered] so well [in 2004] was an amazing day. We were all so hopeful and excited. The first season was one of my best years as a working actor. Not to say there weren't tough times, but I loved the first season. And that one of my best friends, Dan [Dae Kim, who plays Jin], and I got to do pretty much the whole finale together.
TV Guide: Dead characters have a way of returning to the show. Would you be open to that?
Perrineau: I'd love to go back and work with people I really like working with, but I would have to know what was happening [story-wise] before I showed up again. Because this [last] storyline, I full-on feel, "No, that's not cool.'"
TV Guide: What's next for you?
Perrineau: This movie I did with Stephen Dorff called Felon is probably coming out at the end of the summer. And I'm in talks for a couple different films.
TV Guide: Any final thoughts?
Perrineau: Just that I hope the show continues to thrill people. I'm sorry to have to go, but I'll see you in another incarnation. I'll re-create myself because that's what I do. That part of leaving is pretty cool.
Source: seattlepi.nwsource.com
Showing posts with label Micheal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Micheal. Show all posts
Sunday, June 1, 2008
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
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Micheal is BACK. Harold talks about his return.
Harold Perrineau is back on the island — and ready to talk about why he left.
"It only goes about five feet deep," Harold Perrineau says, nodding in the direction of the swimming pool in his backyard. "If I stand in it, part of me's still above water."
From the hint of relief in his voice, you'd think a shallow pool was a major selling point when Perrineau bought the unassuming Los Angeles home more than a year ago. You wouldn't be entirely wrong.
As the T-shirt- and jeans-clad actor, 44, settles onto a sofa in the family room, he admits he's not a big water guy. He doesn't swim and he's prone to seasickness. So it's not hard to imagine Perrineau's anxiety when he found out his hotly anticipated return to Lost (Thursdays at 9 pm/ET, ABC) would take place on a ship in the vast Pacific. "My first day it was like, jump in a speedboat, drive 20 minutes out in the rain, step on the freighter," Perrineau says with a laugh. "I was sick all day."
Nausea aside, the actor is relieved to once again be part of the Lost crew. His character, Michael, hadn't been seen or heard from since motoring off the island in the Others' boat with son Walt at the end of Season 2, leaving fans to wonder what the holy smoke monster had happened to them. "It was time to come back," Perrineau says. "Even if Michael was going to die, I [wanted] him to finish, as opposed to just disappearing."
When the character finally resurfaced, pushing a mop aboard the mystery freighter in the March 13 episode, he was very much alive — if very much pretending to be someone else. The March 20 episode finds Sayid (Naveen Andrews) demanding to know why his former comrade is posing as deckhand Kevin Johnson, a question answered by a series of darkly revelatory flashbacks that involve Michael at home in Manhattan post-island, the music of Mama Cass and a pivotal Friendly encounter. (Walt pops up only briefly, and four dead characters reappear.) Executive producer Carlton Cuse teases, "It's safe to say Michael's return to the outside world did not work out in any way he hoped or planned."
Perrineau's off-screen Lost journey has been nearly as dramatic. By the time Michael — desperate to get his son back from the Others — shot and killed Ana Lucia and Libby near the end of Season 2, Perrineau wasn't hiding his displeasure with the evolution of his character. "Michael's been such a decent guy," he told TV Guide at the time. "To suddenly be the executioner, I don't know how happy I am about that." Still, when he ultimately left, Perrineau says now, "I was a little bummed out. I'd put my heart and soul into the show."
From the start, Cuse and fellow exec producer Damon Lindelof insisted Michael would eventually return. "He was always coming back on the freighter," Lindelof says. "It was just a matter of [when] we were gonna reveal the freighter." The initial plan was the third-season finale, but Perrineau chose to sign on to the CBS pilot Demons instead.
Reports at the time blamed the lack of a Lost deal on Perrineau's outrageous salary demands, something the actor — who starred in the horror flick 28 Weeks Later and wrote and recorded a song called "Stay Strong" in support of the U.S. troops in Iraq last year — denies. "They were not throwing money at me," he says. Instead, he claims he didn't want to again uproot wife Brittany and daughter Aurora, 13, to Hawaii, where the ABC drama shoots. (Demons shot in L.A.) "I was actually making less money on Demons [than Lost]," Perrineau says. "I just needed some stability for my family."
When Demons didn't make CBS' fall '07 lineup, Perrineau was once again available and, this time, the Lost deal came together quickly. Regardless of what came before, "I'm really happy to be back," he says. "It's been like going home to family."
His immediate family, meanwhile, will stay in L.A. while Perrineau returns to Hawaii to shoot the rest of Season 4. His wife is pregnant with the couple's second child and due in less than two months. "We're gonna have a little girl," he says quietly, "and I'm looking forward to meeting her."
To make sure he doesn't miss the blessed event, he's got a plan: "When I have downtime from the show, [I'll] get on a plane. Fly back and forth to make sure the baby hasn't come. It's gonna be crazy."
But at least there won't be any boats.
Source: seattlepi.nwsource.com
"It only goes about five feet deep," Harold Perrineau says, nodding in the direction of the swimming pool in his backyard. "If I stand in it, part of me's still above water."
From the hint of relief in his voice, you'd think a shallow pool was a major selling point when Perrineau bought the unassuming Los Angeles home more than a year ago. You wouldn't be entirely wrong.
As the T-shirt- and jeans-clad actor, 44, settles onto a sofa in the family room, he admits he's not a big water guy. He doesn't swim and he's prone to seasickness. So it's not hard to imagine Perrineau's anxiety when he found out his hotly anticipated return to Lost (Thursdays at 9 pm/ET, ABC) would take place on a ship in the vast Pacific. "My first day it was like, jump in a speedboat, drive 20 minutes out in the rain, step on the freighter," Perrineau says with a laugh. "I was sick all day."
Nausea aside, the actor is relieved to once again be part of the Lost crew. His character, Michael, hadn't been seen or heard from since motoring off the island in the Others' boat with son Walt at the end of Season 2, leaving fans to wonder what the holy smoke monster had happened to them. "It was time to come back," Perrineau says. "Even if Michael was going to die, I [wanted] him to finish, as opposed to just disappearing."
When the character finally resurfaced, pushing a mop aboard the mystery freighter in the March 13 episode, he was very much alive — if very much pretending to be someone else. The March 20 episode finds Sayid (Naveen Andrews) demanding to know why his former comrade is posing as deckhand Kevin Johnson, a question answered by a series of darkly revelatory flashbacks that involve Michael at home in Manhattan post-island, the music of Mama Cass and a pivotal Friendly encounter. (Walt pops up only briefly, and four dead characters reappear.) Executive producer Carlton Cuse teases, "It's safe to say Michael's return to the outside world did not work out in any way he hoped or planned."
Perrineau's off-screen Lost journey has been nearly as dramatic. By the time Michael — desperate to get his son back from the Others — shot and killed Ana Lucia and Libby near the end of Season 2, Perrineau wasn't hiding his displeasure with the evolution of his character. "Michael's been such a decent guy," he told TV Guide at the time. "To suddenly be the executioner, I don't know how happy I am about that." Still, when he ultimately left, Perrineau says now, "I was a little bummed out. I'd put my heart and soul into the show."
From the start, Cuse and fellow exec producer Damon Lindelof insisted Michael would eventually return. "He was always coming back on the freighter," Lindelof says. "It was just a matter of [when] we were gonna reveal the freighter." The initial plan was the third-season finale, but Perrineau chose to sign on to the CBS pilot Demons instead.
Reports at the time blamed the lack of a Lost deal on Perrineau's outrageous salary demands, something the actor — who starred in the horror flick 28 Weeks Later and wrote and recorded a song called "Stay Strong" in support of the U.S. troops in Iraq last year — denies. "They were not throwing money at me," he says. Instead, he claims he didn't want to again uproot wife Brittany and daughter Aurora, 13, to Hawaii, where the ABC drama shoots. (Demons shot in L.A.) "I was actually making less money on Demons [than Lost]," Perrineau says. "I just needed some stability for my family."
When Demons didn't make CBS' fall '07 lineup, Perrineau was once again available and, this time, the Lost deal came together quickly. Regardless of what came before, "I'm really happy to be back," he says. "It's been like going home to family."
His immediate family, meanwhile, will stay in L.A. while Perrineau returns to Hawaii to shoot the rest of Season 4. His wife is pregnant with the couple's second child and due in less than two months. "We're gonna have a little girl," he says quietly, "and I'm looking forward to meeting her."
To make sure he doesn't miss the blessed event, he's got a plan: "When I have downtime from the show, [I'll] get on a plane. Fly back and forth to make sure the baby hasn't come. It's gonna be crazy."
But at least there won't be any boats.
Source: seattlepi.nwsource.com
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